ABSTRACT
William Morton, the dentist who was to become the father of modern anaesthesia, was twenty-seven years of age. He had been experimenting with ether for dental extractions, and his first patient, Eben Frost, had a tooth pulled out under the influence of ether saturated into a handkerchief on September 30, 1846. Morton administered the ether, and after some coughing, the patient fell into a deep sleep. Hayward stuck a pin into her arm and, when there was no reaction, rapidly amputated the leg. As for Morton, the rest of his short life was not a happy one, although he had the compensation of using ether with great success during the American Civil War. He died in 1868 at only forty-eight years of age. The citizens of Boston erected a splendid commemorative monument, the inscription on which was composed by Dr. Jacob Bigelow.
