Anesthetic Surgery - 50 Years - Hartford, CT
Posted by: 
neoc1
N 41° 45.966 W 072° 40.406
18T E 693390 N 4626423
A plaque on Main and Asylum Streets in Hartford, CT commemorates the 50th anniversary of the first surgical procedure using anesthetic and the discoverer of the procedure, dentist Horace Wells.
Waymark Code: WMHZ68
Location: Connecticut, United States
Date Posted: 08/30/2013
Views: 2
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 anaesthetic 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. For a brief time, Horace Wells shared a dentistry practice with William T. G. Morton, who first used ether as a anesthetic in dentistry.
The large plaque honoring of Dr. Horace Wells is located on the building in which he once practiced dentistry. The 4' high by 2' wide plaque is inscribed in an ornate script:
On the ribbon in very small font size.
THIS TABLET
COMMEMORATING
THE 50TH ANNIVERSARY IS
PLACED BY 250 AMERICAN DENTISTS
The rest of the plaque:
1815 1848
TO THE MEMORY OF
HORACE WELLS
DENTIST
WHO UPON THIS SPOT
DECEMBER 11 1844
SUBMITTED TO A SURGICAL OPERATION
DISCOVERED
DEMONSTRATED AND PROCLAIMED
THE BLESSINGS OF
ANESTHESIA
E S WOODS AD 1894