The invention of anæsthetic inhalation, or, "Discovery of anæsthesia." / by William J. Morton.

  • Morton, William J. (William James), 1846-1920.
Date:
1880
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The invention of anæsthetic inhalation, or, "Discovery of anæsthesia." / by William J. Morton. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    to be, we are brought straightway to the unfortunate period of controversy, the inevitable sequel of every great discovery and invention. Numerous after-claimants arose and bid fair yet to arise. The after-claimant, whether with good intentions or with bad, seems to be the natural parasite of the discoverer or in¬ ventor. If honest, he claims that certain prior efforts of his own were of a nature sufficiently definite to constitute the dis¬ covery or invention. And such a claim may possess a certain amount of merit if these efforts have been put on record at the time, with proper dates and witnesses, it may be; if this has not been done, their value can not be relied upon, for every one knows how easy a thing is to repeat after it has been once accomplished. The puzzle solved, its solution seems ridicu¬ lously simple, and each wonders how he failed to do it. But it is obviously unjust, with another’s solution in hand, to inter¬ pret previous steps and attempts as equivalent. The little misstep on this side or that is set straight, and such an after¬ claimant comes conscientiously to believe, since he was so near being, that therefore he was, at this prior time, the dis¬ coverer. He forgets that, while he paused on the verge, an¬ other by chance or intent pushed on, by the same route per¬ haps, and took the final step of success-. But the after-claim¬ ant ignores this final step. He substitutes his imperfect results previously obtained for the now perfect ones; exchanges his own uncertainties for the new certainties; and is now said to “ antedate ” the unfortunate discoverer. The injustice of this is so glaring that the scientific world has been driven to admit the law that an observer can not claim credit for his observa¬ tions unless they have been submitted to some proper scientific tribunal, and thus at least, if not in print, become published. The reasons for and the elements of every discovery soon to come, for instance, are now working in many human minds. When the prospective discovery is born, each worker may be¬ lieve that the discovery is his. But the world must honor some one of them, and it has alwavs selected him whose work was coincident with the public birth of the discovery, who both detected the main fact or principle involved and demon¬ strated its application, and who also issued, announced, and proclaimed it, especially if he did this against difficulties and