The invention of the friction match, 1834 (S584), the abolition of the
tax on windows (1851) (S595), with the introduction of American
petroleum, speedily dispelled the almost subterraneous gloom of the
laborer's cottage. Meanwhile photography, which began to be used in
1839, revealed the astonishing fact that the sun is always ready not
only to make a picture but to take one, and that nothing is so humble
as to be beneath his notice.
News came across the Atlantic from Boston, 1846, that Dr. Morton had
rendered surgery painless by the use of ether. Before a year passed
the English hospitals were employing it. Sir James Y. Simpson of
Edinburgh introduced chloroform (1847). These two agents have
abolished the terror of the surgeon's knife, and have lengthened life
by making it possible to perform a class of operations which formerly
very few patients had been able to bear.
A score of years later Sir Joseph Lister called attention to the
important results obtained by antiseptic methods in surgery; next came
(1895) the introduction from Germany of the marvelous X ray, by whose
help the operator can photograph and locate a bullet or other foreign
substance which he is endeavoring to extract. Together, these
discoveries have saved multitudes of lives.