27 Facts About Crawford Long

Crawford Williamson Long was an American surgeon and pharmacist best known for his first use of inhaled sulfuric ether as an anesthetic.

Crawford Long's father was a state senator, a merchant and a planter, and named his son after his close friend and colleague, Georgia statesman William H Crawford.

Crawford Long began his study at Transylvania College in the fall of 1836 in Lexington, Kentucky.

Crawford Long observed and participated in many surgeries and noted the effects of operating without anesthesia.

Crawford Long transferred to the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia after spending only a year at Transylvania College, and was exposed to some of the most advanced medical technology of the time.

Crawford Long took over a rural medical practice in Jefferson, Jackson County, in 1841.

Crawford Long administered sulfuric ether on a towel and simply had the patient inhale.

Crawford Long performed many other surgeries using this technique during the next few years, introducing the technique to his obstetrics practice as well.

Crawford Long subsequently removed a second tumor from Venable and used ether as an anesthetic in amputations and childbirth.

Crawford Long was a member of the Demosthenian Literary Society while a student at the University of Georgia.

Crawford Long's work was published in the December 1846 issue of Medical Examiner which alerted Long to this other claim.

Crawford Long reported his own findings to the Medical College of Georgia in 1849.

In 1854, Crawford Long requested William Crosby Dawson, a US Senator, to present his claims of ether anesthesia discovery to the attention of Congress.

Crawford Long married Caroline Swain in 1842 and together they had twelve children, seven of whom survived to adulthood.

Crawford Long died of a stroke on June 16,1878, shortly after helping to deliver a baby.

Crawford Long is buried alongside his wife in Oconee Hill Cemetery in Athens, Georgia.

In 1849, Crawford Long announced his discovery in a small local magazine.

Today, the majority of scholars concur that Crawford Long performed the first successful surgery using anesthesia.

Crawford Long administered ether to 7 patients, none of whom felt any pain during their operations, several years prior to Morton's 1846 public exposition.

One of Crawford Long's letters is very revealing as to the origins of Morton's ideas.

Reportedly, Crawford Long failed to publish his findings until 1849 for two reasons.

Crawford Long assumed nothing, and was thoroughly truthful in looks, tone, manner and action; lived simply, treated everyone courteously, and walked humbly before God.

Crawford Long had strength of will and power of endurance.

We shall give the manly virtues of Christian integrity of Crawford Long a dwelling place where so many of the elect of our life already gathered.

In 1879, the National Eclectic Medical Association declared that Crawford Long was the official discoverer of anesthesia.

The amendment creating Crawford Long County was ratified on November 2,1920.

Crawford Long was honored in the "Famous American Series" of postage stamps in 1940, and in 1978 with a postcard.