Horace Wells
Encyclopedia
Dentist
A dentist, also known as a 'dental surgeon', is a doctor that specializes in the diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of diseases and conditions of the oral cavity. The dentist's supporting team aides in providing oral health services...
who pioneered the use of anaesthesia in dentistry, specifically nitrous oxide
Nitrous oxide
Nitrous oxide, commonly known as laughing gas or sweet air, is a chemical compound with the formula . It is an oxide of nitrogen. At room temperature, it is a colorless non-flammable gas, with a slightly sweet odor and taste. It is used in surgery and dentistry for its anesthetic and analgesic...
(or laughing gas
Nitrous oxide
Nitrous oxide, commonly known as laughing gas or sweet air, is a chemical compound with the formula . It is an oxide of nitrogen. At room temperature, it is a colorless non-flammable gas, with a slightly sweet odor and taste. It is used in surgery and dentistry for its anesthetic and analgesic...
).
Life
Born in Hartford, VermontHartford, Vermont
Hartford is a town in Windsor County in the U.S. state of Vermont. It is located on the New Hampshire border, at the intersection of Interstates 89 and 91. It is the site of the confluence of the White River and the Connecticut River; the Ottauquechee River also flows through the town...
, Wells was educated in Walpole, New Hampshire
Walpole, New Hampshire
Walpole is a town in Cheshire County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 3,734 at the 2010 census.The town's central settlement, where 605 people resided at the 2010 census, is defined as the Walpole census-designated place , and is east of New Hampshire Route 12...
before studying dentistry in Boston. After obtaining a degree, Wells set up a practice in Hartford
Hartford, Connecticut
Hartford is the capital of the U.S. state of Connecticut. The seat of Hartford County until Connecticut disbanded county government in 1960, it is the second most populous city on New England's largest river, the Connecticut River. As of the 2010 Census, Hartford's population was 124,775, making...
, Connecticut
Connecticut
Connecticut is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, and the state of New York to the west and the south .Connecticut is named for the Connecticut River, the major U.S. river that approximately...
, with an associate named William T. G. Morton, who would become famous for his use of ether
Ether
Ethers are a class of organic compounds that contain an ether group — an oxygen atom connected to two alkyl or aryl groups — of general formula R–O–R'. A typical example is the solvent and anesthetic diethyl ether, commonly referred to simply as "ether"...
as an anesthetic on October 16, 1846.
Wells first bore witness to the effects of laughing gas in 1844 when he volunteered to have it demonstrated on him by Gardner Quincy Colton
Gardner Quincy Colton
Gardner Quincy Colton was an American showman, lecturer, and former medical student who pioneered the use of nitrous oxide in dentistry....
, a member of a traveling circus
Circus
A circus is commonly a travelling company of performers that may include clowns, acrobats, trained animals, trapeze acts, musicians, hoopers, tightrope walkers, jugglers, unicyclists and other stunt-oriented artists...
. Wells felt nothing, and was the first patient to be operated on under anesthesia, having his tooth extracted later that year by his associate, John Riggs
John Mankey Riggs
John Mankey Riggs was the leading authority on periodontal disease and its treatment in the United States, to the point that periodontal disease was known as "Riggs' disease."-Biography:...
. He then began utilising it on his own patients. He did not attempt to patent the discovery because he stated that pain relief should be 'as free as the air'.
He gave a demonstration to medical students at the Massachusetts General Hospital
Massachusetts General Hospital
Massachusetts General Hospital is a teaching hospital and biomedical research facility in the West End neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts...
in Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
in 1845. However, the gas was improperly administered and the patient cried out in pain
Pain
Pain is an unpleasant sensation often caused by intense or damaging stimuli such as stubbing a toe, burning a finger, putting iodine on a cut, and bumping the "funny bone."...
. The audience of students jeered at Wells and left the theatre chanting "Humbug! Humbug!" Because of this embarrassment, Wells was discredited in the medical community. Later, however, Wells successfully had one of his own teeth removed while using inhalant anesthesia, proving its uses.
After this disgrace, Wells gave up dentistry and became a travelling sales
Sales
A sale is the act of selling a product or service in return for money or other compensation. It is an act of completion of a commercial activity....
man for the next two years, wandering Connecticut and selling canaries, shower
Shower
A shower is an area in which one bathes underneath a spray of water.- History :...
baths and other household items. In 1847, he left for Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
after being given a demonstration on anesthesia by his prosperous former partner William Morton
William T.G. Morton
William Thomas Green Morton was an American dentist who first publicly demonstrated the use of inhaled ether as a surgical anesthetic in 1846. The promotion of his questionable claim to have been the discoverer of anesthesia became an obsession for the rest of his life.- Life and work :Born in...
.
Sometime after returning to the United States, Wells became addicted to chloroform
Chloroform
Chloroform is an organic compound with formula CHCl3. It is one of the four chloromethanes. The colorless, sweet-smelling, dense liquid is a trihalomethane, and is considered somewhat hazardous...
. At that time the effects of sniffing chloroform and ether were not known. In January 1848, Wells self-experimented with chloroform for a period of four weeks. He became increasingly deranged. One day, delirious, Wells rushed out into the street and threw sulfuric acid
Sulfuric acid
Sulfuric acid is a strong mineral acid with the molecular formula . Its historical name is oil of vitriol. Pure sulfuric acid is a highly corrosive, colorless, viscous liquid. The salts of sulfuric acid are called sulfates...
over the clothing of two prostitutes. He was committed to New York's infamous Tombs
The Tombs
"The Tombs" is the colloquial name for the Manhattan Detention Complex, a jail in Lower Manhattan at 125 White Street, as well as the popular name of a series of preceding downtown jails, the first of which was built in 1838 in the Egyptian Revival style of architecture.The nickname has been used...
Prison. As the influence of the drug waned, Wells' mind started to clear. In despair, he realised the horror of what he had done. Wells requested the Guards to escort him to his house to pick up his shaving kit, then committed suicide
Suicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...
, slitting an artery in his leg with a razor after inhaling an analgesic dose of chloroform to blot out the pain.
Wells is buried at Cedar Hill Cemetery in Hartford, Connecticut.
Recognition
The American Dental AssociationAmerican Dental Association
The American Dental Association is an American professional association established in 1859 which has more than 155,000 members. Based in Chicago, the ADA is the world's largest and oldest national dental association and promotes good oral health to the public while representing the dental...
honored Wells, posthumously in 1864, as the discoverer of modern anesthesia, and the American Medical Association
American Medical Association
The American Medical Association , founded in 1847 and incorporated in 1897, is the largest association of medical doctors and medical students in the United States.-Scope and operations:...
recognized his achievement in 1870.
A monument to Horace Wells was raised in the Place des États-Unis
Place des États-Unis
The Place des États-Unis is a public space in the 16th arrondissement of Paris, France, about 500 m south of the Place de l'Etoile and the Arc de Triomphe....
, Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
.
Hartford, Connecticut
Hartford, Connecticut
Hartford is the capital of the U.S. state of Connecticut. The seat of Hartford County until Connecticut disbanded county government in 1960, it is the second most populous city on New England's largest river, the Connecticut River. As of the 2010 Census, Hartford's population was 124,775, making...
has a statute of Horace Wells in Bushnell Park
Bushnell Park
Bushnell Park in Hartford, Connecticut is the oldest publicly funded park in the United States. It was conceived by the Reverend Horace Bushnell in the mid-1850s at a time when the need for open public spaces was just starting to be recognized....
.
In popular culture
- The story of Dr. Wells self-experimentation drugs he was testing was explored in an episode of Science Channel's Dark Matters: Twisted But TrueDark Matters: Twisted But TrueDark Matters: Twisted But True is a television series featured on the Science Channel. It is hosted by John Noble.- External Links :*...
in a story entitled "Jekyll VS Hyde" (by comparing it to the Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde).
See also
- Dental anesthesiologyDental anesthesiologyDental anesthesiology is the specialty of dentistry that deals with the management of pain through the use of advanced local and general anesthesia techniques.-Australia and New Zealand:...
- Humphry DavyHumphry DavySir Humphry Davy, 1st Baronet FRS MRIA was a British chemist and inventor. He is probably best remembered today for his discoveries of several alkali and alkaline earth metals, as well as contributions to the discoveries of the elemental nature of chlorine and iodine...
- Crawford LongCrawford LongCrawford Williamson Long was an American surgeon and pharmacist best known for his first use of inhaled diethyl ether as an anesthetic...
- James Young SimpsonJames Young SimpsonSir James Young Simpson was a Scottish doctor and an important figure in the history of medicine. Simpson discovered the anaesthetic properties of chloroform and successfully introduced it for general medical use....
- Place des États-UnisPlace des États-UnisThe Place des États-Unis is a public space in the 16th arrondissement of Paris, France, about 500 m south of the Place de l'Etoile and the Arc de Triomphe....
Further reading
-
- http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F0DE5DC143CF931A2575BC0A9679C8B63Musto, David F.David F. MustoDavid Franklin Musto was an American expert on U.S. drug policy and the War on Drugs who served as a government adviser on the subject during the Presidency of Jimmy Carter...
, "They Inhaled"], New York Times, August 12, 2001 (review of Ether Day)
- http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F0DE5DC143CF931A2575BC0A9679C8B63Musto, David F.
External links
- Dr Horace Wells (1815-1848) Accessed: 2008-06-17
- Horace Wells website
- Vermont History - Horace Wells