Correspondence by Charles T. Jackson Containing the Earliest Known Illustrations of a Morton Ether Inhaler

Abstract

A letter, dated December 1, 1846, from Charles T. Jackson, MD, to Josiah D. Whitney contains a previously unreported description of a Morton ether inhaler and the only known contemporaneous hand-drawn illustrations of this type of ether inhaler. This letter and 2 other known letters on ether anesthesia were probably carried from Boston, MA, to Liverpool, United Kingdom, on the same paddle steamer (Acadia) that carried the well-known letter from Jacob Bigelow, MD, to Francis Boott, MD.