If we cannot believe Morton and Jackson under oath, when are they to be believed?

If any one will compare the extract of lectures published in the Boston, Philadelphia, and Providence newspapers in 1842 and 1843, with those published by Mr. Wells in Galignani's Messenger in February, 1847, he will see that the one is a copy of the other.

Lille, France, June 5th, 1870.

My dear Doctor, - As to Dr. E. E. Marcy, on whose evidence the Hon. "Truman Smith and others seem to place so much reliance, I have merely to "extract verbatim what he wrote to The New York Journal of Commerce, "December 30th, 1846, in order to show how completely ignorant he was at "that time of the action of anaesthetics. He says, 'My opinion in regard to the "use of nitrous oxide gas, sulphuric ether, or any other stimulant which acts "upon the system in such a manner as to render the body insensible to external "impressions, is that it is decidedly unsafe, and in no given case can we be "certain that it will not cause congestion of the brain and lungs. I have "known the use of both the first named articles (nitrous oxide and sulphuric "ether) to give rise to temporary congestion of brain and insanity.'

These words of Dr. E. E. Marcy were written before the use of anaesthetic agents "had been demonstrated universally by the profession, December, 1846. Many "years subsequent, when their use was established, Dr. Marcy then remembers "for the first time having administered sulphuric ether in October, 1844, and two "months before Wells's experiment, to some person, and actually cut an encysted "tumour of about the size of an English walnut. It was entirely successful. "Dr. Marcy singularly forgets in 1858 what he said in 1846, and remembers "in 1858 what he forgot in 1846. Is it probable that a person entertaining such "extreme opinions as producing congestion of brain and lungs resulting in " insanity in 1846, would have been the person to perform a surgical operation "with entire success in 1844, similar to cutting out an encysted tumour of the "size of a Yankee nutmeg, and that no mention should have been made of so "wonderful an exploit at the time, nor even in the famous letter of 1846?

No newspaper, no medical journal, is communicated with at the time, yet we "find Dr. E. E. Marcy in 1846 and 1847 and subsequent years, most ready to "appear in print in order to destroy the claims of Wm. T. G. Morton, of Boston. "Yet this gifted individual, who in the most decided and unqualified manner "declares that nitrous oxide and sulphuric ether are 'decidedly unsafe, pro"ducing congestion of the brain, lungs, and insanity,' in 1846 has the temerity "to cut out tumours of the size of English walnuts in 1844 with entire success, "and that too with the aid of sulphuric ether.

Really, that such wild, unfounded misrepresentations should be credited by "a man of the intelligence of the Hon. Truman Smith is truly astonishing. Yet "this is the kind of material which he uses to vindicate the claims of the few "haphazard, accidental experiments performed by Horace Wells in December, "1844, and January, 1845, which he abandoned as being convinced that they "had no practical value. Vide Reports before Committee of Congress. I would "not have taken the trouble to expose this inconsistency, had not the late "distinguished Sir James Simpson referred to it in his last publication.

Yours very truly,

Robert H. Collier. "To Dr. Benjamin W. Richardson."

K.

Lille, France, January, 1870.

Had the practical suggestion and application of nitrous oxide gas by Sir "Humphry Davy been followed up by the surgical profession at the date of his "researches (1800), no one would contend, or even pretend, that the merit "of the anaesthetic discovery did not belong alone to that illustrious chemist.

It is perfectly true that Sir Humphry Davy did not enter into the physio"logy of the anaesthetic condition induced; nor did he ever produce a coma"tose state. His experiments were confined to the first stage, that of excitement, "and he confined his idea to nitrous oxide gas.

When the negro 'Bob' had been rendered unconscious by the inhalation of "the fumes from rum in December, 1839, and whose femur had been dislocated, "which was reduced prior to his return to a state of consciousness, this was "so remarkable a phenomenon as to elicit the special attention of my father and "myself. All the cases of ordinary intoxication, where men had received "severe injuries without any apparent sensibility, were discussed. It was "at this time that the physiology of brain in this connexion first suggested "thoughts which ultimately resulted in a fixed conviction, that the inhalation "of narcotic and stimulating vapours, by increasing the action of the lungs, caused "a nervous congestion of brain which deprived the surface of the ordinary supply "of sentient nervous fluid. When I stated to my father the fact of my having "been rendered insensible by the inhalation of sulphuric ether in the chemical "lecture room of the University College, London, our conviction was estab"lished that nearly all the stimulating gases and vapours would when inhaled "produce a state of unconscious insensibility.

In the following year (1840), at Charlestown, South Carolina, I made some "experiments in corroboration of these conclusions. In 1841 my time was "occupied in the investigation of the phenomena called Animal Magnetism, which "eventuated in the Report of the Boston Committee, composed of the principal "members of the medical, clerical, and legal professions.

I never claimed anything for animal magnetism, but met my audiences as "an investigator in common with themselves. Committees were invariably "appointed by the audience, and the experiments made at their suggestion through "the medium of the committee appointed.

In the autumn of 1841 every species of surgical operation was performed " during the anaesthetic state, induced by the mesmeric process; these were "published. It was not, however, until 1842 that the special subject of the "inhalation of narcotic and stimulating vapours claimed my attention, in "order to repeat the feats of the Egyptian magicians. Of course I did not "omit repeating in the lectures the experiments on myself of inhaling sul"phuric ether at the London University College, and the case of the negro "'Bob,' in Louisiana, in 1839. These anecdotes were always a feature in my " lectures. On several occasions, both in Philadelphia and Boston, I passed power"ful electric charges through persons rendered unconscious by the inhalation of "narcotic and stimulating vapours, to demonstrate the unconscious state pro"duced. On one occasion, in the month of April, 1843, Dr. Hare, Professor of "Chemistry, University of Pennsylvania, assisted me in these experiments.