In 1844, Horace Wells, a native of Vermont, discovered that the inhalation of nitrous-oxide gas produces anaesthesia. He was a dentist. He gave it to his patients, and was able to perform dental operations without causing pain. Thus we may see how the case stands. Long produced anaesthesia in 1842; that is to say, he caused his patients to inhale sulphuric ether in that year, whenever he had a painful operation to perform, and in each case the operation was painless. In 1846, when the surgeons of the Massachusetts General Hospital performed painless operations on patients, after administering to them Morton's patented "Letheon," which was his name for sulphuric ether, there came about a great war of pamphlets, and it ended tragically. Long had never made any secret of the substance which he used. He gave information of it to all the surgeons and doctors with whom he came in contact; and he was not in any way concerned in the conflict that was carried on by Jackson, Morton, and Wells. He simply gathered together the facts of his discovery, proved that he was the first physician to perform painless operations in surgery, and that was the end of it so far as he was concerned. Wells became insane, and committed suicide in New York in 1848. Morton died in New York City of congestion of the brain. Jackson ended his days in an insane asylum. In Boston a monument has been erected to the discoverer of anaesthesia. The name of Crawford W. Long should stand first upon it, and should be followed by the names of Wells, Morton, and Jackson. [Illustration: Early Progress of the State 181] THE EARLY PROGRESS OF THE STATE. After the invention of the cotton gin, the progress of the people and the development of the agriculture of the State went forward very rapidly. The population began to increase. The movement of families from Virginia and North Carolina grew constantly larger. In Virginia, and in settled portions of North Carolina, it was found that the soil and climate were not favorable to the growth of the cotton plant: consequently hundreds of families left their homes in these States, and came to Georgia.