Anesthesia . r whicb be bad been planned to test his conclusions oji himself. The next day, December11, 1844, Colton was called in to administer the gas, and, while Wells wasunder its influence, Riggs extracted one of his teeth. On recoveringconsciousness. Wells was so en-thusiastic over the success of theoperation that he made plansfor its immediate use, and there-after daily extracted teeth underits influence. Early in 1845, hewent to Boston in order to laythe matter before the hiedicalprofession. He gave a publicdemonstration before the Har-vard Medical College, but be-cause he d
Anesthesia . r whicb be bad been planned to test his conclusions oji himself. The next day, December11, 1844, Colton was called in to administer the gas, and, while Wells wasunder its influence, Riggs extracted one of his teeth. On recoveringconsciousness. Wells was so en-thusiastic over the success of theoperation that he made plansfor its immediate use, and there-after daily extracted teeth underits influence. Early in 1845, hewent to Boston in order to laythe matter before the hiedicalprofession. He gave a publicdemonstration before the Har-vard Medical College, but be-cause he did not understandthe proper administration ofthe gas—probably because hedid not use a sufficient volume— the demonstration was a sensitive man, andthis public failure overwhelmedhim and he felt himself dis-graced. He continued to ad-minister gas in private practicefor some time, but eventuallygave up dentistry 1847 his reason gave way and, early in 1848, he died by his own Fig. 3.—Horace Wells. ETHER On witnessing one of Wells operations, H. 0. Marcy remarked thatas a student he had found that nitrous oxid and the vapor of sulphuricether, when inhaled, produced exactly the same effects. Wells had triedether, but, owing to the choking sensations jDroduced, resolved to adhereto nitrous oxid. Morton.—It was left, however, to William T. G. Morton, a formerpupil of Wells, to place the use of ether as an anesthetic upon a soundbasis. His discovery was entirely independent of that of Long, who hadpreceded him four years.^ ^William Thomas Greene Morton (Patton, J. M.: Anesthesia and Anes-thetics, 17) was born in Massachusetts, studied dentistry in Baltimore, and 12 ANESTHESIA First Public Demonstration.—The first public demonstration ofsurgery without pain was given in the Massachusetts General Hospital, was a successful practitioner in Boston. He experimented with drugs and withhypnotism in conneetion with the painless extraction of teeth, a
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