In the 1840s, four Americans — Crawford Long, Horace Wells, William Morton, and Charles Jackson — each claimed to have discovered surgical anesthesia. Long used ether in 1842 but didn't publish until 1849. Wells demonstrated nitrous oxide in 1845 but the demonstration failed when the patient cried out. Morton held the famous 1846 public demonstration at Massachusetts General Hospital. Jackson claimed he'd given Morton the idea. The priority dispute consumed and destroyed them: Wells became addicted to chloroform and died by suicide in 1848. Morton spent his life seeking recognition and died in financial hardship in 1868. Jackson was committed to McLean Hospital asylum in 1873. Long practiced medicine quietly and avoided the worst of the controversy — though he received less public recognition than Morton.
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