Horace Wells Memorial - Hartford, CT
Posted by: 
neoc1
N 41° 43.406 W 072° 41.849
18T E 691518 N 4621631
The Horace Wells Memorial honors the dentist who pioneered the use of anesthesia in dentistry. It is located in Cedar Hill Cemetery at 453 Fairfield Avenue, Hartford, CT.
Waymark Code: WM11312
Location: Connecticut, United States
Date Posted: 08/07/2019
Views: 1
The grave of Dr. Horace Wells contains a simple headstone which is inscribed:
DR. HORACE WELLS
JANUARY 21, 1815,
JANUARY 24, 1848
Near the grave site is the Horace Wells Memorial. It is a beautiful rectangular monument with a high relief sculpture of a woman on both of the shorter sides. Underneath the woman is are the inscriptions I SLEEP TO AWAKE and I AWAKE TO GLORY. The front has a relief sculpture of an angel delivering anesthesia to a patient with the inscription THERE WILL BE NO PAIN. On the back of the memorial is the inscription:
HORACE WELLS
1815 - 1848
DISCOVERER OF ANAESTHESIA
Dr. Horace Wells (1815-1848) was a dentist practicing in Hartford. He is credited with discovering anesthesia after experimenting upon himself with the use of nitrous oxide (laughing gas), N2O. Dr. Wells successfully demonstrated the anesthesia value of nitrous oxide by having his own tooth extracted by an associate, John Riggs. He then used the procedure on his patients. He refused to patent the discovery because he believed that pain relief should be in the public domain.
Unfortunately, when he attempted to demonstrate surgery under anesthesia at Massachusetts General Hospital to an audience of doctors, the nitrous oxide was improperly administered by the anesthesiologist and the patient cried out in pain. Thoroughly embarrassed, Wells returned to Hartford, began to shut down his practice, became ill, and died a few years later on January 24, 1848.