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Inhalation of Ether. Boston Medical and Surgical Journal.
Boston: David Clapp, 1847.
Octavo, consisting of thirty-five issues bound together, viz., volume XXXV issues 16-26, November-December 1846; and the complete 26 issues published between February and July 1847; the first section includes a general title, eight-leaf table of contents, 309-541; 9-528; bound in contemporary half calf, rebacked, staining to first and last few issues; 8 7/8 x 5 1/2 in.
This group of medical pamphlets contains many articles on different topics, including several key to the early history of the use of inhaled ether as anesthesia during surgery. These articles begin with Dr. Henry Jacob Bigelow's Insensibility during Surgical Operations Produced by Inhalation; which is followed by many letters to the editor from doctors across the globe on the same subject in subsequent issues, including a healthy discussion of whether this use of ether is an appropriate subject for a patent at all. The Journal also publishes a piece on the controversy between Morton & Jackson over ether's discovery.
