Harper's Encyclopedia of United States History
Benson Lossing, Ed.

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Wells, Horace 1815-1848

Dentist; born in Hartford, Vt., Jan. 21, 1815; received an academic education and after learning dentistry began practice in his native city, in 1840; after long seeking a means of preventing pain while extracting teeth, he made several unsuccessful experiments with various substances, and then declared that the only efficient treatment was that of nitrous oxide. It was not, however, until Dec. 11, 1844, that he put this agent into practical use, by having a tooth extracted from his own mouth without feeling pain. He then began to use the gas in extracting teeth from other [306] persons. He was the author of A history of the application of nitrous-oxide gas, ether, and other vapors to surgical operations. He died in New York City, Jan. 24, 1848. A bronze statue of Dr. Wells has since been erected in Bushnell Park, Hartford, bearing an inscription crediting him with the discovery of anesthesia, although his claims and those of Drs. Charles T. Jackson, John C. Warren, William T. G. Morton, and Gardiner Q. Colton, formed the cause of a notable controversy.