Jackson

iose by Rhode Island. Here with equal prompt-
Less he brought out his report at the end of the
irst year (1840). Before completion of the
Ihode Island survey he was made state geolo-
gist of New Hampshire, and again brought out
i series of reports (1841-44) with characteristic
Jacrity. After completing the New Hampshire
survey, Jackson confined himself mainly to teach-
ng chemistry in Boston, but in 1847 he came
nto public life again as a United States geolo-
gist, in company with J. D. Whitney \_q.vJ\ and
f. W. Foster, to report upon the mineral wealth
rf the public lands in the Lake Superior region.
Here, however, there arose serious trouble, due
in part to personal opposition to Jackson, who
was forced to resign at the end of the second year
and returned again to his laboratory.

Prior to the Lake Superior episode Jackson
had become involved in a bitter controversy con-
cerning the introduction of surgical anesthesia.
As in his dealings with Morse, Jackson again
claimed to be the virtual discoverer, and that
others had robbed him of his idea. The basis for
his claims may be outlined briefly as follows: In
1834 he had observed that an alcoholic solution
of chloroform when applied to a nerve renders
it insensible to pain. He had also investigated
the action of nitrous oxide, and in 1837 showed
that its effects were in part due to asphyxia. In
1841-42 he accidentally broke a large container
of chlorine and stated that he was nearly suffo-
cated as a consequence, but that through inhala-
tion of ether the pain and irritation caused by
the accident w'ere relieved. The narcotic effects
of ether being thus disclosed to him, he carried
out further experiments, on one occasion com-
pletely etherizing himself and remaining uncon-
scious for fifteen minutes. On Sept. 30,1846, he
suggested to W. T. G. Morton [g.v.] that ether
be used in extracting a tooth, and told him how
to administer it. He took no further interest,
however, in the rapid developments which fol-
lowed Morton's use of ether, and assumed no
responsibility until December, when he address-
ed two letters to M. de Beaumont (dated Dec. i
and Dec. 20, 1846) to be read to the French
Academy of Sciences, in which, without men-
tioning Morton's name, he announced himself the
discoverer of surgical anesthesia. On Mar. 2,
1847, he made a similar announcement at the
American Academy of Arts and Sciences. The
paper, published the day before the meeting in
the Boston Daily Advertiser, was sent abroad
purporting erroneously to carry with it the offi-
cial sanction of the American Academy. It can-
not be doubted that Jackson knew that inhalation
of ether would produce unconsciousness, but this

Jackson

was common knowledge at that time, for in
Jonathan Pereira's Elements of Materia Medica
(1839) one finds the statement (p. 211), "If the
air be too strongly impregnated with ether stupe-
faction ensues." Jackson gave Morton the sug-
gestion and supplied him with the ether which
he used during the first extraction, but he took
no part in demonstrating the surgical uses of
ether, and had Morton's experiment proved fa-
tal to the patient Jackson would probably have
been the first to condemn him. Through the paper
to the American Academy, Jackson was prompt-
ly recognized abroad and he was accorded many
honors in Europe. In order further to support
his claims he published in 1861 A Manual of
Etherisation, Containing Directions for the Em-
ployment of Ether, Chloroform and other Anaes-
thetic Agents.

The later years of his life were soured by
perpetual controversy, and finally in 1873 his
mind gave way, but he did not die until 1880. He
was an erratic and versatile genius with an ex-
traordinary dapacity for hard work. "He had
the inventive faculty; the habit of incessant in-
vestigation; the capacity of getting tangible,
fruitful results; and the ability to suggest suc-
cessful expedients to others" (Woodworth,
post). When not in the heat of controversy he
could be "a ready conversationalist, even elo-
quent in his speech and fond of telling stories"
(Ibid,) His geological work in Maine was
largely mineralogical and consisted principally
of reconnaissances. His discovery of tin deposits
was one of many interesting incidents, but was
of little value. His recognition of the synclinal
structure of the rocks underlying Narragansett
Bay in Rhode Island was noteworthy (The
Autobiography of Nathaniel Southgate Shakr,
1909, pp. 109-10), but his estimate of the possi-
ble value of the coal beds of that state was vastly
overdrawn. In New Hampshire, as in both of
the previous surveys, no new problems were
evolved.

[J, B. Woodworth, in Am. Geologist, Aug. 1897, with
an incomplete bibliography of Jackson's writings; G.
P. Merrill, Contributions to a History of Am. State
Geological and Natural History Surveys (1920), being
Bull. 109 of the U. S. Nat. Museum; Martin Gay,
Statement of the Claims of Charles T. Jackson to the
Discovery of the Applicability of Sulphuric Ether to the
Prevention of Pain in Surgical Operations (1847); J.
L. Lord and H. C. Lord, A Defense of Dr. Charles T.
Jackson's Claims to the Discovery of Etherization
(1848); R. M. Hodges, A Narrative of Events Con-
nected with the Introduction of Sulphuric Ether into
Surgical Use (1891); Amos Kendall, Morse's Patent:
Full Exposure of Dr. Chas. T. Jackson's Pretensions to
the Invention of the American Electro-Magnetic Tele-
graph (1852) ; Proc. Am. Acad. Arts and Sci.t n,s,
VIII (1881); Proc. Boston Soc. Nat. Hist., vol. XXI
(1883); Springfield Daily Republican, Sept. 9, 1880;
Medic. Record, Sept, xx, 1880 j Pop. Sci, Monthly, July

537