Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 4).djvu/474

MORTON, William Thomas Green, dentist, b. in Charlton, Mass., 19 Aug., 1819 ; d. in New York city, 15 July, 1868. He early left home to enter business in Boston, but, being unsuccessful, went to Baltimore in 1840, and there studied den- tistry. In 1841 he returned to Boston, where he introduced a new kind of solder by which false teeth could be fastened to gold plates. In his efforts to remove the roots of old teeth without pain he tried stimulants, opium, and magnetism, but without success. Meanwhile he attended medical lectures, and studied chemistry under Dr. Charles T. Jackson {q. v.), in whose laboratory he became acquainted with the auiEsthetic properties of sulphuric ethei*. After experimenting on him- self with this agent, and becoming satisiied of its safety, he administered it to a patient on 30 Sept., 1846, producing unconsciousness, during which a firmly rooted bicuspid tooth was painlessly ex- tracted. Other successful experiments followed, and he communicated the results to Dr. John C. Warren. This new antesthetic was first publicly administered on 16 Oct., 1846. to a patient in the Massachusetts general hospital, from whose jaw a vascular tumor was removed by Dr. Warren. From this operation dates the introduction into general surgery of ethereal an<esthesia. In November, 1846, Dr. Morton obtained a patent for its use, giving to it the name of " letheon," and a month later he secured a patent in England. He offered free rights to all charitable institutions thi-oughout the country, but the government appropriated the discovery to its own tise without compensation. Various claimants opposed his right of discovery, notably Dr. Jackson and Horace Wells, and the matter was investigated by the French academy of sciences, who decreed one of the Montyon prizes of 2,500 francs to Dr. Jackson, and a similar award of 2,500 francs to Mr. Morton, for the application of the discovery to surgical operations. His claims were so earnestly opposed in Boston that his busi- ness was entirely ruined. He applied to congress for relief in 1846, and again in 1849, strengthened by the action of the trustees of the Massachusetts general hospital, who conceded to him in 1848 the discovery of the power and safety of ether in pro- ducing anaesthesia. In 1852 a bill appro- priating $100,000 as a national testi- monial for his dis- covery was intro- duced in congress, with the condition that he should sur- render his patent to the U. S. govern- ment, but it failed, and he was equally unsuccessful in 1853 and in 1854. Tes- timonials crediting him with the ap- plication of ether as an auiesthetic were signed by the med- ical profession in Boston in 1856, in New York in 1858, and in Philadelphia

in 1860. The last

years of his life were spent in agricultural pur- suits in Wellesley, Mass., where he also raised and imported fine cattle. Mr. Morton received, in addition to the Montyon medal, decorations from Russia and Sweden, which are now deposited in the rooms of the Massachusetts historical society. See " Trials of a Public Benefactor," by Dr. Nathan P. Weyman (New York, 1859). The illustration shows the monument that was presented by Thomas Lee to the city of Boston in 1868. It is placed in the Public garden and bears the following inscrip- tion : •' To commemorate the discovery that the inhaling of ether causes insensibility to pain. First proved to the world at the Massachusetts general hospital in Boston. October, A.D. MDCCCXLVI." On each of the sides is a marble medallion repre- senting the physician and the stirgeon operating upon the sick and injured, who have been placed under the influence of ether.

MORWITZ, Edward, publisher, b. in Dantzic, Prussia, 12 June, 1815; d. in Philadelphia, 13 Dec., 1893. He studied at the universities of Halle, Leipsic, and Berlin, received in 1841, from the latter, the degree of M. D., and was made first assistant of the Hufelande clinic there. In 1850 he came to this country, settling in Philadelphia, where in 1853 he purchased the “German Democrat,” which was long edited and published by him. He also became the owner of the “Pennsylvanian” and the “Age,” which he conducted for some time, and he was the owner of various printing-houses in several of the states, from which he issued more than 200 newspapers. Dr. Morwitz invented an improved needle-gun. He published numerous books, including a “History of Medicine” (Leipsic, 1845) and “German-American Dictionary” (Philadelphia, 1882).

MOSBY, John Singleton, soldier, b. in Powhatan county, Va., 6 Dec., 1833. He entered the University of Virginia, and before completing his course shot and seriously wounded a student who assaulted him. He was fined and sentenced to imprisonment, but was pardoned by the governor, and his fine was remitted by the legislature. He studied law during his confinement, and soon after his release was admitted to the bar, and practised in Bristol, Washington co., Va. At the beginning of hostilities in the spring of 1861 he enlisted in a company of cavalry, and served in the campaign of Gen. Joseph E. Johnston in the Shenandoah valley and the Manassas operations, and on picket duty on the Potomac during the winter. At the expiration of twelve months he and a friend were the only soldiers in his company that were willing to re-enlist without first receiving a furlough. On 14 Feb., 1862, he was made adjutant of his regiment, but two months later, when the colonel, William E. Jones, was displaced, he returned to the ranks. Gen. James E. B. Stuart, the brigade commander, observed Mosby's abilities, and invited him to serve as a scout at his headquarters. He guided Stuart's force in a bold raid in the rear of Gen. George B. McClellan's position on the Chickahominy, 14 June, 1862. In January, 1863, he crossed the Rappahannock into northern Virginia, which had been abandoned the year before to the occupation of the National army, and recruited a force of irregular cavalry, with which, aided by the friendly population of Loudoun and Fauquier counties, he harassed the National lines, and did much damage by cutting communications and destroying supply-trains in the rear of the armies that invaded Virginia. His partisan rangers, when not on a raid, scattered for safety, and remained in concealment, with orders to assemble again at a given time and place. Several expeditions were sent to capture Mosby and his men; but he always had intelligence of the approach of the enemy, and evaded every encounter, though the district was repeatedly ravaged as a punishment to the people for harboring and abet-