Who is crawford w long

Crawford Williamson Long was born on November 1, , in Danielsville, the seat of Madison County , to a wealthy merchant and planter. At the age of fourteen he exhausted the resources of the local academy and applied to the University of Georgia in Athens. There he met and became lifelong friends with Alexander Stephens , who would later serve as vice president of the Confederacy during the Civil War Long received his A.

In the fall of he began his medical education at Transylvania College in Lexington, Kentucky, where he studied under Benjamin Dudley, a renowned surgeon. There, Long had the opportunity to observe and participate in several surgeries, but these were harrowing experiences, as patients were not sedated and often experienced excruciating pain. There he had the opportunity to study with some of the greatest medical scholars of the day and to witness new medical techniques firsthand.

He received his medical degree in He observed that attendees often fell or bumped into things but seemed to feel no pain until the effects of the gas wore off. As he established his medical practice, Long began to experiment with sulfuric ether as an anesthetic.

He performed his first surgical procedure using the gas on March 30, , when he removed a tumor from the neck of a young man. Though he performed more surgeries using anesthesia over the next several years and began using it in his obstetrical practice, Long did not publish his findings. Many doctors were skeptical that the use of gases or other chemicals during surgery would provide pain relief, and Long wanted to be sure of his discovery.

He made no secret of his investigation among his colleagues and friends in Jefferson, however. Soon after the debate over credit for the discovery of anesthesia began to rage between Morton, Jackson, and the Wells family, a fourth claimant appeared—Crawford Williamson Long , a country practitioner from Jefferson, Georgia, who had studied medicine at Transylvania and the University of Pennsylvania.

According to his account, Long had been familiar with the intoxicating effects of nitrous oxide and sulphuric ether and noted bruises and falls which caused no pain when under the influence of those gases. Long then administered ether on a towel to James M. Long, the physician who, on March 30, first used ether for surgical anesthesia. The Gallery takes you on a journey through Dr.

From his exceptional education, to his early days as a physician and his discovery of the first anesthetic, through the days of the Civil War and Reconstruction.

The mids Pendergrass General Store building traces the development of goods available to small town residents over time. Long Museum can now be seen on our new Google Tour! Enjoy visiting the museum from home before you come to see us in person. Privacy Policy Terms of Use. Access your subscriptions. Free access to newly published articles. Purchase access. Rent article Rent this article from DeepDyve. Access to free article PDF downloads.