ALS signed “Wm. T. G. Morton,” one page, 7 x 8.75, April 17, 1854. Letter to his attorney Horace Cornwall, in full: "It pains me not to be able to do more for you at this time but shall hope to send you more next month. Try and get along with this now and I will do more for you as soon as possible…P.S. I am expecting my bill up any day in the Senate. There is only 1/2 dozen bills on private calendar before it. I have a large vote in favor of it." In fine condition.
Two years after starting his own dental practice, Morton famously demonstrated the usage of ether as a reliable painkilling chemical at Massachusetts General Hospital on October 16, 1846, when he successfully and painlessly extracted a tumor from the neck of Edward Abbott. Upon receiving a patent for his inhalant, Morton was confronted with claims that others had first discovered the surgical benefits of ether. To legitimize his findings and to seek a ‘national recompense’ of $100,000, he applied to Congress three different times. On Morton’s fourth attempt he hired attorney Horace Cornwall to expedite research, but due to travel costs and mounting legal bills, he was forced to pay Cornwall in modest installments. On April 19, 1854, two days after writing this letter, Morton’s bill ‘to recompense the discoverer of practical anesthesia’ passed the Senate, but a rapid turnaround by the House caught Morton by surprise and unprepared, and resulted in the bill’s prompt dismissal. Relating to Morton’s lifelong fight for recognition, this remarkable letter represents the first item we have ever offered of the famed oral surgeon.
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