Horace Wells was an American dentist who pioneered the use of nitrous oxide as an analgesic for dental procedures. Horace was born in Hartford, Vermont. He married Elizabeth Wales in 1838 and they had one child, Charles Thomas. In 1836 he opened a dental practice in Hartford, Connecticut.
In 1844 he observed a "laughing gas" exhibition and noticed that one of the participants felt no pain upon being injured during his antics. Shortly thereafter, Horace administered nitrous oxide to himself and had a colleague extract one of his teeth, confirming his suspicions.
He fell ill in 1845 and shuttered his dental practice. He moved around a great deal after that, eventually leaving his wife and child behind in Hartford and moving to New York City, where he fell deep into a chloroform/ether addiction. During one such incident on his 33rd birthday he left his apartment and threw sulfuric acid on two women.
Having been taken to prison and realizing what he had done after sobering up, he asked for his shaving kit. He used his straight razor to kill himself three days after the incident. He is buried at Cedar Hill Cemetery in Hartford, Connecticut.
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Categories: Hartford, Vermont | Hartford, Connecticut | Dentists | Cedar Hill Cemetery, Hartford, Connecticut | Suicides | Notables