Ether

Used as anæsthetic, more freely in the U. S. than elsewhere, and is regarded as safer than all other anæsthetics, except when disease of the kidneys exists, the proportion of deaths to the number of administrations being 1 to 16,677. In overdoses it causes death by paralyzing the centers which control respiration. Its anæsthetic and intoxicating effects were long known, but it was not used practically until 1846, when it was employed by Dr. W. T. G. Morton of Boston to relieve the pain of extracting teeth. Shortly afterward it was used in surgical operations. Priority of discovery was claimed by Dr. C. T. Jackson, but Morton is usually regarded as having best right to be termed its discoverer. U. S. Government paid Morton $100.000 for his patent for the application. It is sometimes taken internally to relieve pain. In certain parts of Ireland it is used as an intoxicant in place of alcoholics, and produces a form of drunkenne which is rapidly recovered from, thus allowing its users to indulge with great frequency. See ETHYL ETHER.