In 1821 “he performed the first operation for osteo-sarcoma of the lower jaw.  In 1822 he introduced his original operation for immobility of the lower jaw.  He was the first surgeon who removed the lower jaw for necrosis, and the first to tie successfully the primitive iliac artery for aneurism.  Other of his original operations were cutting out two inches of the deep jugular vein, inseparably imbedded in a tumor, and tying both ends of the vein, and closing, with a fine ligature, wounds of large veins of a longitudinal or transverse kind, even where an olive-sliced piece had been cut out.”

It was invariably his practice before attempting an operation on a living subject to perform it on a dead body, and by the most minute and patient examination to render himself absolute master of the anatomy of the parts to be operated upon.  He was a thoroughly conscientious man in the exercise of his profession, and was always on his guard to resist that greatest danger of the skillful surgeon—­the temptation to use the knife needlessly.  It was his practice to investigate his cases thoroughly, and never to use the knife unless his judgment was satisfied that an operation was necessary.  “That he decided in favor of operating when some of his associates hesitated, was due rather to his large experience than to an overweening fondness for the use of the knife.”  In his operations he was firm and decided.  Gifted with an unusual steadiness of nerve and strength of muscle, he never allowed his sympathy for the patient to cause him to hesitate or inflict one pang less than the case required.  He was prompt and ready in the event of unforeseen complications, and never permitted any thing to take him by surprise.  His manner toward his patients was tender and sympathizing to a remarkable degree, and his brother surgeons used to say of him, that he seemed to have the power of cutting with less pain to the patient than was possessed by most operators.  During forty years of his practice anaesthetics were unknown, and he had to operate with the full consciousness that his patient was suffering the keenest agony.  Besides attaining such an exalted position as a surgeon, Dr. Mott won an enviable reputation as a physician.  His practice was confined almost entirely to the best class of the people of New York, and he was for many years the favorite accoucheur in a large circle of families in that city.

He was an eminently progressive man.  He fully recognized the advance of science with the growth of the world, and was always prompt to welcome any valuable discovery in medicine or surgery.  He was among the first to adopt and advocate the use of anaesthetics, for no man had had more cause to understand the necessity of such assistants.  He was himself the inventor of many valuable surgical instruments, but he gladly welcomed the introduction of others, even though they superseded his own in use.  To the close of his life he was a diligent student, and watched the progress of his science with a keen and intelligent eye.  He was the author of several works of merit, including a volume of travels, and the translator of “Velpau’s Operative Surgery,” to which he made extensive and valuable additions and annotations.  He received numerous literary and scientific honors from colleges, universities, and learned bodies in the United States and Europe.