Crawford Long

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Lore & Background

Long was born in Danielsville, Madison County, Georgia on November 1, 1815, to James and Elizabeth Long. His father was a state senator, a merchant and a planter. By age fourteen, Long graduated from the local academy and applied to the University of Georgia in Athens, where he roomed with Alexander Stephens, future Vice President of the Confederate States. He received his A.M. degree in 1835. He began study at Transylvania College in fall 1836 in Lexington, Kentucky, studying under surgeon Benjamin Dudley and observing surgeries without anesthesia. Long transferred to the University of Pennsylvania, receiving his M.D. in 1839. After an 18-month internship in New York, he returned to Georgia and took over a rural medical practice in Jefferson, Jackson County, in 1841. Long experimented with the use of ether on three enslaved people, observing it had the same physiological effects Humphry Davy described for nitrous oxide in 1800. On March 30, 1842, he removed a tumor from the neck of James M. Venable, administering sulfuric ether on a towel. He subsequently removed a second tumor from Venable and used ether in amputations and childbirth. In 1845, he had his wife inhale ether while giving birth. Long married Caroline Swain in 1842; they had twelve children, seven surviving to adulthood. During the Civil War, he joined a militia unit in Athens but was never called to duty, instead serving as a surgeon to soldiers on both sides. He died of a stroke on June 16, 1878, shortly after helping to deliver a baby, and is buried alongside his wife in Oconee Hill Cemetery in Athens, Georgia.

Reader's Guide

Long's significance lies in his priority of using inhaled ether anesthesia in surgery, predating William T. G. Morton's public demonstration on October 16, 1846, at Massachusetts General Hospital. However, Long did not publish his results until 1849, after learning of Morton's claim through the December 1846 issue of Medical Examiner. He then began documenting details, collecting patient accounts, and notarizing their letters. The source states Long administered ether to seven patients, none of whom felt pain during their operations, several years before Morton's 1846 exposition. A controversy—the 'ether controversy'—ensued among Long, Morton, Horace Wells, and Charles Jackson, each vying for a $200,000 reward from the US Congress. Long petitioned Congress through Senator William Crosby Dawson in 1854 but never received full credit during his lifetime. In 1879, a year after his death, the National Eclectic Medical Association declared Long the official discoverer of anesthesia. The source notes that today the majority of scholars concur that Long performed the first successful surgery using anesthesia. Long was also the first obstetric anesthetist; his practice of using inhalation anesthesia dominated obstetrics until recently.

Did You Know?

• Long removed a tumor from the neck of patient James M. Venable on March 30, 1842, using sulfuric ether on a towel for inhalation.
• Long experimented with ether on three enslaved people, observing effects similar to those Humphry Davy described for nitrous oxide in 1800.
• Long did not publish his findings until 1849 in The Southern Medical and Surgical Journal, after learning of William T. G. Morton's public demonstration.
• In 1879, a year after Long's death, the National Eclectic Medical Association declared him the official discoverer of anesthesia.
• Long was a cousin of the western legend Doc Holliday and may have operated on Doc's cleft lip.