Northwestern University Dental School - Purple and Gold Yearbook (Evanston, IL)

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Wells he did not realize that he had wounded himself. W Dr. Wells then said to a friend near by, and who had been an eye-witness to all that had happened, I believe a person, by inhaling a sufficient quantity of that gas, could have a toothextracted or a leg amp-utated and not feel p-ainf' On their way home fromthe lecture that evening Dr. Wells told his wife that he was so thoroughly con- vinced of the fact that a tooth could be extracted without pain while under the inliuence of laughing gas that he was going to take the gas the following day and have a too-th extra.cted. , Up-on arriving home and before retiring he went 'to see his friend and former student, Dr. Riggs, who was a neighboring dentist, to te-ll him of his intention to i o take the gas and have a troublesome tooth extracted the foll-owing morning. . Dr. Riggs tried to dissuade him from taking the gas. Wells' mind' was made up. He determined to test the anesthetic effects of the gas upon his own person. Early next morning,iDecember II, I844, Dr. Wells called upon Dr. Colton and engaged him to go to his -office at IO o'clo-ck a. m.. and give- him the gas. He also called upon Dr. Riggs and requested him to be present to extract the tooth and be a witness to the operation. At the appointed ho-ur all were at VVe1lls, office. VVells seated himself in his own o-perating-cha.ir, a.nd Dr. Colton proceeded to administer the gas. At the proper moment Riggs extracted a large upper molar tooth. Dr. Wfells showed no evidence of having suffered any pain. He remained unconscious for a few moments, and on coming to he ex- claimed: A new era in tooth-pulling! It did not hurt me as much as the prick ofa ping it is the greatest discovery ever made. This painless operation, performed upon his own person, proved to Dr. VVells beyond all doubt that nitrous oxide gas was an anes- thetic agent, and that operations could be performed without pain under its iniiuence. He at once c-onstructed an apparatus for its manufacture, and introduced the use of gas in his dental practice, extracting teeth daily without pain. Dr. Wfells, after using the gas successfully for some time, fe-lt that the benefits of his discovery were of great importance, and should be laid before the medical and dental professions and the public in general the world over. He accordin-gly visited England and France. Un Ianuary 12, 1848, the Paris Medical Society voted that to Dr. Horace lVells of 194

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THE JTORY OF A TOOTH A 9 R. HQRACE VVELLS was born in Hartford, XVindsor County, Vermont, January 212 ISIS. During the year 1834 young Wells began the study of dentistry at Boston, Mass. The college of dental surgery in Boston had not yetlbeen established, but VVells acquired the best dental education possible at that time. He early manifested great mechanical talent and constructed and patented several machines. His ingenuity led him to invent and construct most of his dental instruments. In August, 1840, L. P. Brockett of Brooklyn, N. Y., then a medical student at Hartford, went to Dr. XVells to have a large molar tooth extracted. The operation was so diflicult and so painful that Dr. VVells said there ought to be some method of mitigating such suffering, and four years later he discovered the remedy. The first operation ever performed without pain by the use of nitrous oxide gas Qof which we have any recordl was performed upon Dr. Horace Wfells and occurred as related below. Un the Ioth of December, 1344, Dr. C. Colton delivered a lecture in Hartford, taking for his subject nitrous oxide ln order to demonstrate to his audience the amusing effects of laugh- ing gas tas it was then calledj, Dr. Colton invited a number of those present to come upon the platform to inhale the gas. .Xmong those who inhaled it was Dr. lVells and a young man by the name of Cooley. Cooley, while under its influence. ran against some benches which were upon the stage. bruising his legs badly. .Nfter the eHects o-f the gas had passed off Dr. XYells asked young Cooley if he had not hurt himself. Cooley said. No Dr. XYells replied: You must have been hurt, for you struck your legs against the benches. Young Cooley pulled up his trousers and was greatly surprised to find the blood running down his legs. He assured Dr. T93

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