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

Page 200 text:

ERECTEIJ IN HONOR on DR. HORACE XV1a1.1.s IN l3us11N1c1,1. lixlzu 1'IAR'1'Fo1z1u, CoNNmt'1'1cv'1'.

Page 199 text:

' -. ,F , DR. I-IORACE XYELLS. .f ,j 5 f,, .V, If ff' 4' f

Page 201 text:

Hartford, Conn., United States of America, is due all the honor of having nrst discovered and successfully applied the uses of vapors or gases whereby surgical operations could be performed without pain, and also elected him an honorary member of their society. The Academy of Sciences in Paris conferred upon him the degree of M. D. In 1847 the General Assembly of Connecticut passed resolutions in favor of Dr. VVells as the discoverer of modern anesthesia: reso- lutions to the same effect were passed by the Court of Common Council of the city Hartford. All the physicians, surgeons and dentists of the city of Hartford united in a testimonial that it was the-ir belief that to Dr. Wfells belonged the honor of having discov- ered anesthesia. b -5 To Dr. Ive-lls not only belongs the honor of having discovered anesthesia, but to him also belongs the distinction of having had extracted from his o-wn mouth the hrst tooth ever extracted without pain by the inhalation of nitrous oxide gas. Dr. Wfells died in New York City. january 24, 1848. at the age of 33. In Bushnell Park, Hartford, there stands a monument erected by the state of Co-nnecticut and the city of I-Iartford, upon which is a portrait statue of Dr. Wfells and the following inscription: I-IORACE XVELLS XVho 'Discovered Anesthesia November, 1844. I have thus briefly told the story of the lirst tooth extracted without pain, as related to me by Dr. G. Q. Colton, who administered the gas to Dr. XVells upon the occasion of his discovering anesthesia, and -with whom I was formerly associated in practice in thc city of New York. l.. XY. Niavnfs. 197