William James Morton (1845–1920). Author of America’s first X-ray textbook

Abstract

William James Morton (1845–1920) was the son of a famous father and by supporting his father is linked to the story of ether anaesthesia. Ether and the dentist William Thomas Green Morton (1819–1868) has far outlasted any medical/ scientific contributions made by the electrotherapist/radiologist William James Morton. It is also noticeable that several of his obituaries make no mention of any of his contributions with X-ray work. In later life he served a prison sentence for fraud relating to non-existing silver mines. The X-ray textbook written by William James Morton, in association with Edwin Hammer, was published in September 1896 and was the first X-ray textbook to be published in the USA. Several X-ray images made by William James Morton are included in this brief biography.