A.J. Wright, MLS
Nathaniel Chapman, MD (1780-1853), First AMA president, 1846 engraving
Source: Wikipedia.
In 1848, medical practice in the United States was a mess. Anesthesia with ether had been “discovered” in Boston in 1846, and chloroform in Edinburgh, Scotland, soon after, but physicians were still debating the value and safety of their use. Many of those physicians were “regular” doctors who used surgery, drug administration, purgatives and