Medicine Atlas

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Crawford Long

Physician

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Crawford Long, a rural Georgia physician, removed a tumor from a patient's neck under ether anesthesia on March 30, 1842, four years before William Morton's celebrated public demonstration, but did not publish his results until 1849. That delay is central to the priority dispute over the discovery of surgical anesthesia: Long's claim is the earliest by date, but Morton's public, promptly reported demonstration is what actually changed surgical practice.

Facts
Birth Year
1815 1
Birth Date
1815-11-01 1
Death Year
1878 1
Death Date
1878-06-16 1
Cross-Tradition Connections

Held Differently

Anesthesia, Treatments

Used ether surgically in 1842, four years before Morton, but did not publish until 1849.

Sources
1. The Greatest Benefit to Mankind: A Medical History of Humanity
Roy Porter, W. W. Norton and Company, 1997
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