How did Crawford Long contribute to the early use of ether anesthesia?

Crawford Williamson Long is recognized as the first physician to use ether as an anesthetic during surgery.1

His discovery was prompted by his observations at social gatherings known as "ether frolics," where he noticed that participants who were intoxicated by ether did not appear to feel pain when injured. Applying this insight, Long performed a painless tumor removal on a patient in 1842 after administering ether.1

Although Long continued to use ether in his medical practice, he did not publish his findings until 1849. Because of this delay, William Thomas Green Morton is often credited with gaining the medical community's acceptance of anesthesia following his successful public demonstration in 1846. Despite the publicity surrounding Morton's later work, Long’s priority in the actual clinical use of ether anesthesia is historically acknowledged.12