University of Maryland Baltimore Dental School - Mirror Yearbook (Baltimore, MD)

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J; n HORACE WELLS The case of Horace Wells is now before us. Today, throughout the civilized world, he is the acknowledged discoverer of anesthesia and his name is listed in the bright galaxy of great benefactors of mankind. Imposture cannot be permitted to usurp the place of merit; ignorance and presumption cannot overtop the emanations of true genius, and all the promptings of a generous, noble, self-sacrificing spirit; artifice, chicanery, and mendacity cannot stand before sincerity, rectitude, truth, and honor. The old adage It is better late than never applies most happily to the appreciation the dental world and mankind in general have indicated in their regard for Horace Wells. It has been an old story, it will be a tale of every age, and quite likely it is part of the rough and rugged road that all new thoughts, all new departures, all new discoveries, all new inventions must travel. It was also thus with the great Horace Wells, who found little comfort after he had discovered anesthesia. His trials began the day when, by his own sacrifice, he demonstrated that human science could master and control pain. He was ridiculed, publicly humiliated, and ignored by many of his profession as one who 1J286

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T+4e LIBRARY BALTIMORE COLLEGE OF DENTAL SURGePY 1944 The Senior Class of the Baltimore College of Dental Surgery presents the 1944 Mirror to the Student Body. :m. ,x ' ■ : ' z ' -? ' ' i r . i f: ti;l rjir:r.fj n:r-.FF. of AKi Er;THEr:|A. ijECEi irri;rr is i . -J n ■•t iSt.

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' ouie aujfttng Gas. •HoraccWciis J iScoveTfn- of 1: m Imm - P Bwte :- — .-: A« H HRpp ' v H H ' Bn lllll - ■ M ■ y - ' a.,.«.i ' ;- ' ' tr was trifling with the supernatural, and classed with the empirics. Others, who faintly appreciated the greatness of his discovery, hoped to rob him of his credit, and daily he was tortured by the unkind and slanderous comments made of both himself and his new discovery. He died, uncomforted by the profession he loved and honored. A gift thus bestowed upon humanity was so wonderful, so priceless that had pagan Greece or Rome been so beholden to a man, he would have been elevated by the esteem of a grateful populace to the rank of a beneficent deity. Temples would have been graced with his statues, and incense burned to signalize the great benefaction. His death awakened the populace to his great contribution. In this, the one-hundredth year of his discovery, the work of Wells lives on in everlasting tribute to his great vision. Tablets have been unveiled, statues have been erected, resolutions and tributes have been recorded, and praises sung for this dentist who so bountifully deserved the good will and the earnest plaudits of a grateful world. Mario H. Colecchi