tion of the human nose that had then been completed on this side of the Atlantic, and this with a display of skill, nerve, and judgment that gave brilliant promise for the future, and showed how well he had spent his time in Europe under Dupuytren, Cooper, and other chiefs of the great art. The position thus attained he was competent to keep against all comers; and no sooner had his father departed than he proceeded to fortify and increase it by numerous other works of similar difficulty, which proved that he had by no means belittled the inherited fame and ability bequeathed him by his predecessors. The qualities he revealed were assuredly of no mean sort. Within five years from the beginning of Dr. Warren's professional career, he had already devised a new and effective method for remedying the deformity known as "fissure of hard and soft palate," or staphyloraphy, as it is commonly called by surgeons. This operation, though not dangerous, is one of peculiar difficulty, delicacy, and often of embarrassment. When successful, there are few operations which are attended with more gratifying results to the patient or are more satisfactory to the performer. In the "New England Quarterly Journal of Medicine and Surgery" for April, 1843, Dr. Warren gave a minute description of his mode of procedure, and stated that up to that time he had had thirteen cases, of which all but one had been followed by a complete cure. There is not space in this memoir to present any further details in regard to this subject, but the whole matter is fully set forth in Dr. Warren's "Surgical Observations." 1

1 It is gratifying to know that Dr. Warren's claims to the discovery of this method were universally acknowledged both at home and abroad. In the "Dublin Quarterly Journal of Medical Science" for November, 1866, one reads: "We hail with pleasure this further contribution from the pen of one who has been for a quarter of a century the successful operator in the New World on cases of fissured palate. Mr. Mason Warren was the first man to recognize the fact that fissures in the hard palate were the result rather of misplaced than deficient bone, and to apply to their remedy the obvious method of dissecting off the muco-periosteum from either side and uniting its edges at a lower level. In short, he put what may

SURGICAL QUALITIES.

It has been truly observed:

223

"While all agree that operations should be avoided when possible, the operative branch of surgery must be considered as affording an exhibition of high qualities on the part of the surgeon. A profound knowledge of anatomy, a thorough acquaintance with surgical pathology, a clear conception of facts suddenly presented, genius ready to meet them, an indomitable courage, untiring perseverance, and, above all, a perfect control of the mental energies, are not qualities to be lightly esteemed. They are in fact-to compare small things with great — similar to those required of the commander of an army in bloody action." 1

In addition to these characteristics Dr. Warren revealed the possession of that rarest of all rare endowments, a good judgment, and in this respect was a fine example of the aptness of a remark by another light of the profession:

"The excellence of the practitioner depends far more upon good judgment than great learning, and, other things being equal, the best practitioner is the man of soundest judgment."

Under one aspect the truth of these views was then more fully tested than now. At that period there were no means of producing insensibility in the patient, and prompt decision and instant execution were imperatively demanded. Life or death waited upon the agile dexterity and ready perceptions of the surgeon. Often the situation was such as to unman the stoutest soul and strain. the nerves to the last tension of endurance. The groans, the shrieks, the fearful contortions of every muscle, the

be termed a false ceiling to the mouth. . . . Langenbeck had in 1862 (nineteen years after Warren's first publication) put forward an identical process as a new invention of his own, apparently in happy ignorance of what Warren had done. The readers of this journal are aware that Messrs. L'Estrange and Collis had also planned a similar operation somewhere about 1845, without a knowledge of Warren's work; but they have always yielded the palm to Warren, to whom the priority of the idea is justly due."

1 Address of Dr. John C. Warren before the American Medical Association at Cincinnati, 1850.

tears that could not be regarded, the attempted writhings of the bound and helpless victim in his agony, the sweat, the clutching fingers, the wild appeal to heaven for succor or consolation, were all fitted to weaken the strongest operator, to benumb his arm, to confuse his mental powers, and to paralyze a courage that was above all things essential to success. Said Dr. Mott:

"The insensibility of the patient is a great convenience to the surgeon. How often, when operating in some deep dark wound, along the course of some great vein with thin walls, alternately distended and flaccid with the vital current, how often have I dreaded that some unfortunate struggle of the patient would deviate the knife a little from its proper course, and that I, who fain would be the deliverer, should inadvertently become the executioner, seeing my patient perish in my hands by the most appalling form of death! Had he been insensible I should have felt no alarm." 1

1 Pain and Anæsthetics: an Essay, by Valentine Mott, M.D. 1862. In the ante-ether days there were not many patients capable of the heroic pluck and stoicism displayed by Dr. Ebenezer Hunt, who went to Boston in 1789 to submit himself to an operation for the removal of a cancer in his head. This was done by Dr. John Warren. "We must bind his hands,' said the Doctor. 'No cable in Boston could hold them fast,' rejoined Dr. Hunt; and with an effort that astonished the physicians themselves he quietly laid his head on a pillow and bade them begin. The ear was first nearly cut off, though afterwards successfully replaced; then for thirteen minutes the operation continued, and every stroke of the knife, so near the auditory nerve, was like the report of a pistol. Dr. Hunt did not flinch in the least, though the sweat poured down his cheeks profusely."

CHAPTER XIII.

MARRIAGE AND DOMESTIC ESTABLISHMENT.

SECOND TOUR ABROAD.. UNCERTAIN HEALTH.-DISCOVERY OF ETHER AS AN ANESTHETIC. FIRST OPERATION IN PUBLIC. DISASTER AT NORWALK. WEBSTER.

LAST HOURS OF DANIEL

WITH Dr. Warren's capacity for drawing happiness from every source and his strong family attachments, with his appreciation of home comforts, his affectionate disposition, and his fondness for the society of the fair sex, it will strike no one as remarkable that his successful start in life was soon followed by the choice of a companion for better or worse. The engagement was not a long one, and on the 30th of April, 1839, he was married to Miss Anna Caspar Crowninshield, youngest daughter of the Hon. Benjamin W. Crowninshield, of Boston. The ceremony was performed at her father's house by Rev. Samuel K. Lothrop, pastor of the church in Brattle Square, assisted by Rev. Dr. Stone, of St. Paul's. The young couple started for New York and Philadelphia on the afternoon of their wedding-day. At the end of a fortnight they returned from their tour, and Mr. Crowninshield gave a handsome reception in their honor at his residence on the corner of Beacon and Somerset Streets, after which they established themselves at No. 29 Pemberton Square, which they continued to occupy for over five years. This home of the newly married pair was happily destined to be the scene of much enjoyment, such as Dr. Warren particularly favored, and of a continued

display of that affection which was to smooth his future path and thus vindicate the wisdom of his choice. Such a union was needed to round out his being into its appropriate fulness and symmetry; and in the resulting love, harmony, and peaceful fruition he experienced the truth of that saying of the French which compares a wellassorted marriage to a melodious duet.

During the next five years after his marriage Dr. Warren followed his profession with quiet assiduity. On the 3d of June, 1841, his mother died, -a cutting sorrow which sank deep into his affectionate nature and blighted for the time even that happiness which should have come from his increasing family and steadily growing reputation. In 1841 a daughter was born to him, and in 1842 the son who now survives him, though a son born in the succeeding year died before the end of his second twelvemonth. Otherwise there was little to record of his life at this period. In 1844 his incessant labors began to tell upon his health, and he decided to cross the ocean again in search of the vigor he had lost. Starting alone, he sailed from Boston in the "Acadia" on the 1st of April. He remained a fortnight in London, visiting old friends and gaining a few new ones with the addition of some valuable information. Thence proceeding to Paris, he went south to Munich, crossed the Stelvio, returned by another pass into Switzerland, and finally again made his way to the French capital, where he spent a few days and then crossed the Channel to Liverpool via London, sailing for Boston on the 4th of August in the same vessel in which he had left it. Reaching home much refreshed, he gave himself at once to the work that engrossed his energies for the ten years which were to ensue before he again saw the opposite shores of the Atlantic. During his absence the President and Fellows of Harvard University had testified their respect for his name and attainments by conferring upon him the hon