Discoverer of Ether on Geology's "Divine Power & Goodness"

JACKSON, CHARLES T. (1805-1880). American scientist and medical doctor; claimant for the discovery and use of ether as an anesthetic. ALS. (“Charles T. Jackson”). 2pp. 4to. Boston, January 14, 1838. To EDWARD WARREN (?-?), who later became the agent and defender of William T. G. Morton, Jackson’s adversary in the bizarre controversy surrounding the discovery of ether.



“Accept my thanks for your kind letter of 29th ulto. to which I should have sooner replied had I been able to answer satisfactorily your question as to when I should be in Augusta.



I feel most highly gratified by the course pursued by your excellent clergy in reference to Geology. I had expected much aid from their intelligence and candour [sic.] & it is really with us a great point to gain the countenance & support of the wise & good. I sincerely trust that the more our clergy investigate the pretensions [?] of this science the more they will feel that there is nothing irreligious taught but on the contrary that it contains some of the most splendid & satisfactory proofs & illustrations of Divine power & goodness.



I do not know exactly at what time I shall be able to present myself at Augusta, report in hand, but I hope so to do early in Feby next. My whole time since my return to Boston has been taken up by the long & tedious work of Analysis of soils which are analyses of the most complex & difficult kind. They must be accurate to be of any real use. Such analyses as those of Sir H. Davy will not answer our purpose. I don’t think it possible for me to present more than half a dozen such analyses as I should call accurate & unless I progress more rapidly than I have done thus far, I shall not finish so many. A single analysis of a soil will require 3 weeks constant labour & the way I manage to economize time is to describe [?] as many at once as I can superintend. It requires all the stock of my Lab[orator]y to keep the work going. I often work until past midnight after spending the whole day amid acid fumes. This I fear will soon wear me out if I do not have some repose. But the work must be done!



Please remember me kindly to such of my Bangor friends as you may meet & particularly to Maj. Hammersmith’s [?] family. & don’t forget Uncle Sam my good assistant....”



Jackson was a well-regarded and accomplished New England chemist and geologist as well as the brother-in-law of poet and philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson. Jackson’s medical training in France was at the Sorbonne and at the École des Mines for geology. Although he practiced medicine in Boston for a time, “in 1836, finding his services more in demand as a chemist and mineralogist, he abandoned himself wholly to these pursuits and established a laboratory which became a well-known place of resort for students and others interested in scientific work,” (DSB.). Between 1836 and 1844, Jackson completed geological surveys of Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island after which he returned to Boston to teach. Our letter relates to the second of his three reports on the geology of Maine, Report on the Geology of the Public Lands in the State of Maine published in Augusta in 1838.



In our letter, Jackson mentions the geological work of English chemist and physicist Sir Humphry Davy (1778-1829), perhaps the best-known British scientist of his day. Although he is most remembered for his work in the field of chemistry and for his invention of the miner’s safety lamp, Davy was “an active participant in geological circles. As early as 1805 he gave a series of ten lectures on geology at the Royal Institution; in 1807 he was instrumental, with George Greenough, in the founding of the Geological Society of London; and in 1813 he was given special permission by the French Emperor, Napoleon I, to visit the extinct and active volcanoes in France and Italy with a view to testing his own hypothesis concerning the source of volcanic heat. He continued to publish occasional geological papers throughout his life, and he knew personally nearly all the leading British geologists,” (“Humphrey Davy as Geologist, 1805-29,” The British Journal for the History of Science, Siegfried and Dott).



However, Jackson’s interest in Davy’s work went beyond geology. Although ether was discovered in 1275, it was not until the middle of the 19th century that it was used as an anesthetic. Up until then, surgery had been a brutal and torturous experience for both patient and doctor alike. Davy has been cited as the first to suggest the alleviation of physical pain by the inhalation of nitrous oxide, a gas with which he had been experimenting at the turn of the 18th century. However, “nobody took any notice of this recommendation. Instead, breathing nitrous oxide for the delightful feeling of intoxication became the rage,” (DSB). His suggestion remained a mere theory for nearly half-a-century until Jackson and several others introduced the world to the medical use of ether.



It was after his 1844 return to teaching chemistry at Harvard that Jackson became embroiled in the controversy over ether. Jackson had investigated nitrous oxide, proving, he said, that asphyxia played a role in the effects it produced. He had used ether to treat himself for the negative effects of a chlorine gas accident and had once completely etherized himself for 15 minutes. However, it was his student, William T.G. Morton, a Boston dentist who, unbeknownst to the citizens of Boston, was wanted in Rochester, Cincinnati, St. Louis, Washington D.C., Baltimore, and New Orleans for crimes including postal fraud, embezzlement, passing bad checks, and eluding his creditors. On October 2, 1846, Morton publicly performed a painless tooth extraction on a patient anesthetized with ether. News of Morton’s “discovery” was printed in the Boston Transcript, and he was invited to demonstrate the effects of ether at Massachusetts General Hospital, becoming the first person to successfully anesthetize a surgery patient (in a building now referred to as the “ether dome”). He began to discuss with colleagues, including his former partner Horace Wells, how best to benefit financially from the discovery.



Jackson deplored Morton’s base commercialism and declined to be connected with the discovery. However, upon hearing colleagues predict the great possibilities for ether’s use, Jackson revealed that he had suggested the idea to Morton and went back to Morton to ask for a share of his profits as a reward for his advice. Morton’s lawyer applied for a patent, from which Morton and Jackson would both benefit. The newly granted patent notwithstanding, others had already begun using ether in dentistry; As physician and poet Oliver Wendell Holmes observed, “Everybody wanted to have a hand in the great discovery. That was the mood of Boston in mid-November,” (DAB). However, Jackson insisted to Morton’s attorney that he was solely responsible for the discovery and that Morton’s role was minimal, demanding an increase in pecuniary remuneration and threatening “to send a detailed claim to the Academy of Sciences of France, recognized internationally as the arbiter on such issues. By December news of ether’s benefits had reached London, Glasgow and Edinburgh, the latter city being the veritable capital of surgical learning. However, the matter was left undecided by the Academy for several years until the “Ether Commission,” which had been created to assign credit, reached its decision. In 1850, at the commission’s recommendation, the Academy jointly awarded their Prix Montyon, (awarded to “whosoever shall invent any means of perfecting medical science or surgical art”) to Jackson and Morton. Morton declined the award claiming that he should be the sole recipient and made numerous appeals to the U.S. Congress after his business was ruined by a lack of recognition of his patent rights. Further complicating matters were the conflicting claims of Morton’s former partner Horace Wells, who had introduced nitrous oxide into his dental practice before Morton had used ether, and Crawford W. Long, a Georgia doctor who claimed to have administered ether during surgery, possibly as early as 1841.



Jackson’s role in the discovery of ether’s use as an anesthetic is undermined by his past claims. “In 1836 Jackson claimed discovery of guncotton after it had been announced by C.F. Schönbein. Jackson returned to American in 1832 on the same ship with Samuel F.B. Morse and some years later claimed to have pointed out to Morse the principles of the electric telegraph which Morse patented in 1840,” (DSB). In 1847 Jackson became engaged in a geological survey of the Lake Superior region. “After two seasons’ work, conflicts with his fellow geologists J.D. Whitney and J.W. Foster led to his discharge. After Jackson was dismissed as U.S. geologist, there appeared the pamphlet Full Exposure of the Conduct of Charles T. Jackson, Leading to His Discharge from Government Service, and Justice to Messrs. Foster and Whitney,” (ibid.).



Oddly, the lives of the men involved in finding relief from surgical pain came to tragic, agonizing, even bizarre ends. Morton collapsed and died in a New York City heat wave during a visit to publish a rebuttal to an Atlantic Monthly article that denied his role in the discovery. Wells became addicted to chloroform, attacked several women with acid and was confined to prison where he killed himself and Jackson spent the last seven years of his life in the McLean Hospital for the insane.



“Edward Warren, who described himself as an acquaintance of Charles Thomas Jackson, M.D., for over a decade, was not convinced of Jackson’s claim as the discoverer of etherization. For unknown reasons, most likely to be financial, Edward Warren became a spokesman, and later an agent for Morton. In 1847, Edward Warren, published three editions of a pamphlet in defense of Morton’s claims,” (“‘Gentlemen! This Is No Humbug’: Did John Collins Warren, M.D., Proclaim These Words on October 16, 1846, at Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston?” Anesthesiology, Haridas).



Written on thin paper in Jackson’s frenetic scrawl. Folded with some ink show through. In very good condition. Letters of Jackson are extremely rare.