William T. G. Morton was born in 1819, and, after failing in business in Boston, in 1840 went to Baltimore and studied dentistry. In 1841 he entered the office of Horace Wells, above alluded to, as assistant, and in 1842 became his partner, after having introduced a new kind of solder for fixation of artificial teeth to gold plates. In 1843 this partnership was dissolved, Wells moving to Hartford, while Morton, in 1844, entered the office of Dr. C. P. Jackson as a medical student, matriculating in the Harvard School, but never graduating. After Wells's visit to Boston, during which he tried to introduce "laughing gas," Morton and he had numerous interviews, especially with regard to this gas. Morton was not well versed in chemistry, and sought the advice of his medical preceptor, Jackson, with regard to its manufacture. Asking why{307} Morton wished to make it and being told the reason, Jackson suggested the use of' sulphuric ether, just as Marcy had suggested its use to Wells, saying that it was easy to procure, safe in employment, and equally productive of results. He also stated that the students at Cambridge College often inhaled ether for amusement. [Illustration: 0327] On the evening of the same day, September 30, 1846, Morton administered ether for the extraction of a tooth, the patient stating that he had felt no pain. On the following day he visited the office of a well-known patent lawyer for the purpose of securing letters patent upon his supposed discovery. This lawyer, learning of Jackson's connection with the subject, took time to consider the matter, consulted with Jackson, and came to the conclusion that the patent must be a joint affair, neither one having exclusive right to claim it. But Jackson,{308} fearing the censure of the Massachusetts Medical Society should his name be connected with the patent, and Morton--as a dentist--having no such fine scruples, it was agreed that the patent should be made out in the names of both, but that Jackson was to at once assign his interest to Morton; in return for which he was to receive a ten per cent, commission. Meantime Morton called upon Warren, one of the surgeons in the Massachusetts General Hospital, who promised his co-operation and sent him an invitation to test his invention in the hospital on October 16. 1846. The clinic-room was filled when Morton placed the patient under the influence of his _letheon_, as he had named it; after which Warren removed a tumor from the neck of a young man, and as it appeared, without pain. [Illustration: 0329]