Long, Dr. Crawford Williamson Portrait, 1877

In the early 1870s, a very young Joseph Jacobs was apprenticed to Dr. Crawford Williamson Long (1815-1878), one of the more significant pharmacist-surgeons in American history. Along with his brother and a Dr. Hal C. Billups, Long operated a pharmacy under the name of “Long & Billups” in Athens, Georgia. In 1919, almost fifty years after first meeting Long, Jacobs wrote and published a short book of recollections in his honor. Entitled Dr. Crawford W. Long: The Distinguished Physician-Pharmacist (1919), the book argues for Long’s role as the “discoverer of surgical anaesthesia.” This portrait of Long was published in the book.