The Patent Trail from Etherist W. T. G. Morton to Laughing-Gas Pioneer G. Q. Colton

In 1849 by marrying Elizabeth, sister of ether patentee W. T. G. Morton, G. H. P. Flagg clinched a job the following year as his brother-in-law Morton ’s dental assistant. By 1861, still on Tremont Street some seven years after having left Morton’s office, Flagg had become senior partner of the Boston dental firm of “Flagg& Osgood ” (upper advertisement). In 1864 his junior partner ’s brother, James, patented the thermoregulating nitrous-oxide generators modified by A. W. Sprague for G. Q. Colton’s use throughout the United States and over in Europe. As implied by his 1868 testimonial for Sprague’s ammonium nitrate (“Ammonia,”lower advertisement), Flagg had shifted from etherizing patients alongside Morton to “laughing-gassing” patients alongside the Dentist(s) Osgood. (Copyright © the American Society of Anesthesiologists’ Wood Library-Museum of Anesthesiology.)
Source: Anesthesiology - Category: Anesthesiology Source Type: research