Horace Wells, a Hartford dentist, began using nitrous oxide to control pain in his own practice in 1844 after observing its effects at a traveling exhibition. His January 1845 public demonstration at Massachusetts General Hospital failed when the patient cried out in pain, discrediting Wells at the time; he is nonetheless credited by many historians as the first to conceive of surgical anesthesia as a practice, ahead of Morton's later, better documented success with ether.
Facts
Death DateDied in New York shortly after a self-experimentation episode with chloroform, following the collapse of his dental practice and reputation after the failed 1845 demonstration. FAQs
What did Horace Wells pioneer, and why did he not patent it?
He pioneered nitrous oxide anesthesia and declined to patent it.
Horace Wells was an American dentist who pioneered the use of anesthesia in medicine, specifically the use of nitrous oxide. Although he was urged to patent his discovery, he never did, believing that freedom from pain should be "as free as the air we breathe."
Connections
Held Differently
Anesthesia, Treatments Demonstrated nitrous oxide anesthesia publicly in January 1845, a year before Morton, but the demonstration failed and was not credited at the time.
Source The Greatest Benefit to Mankind: A Medical History of HumanityRoy Porter
Anesthesia, Discoveries Attempted a public demonstration of nitrous oxide anesthesia in 1845, before Morton's, but it was judged a failure at the time.
Source A History of MedicineLois N. Magner
In the Other Atlases
Nationality
Also in Geography Atlas: the nationality of this subject.
Source Wikidata: Horace Wells
Sources
1. Wikidata: Horace Wells
- Wikidata Q733410, class allow-list match (w-wdresolver-0926)
- Wikidata P569 (w-bbfill-medicine3-0926)
View the Source2. The Greatest Benefit to Mankind: A Medical History of Humanity
Roy Porter, W. W. Norton and Company, 1997
A History of Medicine
Lois N. Magner, CRC PressDiscoveries: Anesthesia
Horace Wells (Wikipedia)
In Group: Dentists and Pioneers of Dental Anesthesia, Introduction, sentence 1Quote, In Group: Dentists and Pioneers of Dental Anesthesia, Introduction, sentence 1
Horace Wells (January 21, 1815, January 24, 1848) was an American dentist who pioneered the use of anesthesia in medicine, specifically the use of nitrous oxide (or laughing gas).
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