Upon the following day another operation was performed upon a young woman, with the same happy result, while on November 7th an amputation was made, entirely painlessly. At this time Morton endeavored to disguise the odor of the substance he was using by aromatic oils. It was not until the staff of the Massachusetts General Hospital declined to use an agent whose composition was kept secret that Morton revealed publicly the fact that this was nothing but sulphuric ether disguised by aromatics. From a report of the Commissioner of Patents, published a little later, the following paragraph is taken, the report being in the nature of a commentary upon the discovery:-- It has been known for many years that the vapor of sulphuric ether, when freely inhaled, would intoxicate to the same extent as alcohol when taken into the stomach. The fact has stood, further, upon the pages of science for many years that the inhalation of sulphuric ether was productive of "temporary narcotic stimulant effects." After the issuance of letters patent Morton began selling office-rights, such being the custom then, as now, among the dental profession, who are much more commercial in{310} their proclivities than their brethren of the medical profession. The result was an almost endless litigation, with the development of the greatest personal animosity and rivalry between Jackson and Morton, as well as the friends and descendants of the other claimants. Morton wrecked his fortune and ruined his health in his efforts to get substantial recognition and remuneration from the United States Government; and the history of his repeated attempts to interest Congress and the various officials of the government, from the president down, is instructive, but far from pleasing, reading. In these attempts he practically failed, and died from an illness contracted through exposure, after maddening disappointment, although he had been the recipient of numerous honors and some small pecuniary recognition from societies and individuals. Morton died in 1868. In reviewing the history of his life and labors there is much to justify the inscription upon the monument erected to his memory at Mount Auburn Cemetery, Boston:-- "_Inventor and revealer of anæsthetic inhalation, before-whom in all time surgery was agony, and by whom pain in surgery was averted and annulled; since whom science has controlled pain_."