DR.  WELLS,
THE
Discoverer of Anesthesia.
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-?• 
WHO   "CONQUERED   PAIN?"
   Amongst those who have reflected immortal honor on their age
 and country—those who are entitled to be esteemed benefactors of
 mankind, is Dr. Horace Wells, a name apparently so little known
 or so little regarded now, notwithstanding the priceless boon he has
 bestowed upon the human race, that the  reflective mind marvels
 at  the stolid  ingratitude  which  has suffered his merits to be
 eclipsed  and permitted even temporary oblivion to rest upon his
 great achievements.
   The gift thus bestowed upon humanity by Dr. Wells  was so
 wonderful,  so priceless, that had pagan Greece or Rome been so
 beholden to a man, he would have been elevated in  their  esteem
 to the rank of their beneficent deities ; temples would have been
 graced with his statues, and incense burned to signalize the great
 benefaction.  Nay, so startling was his discovery, so far in advance
 of all others was the good conferred, that only amongst the fables
 of a heathen mythology, or in the marvelous tales of the  "Arabian
 Nights," can parallels be found, where one deity or genius bestows
 beauty, another riches, another immortality,  to still the ceaseless
 cravings  and complainings of the human race.
  That marvelous gift to life was " Immunity  from Pain." Yes,
 the body of man, a bundle of nerves at the best, was to arrive at
 a period  in its history when even the hacking knife and grating
 saw of the surgeon might be smiled upon by the patient himself as
 diseased limbs and flesh were cut asunder.   Yet while monarchs
 and learned academicians  exulted over the  invaluable  benefit—
 while the " groaning" hospital relapsed  into silence  and  repose
before its benign approach, the  great discoverer of the god-like
boon was suffered to sink almost friendless and  unregarded to a
premature grave.
  Can this  be so ?  Is it true that in an enlightened age and
amongst enlightened nations such a man should have been suffered 
4                WHO  "conquered paix?"
to live almost unregarded and to perish comparatively unknown ?
Have the cries and shrieks of pain from battle-fields and hospitals
died out in eternal silence under the influence of this discovery,
while he breathed  his  last  in neglect  and sorrow, and does no
statue of the immortal benefactor grace vestibule or place ?  Can
lying impostors and charlatans appropriate his honors, and, denying
his merits, grasp undeserved rewards from the blinded multitude
of even philosophers, statesmen, and men of science?  Dead, like
the great philosopher, Sir Humphry Davy, as the consequence of
pursuing too far  his own discoveries — devoured, like the fabled
Actaeon, by his own hounds, let the world now come forward and
do deserved albeit tardy justice to his merits and  his memory.
  Reminded  once more of injustice to him by late accounts  of
military hospital practice on the great battle-fields of Italy, Monte-
bello, Magenta, and Solferino, if we would finally vindicate his
claims to the memory of a public benefactor, action can no longer
be delayed, because a few more years sped, and the host of unim-
peachable living witnesses will be gone  from the  stage of action,
leaving  to another generation the  performance of a sacred duty
—a duty which fairly belongs to the present.
  As a powerful synopsis of the case then, as  an  introduction  to
the question at issue, let  Us first appeal to one of the most eloquent
articles concerning this matter that we have ever seen on  any sub-
ject.  It is high authority, too, from the editorial department of a
late number of the  Virginia Medical  Journal, published at the
capital of that State :

               " Who  discovered  Anasthesia f
  " Nineteen years ago  this summer, Dr. L. P. Brockett,  a physi-
cian  now, but then a student  in Hartford, Connecticut, having
recently had a molar tooth extracted which gave him great pain,
was talking with the dentist on various subjects, when the conver-
sation turned  on  the intoxicating influences of nitrous oxide gas.
The dentist remarked: '  That he believed that a man might be made
so drunk by this gas, or some similar  agent, that dental or other
operations might be performed upon him without any sensation of
pain on the part  of the patient.''   This conversation occurred in
August, 1840, and the man who uttered the startling and entirely
novel proposition  was Horace Wells.
  " Four years passed by, and in the same city a traveling lecturer,
Colton by name, administered  to several persons the ' laughing-
gas'— among others, to a  certain dentist.  One of the party,
while under its influence, received a severe hurt, but did  not give
any evidences of pain, when the dentist remarked,  to his neighbor,
Mr. David Clarke, that  he bolieved: ' Thataman, by  taking that 
WHO  "conquered pain?"
5
 gas, could have a tooth extractedor a limb amputated, andnotfeel
 the pain.'  This was  on the 10th  of September,  1844, and  the
 great idea was again distinctly stated by the same Horace Wells.
    "On  the morning of the  11th  of September, the day after his
 lecture, Mr. Colton was requested by a gentleman to go with him
 to a dentist of Hartford, Dr. J. M. Riggs, and carry some 'nitrous
 oxide.'  This person sat down in the operating-chair, took the bag
 of gas,  and inhaled it until  he  became insensible, and Dr. Riggs
 extracted one of his largest  teeth.   On coming to his senseshe
 cried out: ' It did not hurt me  more than the prick of a pin.  It
 is the greatest discovery ever made?   On that day the great idea
 became an embodied fact, and the discoverer proved in his own
 person the truth of his own theory, for the man  was Horace
 Wells.
    " From that  time his restless,  excitable spirit knew no peace.
 Day and night he talked of it, experimented with it, and studied
 its effects and modes of  preparation.  In a few months  the truth
 was  verified by many successful experiments.  Doctors  and pro-
 fessors, bishops, members of Congress, and many citizens of Hart-
 ford and the vicinity united with one accord to declare, from per-
 sonal experience, their perfect faith in  the  new discovery.  Not
 only in  tooth-drawing, but in large surgical operations was the
 experiment tested.  The thigh was  amputated,  tumors  removed,
 cancers  dissected out  of the  human body without  pain, and for
 twenty-two  months  no other man opened his  mouth,  made an
 experiment, or published a fact with regard to the great dicovery
 about to bestow its priceless blessing on suffering humanity save
 the one to whom we owe it, Horace Wells.
   ^This ardent,  zealous seeker  after truth,  often injudicious and
 extravagant, but ever frank and  guileless, had a quondam student
 (now friend) who lived in Boston.   His  name was W. T. G. Mor-
 ton.  To him  he applies  for assistance, so that his discovery may
 be brought before the  notice of the  great men of the metropolis.
 Morton gave him the opportunity of using the nitrous oxide in the
 presence of the medical class of  Harvard University.  The tooth
 was  extracted, but  the patient screamed; and although he after-
 wards declared that he did not  feel the pain, the students hissed
 the trembling adventurer (the unknown  dentist) from  the hall,
 and back to his home, heart-broken, friendless, but not despairing,
 came Horace Wells.
   " The tale is almost told.  Morton sees his chance.  Wells had
 proved that sulphuric ether has the wonderful power, and fearing
 to repeat an experiment which had just failed, he determined  to
 try the ether.   He seeks for an influential friend,  and finds him in
 Professor Charles T. Jackson, (God save  the mark!) and on the
 30th  of September,  1846, twenty-two months after Dr. Wells
proved the  fact on  himself,  Morton pulled out  a tooth  for Eben
Frost without  pain.  The Professor now, however, steps in for his
share. The Letheon is patented.   The Boston surgeons use it  in
the hospital.   Bigelow  sends it to Liston, who telegraphs to  Edin- 
6                WHO "conquered pain?"
burgh : Glory! we have conquered  pain.  The stolen goods are
contended for by the first rogue, who finds himself cheated out of
the credit by the second,  who is a professor  and has the cards
over him.  They fight over the glittering prize.  Meanwhile the
toorld weeps with joy at the blessed boon, and  a thousand thank-
ful hearts throughout the  civilized  earth  send up their grateful
prayers to God for the unutterable blessing.
   " Where is the discoverer ? he who thought it first, proved it
first; he who ventured all — yea, his life for the truth.  Where is
Horace Wells ?
   " Defrauded of his honors, betrayed by his friends, deserted by
good fortune, his  body shattered by the constant use of all sorts of
excitants, still  experimenting on himself, his mind ill-regulated,
impulsive, tortured by the cruel fate which seemed to await him—
'twas more than he could bear. Mankind looked eagerly here and
there for their benefactor, and found him at last in the suicide's
grave!
   " We  bring before you, reader, in a  few words this  mournful
story, because it  is right that we, American physicians, who arc
proud to claim as ours this  greatest gift to medical science, should
not neglect to do honor to its real author.  His wife lives yet to
pray that this may be done.   His son asks that his father's  claim
shall bo closely scrutinized,  and if proved, acknowledged and pub-
lished to the world.  It is substantiated  by evidence* too strong
to be overthrown, by facts deposed and sworn to  by numerous
witnesses above suspicion.   Let us then individually examine for
ourselves, and then unite with one accord to award tardy justice
to the memory of Horace Wells."

   We have given the foregoing in advance of the testimony to be
adduced upon the points at issue, because  the question thus clearly
presented, when followed out in  the same order by irrefragable
evidence, becomes thereby of easy apprehension to all — even to
those who have not time or inclination to  examine a large mass of
testimony in  detail.   And,  guided by the land-marks so plainly
laid down, we shall endeavor, while seeking to do justice to the
much-regretted dead, so to exhibit the question in all its bearings
as to avoid any tedious array of facts, whilst not a doubt will be left
to weaken the claim of Dr. Wells to the high honor sought.
   The great leading fact is undeniable in regard to the only other
two claimants for the honor, that  one (Morton) made his experi-
ment with ether the 30th day of September, 1846, whilst the other
(Jackson) claims the discovery " in conjunction" with Morton, over
his own signature, no earlier than the 26th of October, 1846.

  * See Senator Smith's statement of the question as laid before the committee
of Congress, a copy of which,  owing to the kindness  of a friend,  we have
before us. 
WHO  "conquered pain?"
7
   Tliis is all toe have to do with as against Br. Wells.
   And this, to them, is  rendered absolutely of no  value, since
 each, attempting to cheat the other, had rendered the testimony
 of either worthless as to Dr. Wells.  In his  quarrel with Jackson,
 Morton declares, over his own signature, that Jackson pronounced
 the discovery  "a  humbug," and  that it was "reckless in him
 (Morton) to use it as  he does;"  that he (Jackson) did not care
 what Morton  did  with the discovery " if he does not drag my
 name in with it:1  Placing their  assumed discovery as late as 26
 October, 1846, in the specifications of their joint patent, Dr. Jack-
 son made oath  " that it had not been  previously known."
 With the fact established beyond all shadow of controversy, that
 the time above specified was the earliest period at which either of
 these men claim the merit of a discovery, let us make a synopsis
 of the testimony in favor of the discovery made by Dr. Wells two
 years previous.

                    Synopsis of  Testimony.
   Thomas W. Kennedy,  M.D.,  and P. B. Mignault,  M.D., make
 oath before Hon. Josiah Quincy, Mayor of Boston, that in the fall
 of 1844, while attending medical  lectures given  by Dr. Warren,
 of the Massachusetts General Hospital, they were addressed by
 Dr. Wells on the subject of " rendering the system  insensible to
 pain  during the inhalation of exhilarating gas."  Dr. C. A. Taft
 testifies to  the same fact, and Dr. John C. Warren certifies that
 these gentlemen were all in attendance on his lectures at the time
 specified.
   Daniel T. Curtis, a citizen of Boston, also testifies  before the
 Mayor that he was present with the medical class on the occasion
 referred to.
   S. Fuller, M.D., of Hartford, Conn., certifies to the fact that Dr.
 Wells had  the reputation " for more  than two years prior to
 March,  1847,  in  that  city,  of having made  a discovery which
 enabled him and others to extract teeth without pain by the use of
 exhilarating gas;"  and he adds : " There is no doubt in my mind
 that said Wells discovered and made the first practical application
 of this principle in surgical operations."
  Dr. I*. W. Ellsworth declares  that to his  "full  knowledge,
nitrous  oxide gas was  administered two years earlier than this,
 [the period claimed by Morton and Jackson,] namely, in 1844, by
Wells, and that many teeth were extracted without pain under its
influence, and that Wells went to  Boston at that time, as I was
then informed, for the purpose of introducing the gas to the atten- 
8                 WHO "conquered pain?"

tion of surgeons in that city."   Dr. Ellsworth adds : " In my mind
there is not a shadow of doubt that  the whole  merit of the dis-
covery of this thing rests with Wells, and with him alone."
   E. E. Marcy, M.D., of Hartford, (now of New-York,) testifies
to operations performed by Wells, under the influence of ether, in
1844, and says :

   " In conclusion, I  beg leave to offer it as my opinion, that the
man who first discovered the fact that the inhalation of a gaseous
substance woidd render the body insensible to pain during surgical
operations  should be entitled to all the credit or emolument which
may accrue from any substances of this nature"

   G. B. Hawley, M.D.,  testifies in 1847 to  the fact that he "Avas
familiar with the successful operations of  Wells" in extracting
teeth without pain by the aid of nitrous oxide gas, and  he alone
was regarded as the author of the discovery.
   John M. Riggs, surgeon-dentist of Hartford, Conn.,  certifies
before the Mayor of that city, that in November, 1844, he was con-
sulted by Horace Wells " as to the practicability of administering
nitrous oxide gas prior to  the performance of dental or surgical
operations ;" that the trial was made; that the first experiment was
successful, and subsequent operations continued to be so; " that
the said Wells avowed his intention to communicate his discovery
to the dental and medical faculty, and in pursuance of that inten-
tion, proceeded to the city of Boston, State of Massachusetts, for
that purpose, whilst he  (Dr. Riggs) continued to use the said gas
with great success, the patients  assuring him that  they felt no
pain."
  Mylo Lee, citizen of Hartford, testifies before the Mayor of that
city to having had a tooth extracted by Dr. Wells in  November,
1S44, while "under the influence of the nitrous oxide gas," that
" the operation was attended with no pain whatever."
  F. C.  Goodrich, citizen  of  Hartford, also certifies  before the
Mayor of that city that "during the winter of 1844" he "learned
that Dr. H. Wells had  discovered the  mode of extracting teeth
icithout painy" that it " was accomplished by administering to the
persons operated upon  exhilarating  gas or vapor, which,  it was
asserted, rendered the human  system insensible to  pain ;" that
"the Doctor was most successful, extracting from  me a large
firmly-set bicuspid tooth without  the slightest sensation of pain;"
that he witnessed  " the same process by Dr. Wells upon several
individuals, accompanied in every instance with perfect success."
  J. Gaylord Wells,  citizen  of Hartford, also  testifies  before the 
WHO  "CONQUERED  pain?"
9
 Mayor " that more than two years prior to this date," March 26,
 1847, that being informed of the discovery of Dr. Wells, he " in-
 haled the exhilarating gas, and, under its  influence, had six teeth
 extracted without pain."  He adds:

   " That for more than eighteen months from the time I first sub-
 mitted to this operation by the application of gas, I heard no other
 name mentioned as the discoverer except that of the above-named
 Horace Wells."

   Wm. H.  Burleigh, Esq., editor of the Charter Oak newspaper,
 now of New-York, testifies essentially to the same facts—namely,
 that two years prior to March, 1847, he had two teeth extracted
 by Dr. Wells, without  the  least  suffering,  "while  under tbe
 influence of the gas."
   Dr. Marcy subsequently testifies further.  He certifies before a
 magistrate  of Hartford, by certificate dated December 1st, 1849,
 that he

   "was aware of the fact of Dr. Wells' visit to Boston in 1844,
 for the purpose of communicating his discovery to the faculty of
 that  city.   I also  had an interview with Dr. Wells soon after  his
 return from Boston, when he informed me that he had made known
 to Dr. C. J. Jackson and Mr. Morton the anaesthetic properties of
 the  nitrous  oxide gas, the ether vapor, and other analogous sub-
 stances.  He also informed me that he had made an imperfect trial
 with the gas before Dr. Warren's class, but that the experiment
 was not satisfactory on account of the patient's getting an  insuffi-
 cient quantity of the gas.  He further informed me, that his dis-
 covery and  his whole  idea respecting anaesthetic agents was ridi-
 culed by Dr. Jackson and other medical men of Boston, but that
 his former pupil, Morton, swallowed this ridiculous idea greedily,
 and kept it down until 1846, when he ejected it at Washington in
 the form  of a patented compound—mark  the word, compound—
 called Letheon^

   And Dr.  Ellsworth, also,  in another  certificate of subsequent
 date, says:

   " I am perfectly aware of Mr.  Wells' visit to Boston, for the
 purpose, as  stated at that time, of announcing  his discovery, and
 giving it a fuller trial at the hospital in that city, and also his dis-
 satisfaction with the results of his visit, both as to the success  of
 his experiment before Dr. Warren and his class, and the reception
 with which his idea met."

   He adds:
   " Having full information respecting the circumstances attending
the birth of  this discovery, and also having carefully perused the
statements of Jackson and Morton, I have seen no reason to change 
10
WHO  "CONQUERED  PAIN?"
my opinion, or in the slightest manner doubt that to Wells alone
belongs the whole honor of first using any substance  by inhalation
for the mitigation of pain."

   Sixteen members  of the medical fraternity of Hartford—Drs.
Fuller,  Sumner, Rogers,  Beresford, Grant, Barry,  Marcy, Taft,
Dodge, Ellsworth, Russell, Hawley, Hunt, Crary, Schue, and Lee—
also express their implicit reliance upon the statements made in the
various certificates quoted as bearing upon the period of the dis-
covery by Dr. Wells, and conclude their statement in  the following
words:

   " We take pleasure, also, in expressing our entire confidence m
the integrity of the  said Hoi-ace Wells, than whom  no person in
our city is more favorably known as a gentleman of honor and
integrity.   We know, moreover, that he has for several years past
successfully devoted  himself to  subjects pertaining  to invention
and discovery."

   Finally, we  have the following noble and  emphatic testimonial
by the assembled legislative wisdom of the State of Connecticut:

   '■''Resolution of the General Assembly of Connecticut, of May,
1847.
   " Whereas, it being understood by this Assembly  that Doctor
Horace Wells, of Hartford, discovered, in  1844, that  nitrous oxide
gas, or the vapor of ether, inhaled [by] persons, causes insensibility
to pain, in amputation, or other surgical operations, which discovery
has been most honorably noticed  by various medical societies in
London, and by the  Academy of  Medicine, and by  the  Parisian
Medical Society in France, and has since been in use in England,
France, and in this country ;  therefore,
   '•'■Resolved by  this Assembly, That  the  aforesaid discovery by
Doctor Wells, of Hartford, Connecticut, of the use of nitrous oxide
gas, or vapor of ether, in  surgical operations, is of great  import-
ance to the public, and entitles the inventor to the favorable con-
sideration of his fellow-citizens, and to the high station  of a public
benefactor."—Passed by the  Connecticut Legislature in 1847.

   It is some consolation to know that late  events point  to a recog-
nition of Dr. Wells by the learned world as the one alone entitled
to the gratitude of mankind  for this great discovery, and this ia
seen in the fact, amongst others announced, that the Hon. Truman
Smith, who has hitherto, in his place in the United States Senate,
defended the claims  of Dr. Wells  with an ability and  disinterest-
edness beyond all praise, in a New-York paper of last year, uses the
following emphatic language:

   " In my former communication, I stated that I had stood pretty 
WHO  "CONQUERED PAIN?"
11
 much alone in efforts to  assert the claims of Dr. Wells and the
 rights of his widow and child; but I am happy to say that is to be
 so no longer, as will appear from the following communication,
 which I  have recently received  from  the  Right Rev. Bishop
 Brownell, ex-Chief Justice Williams, and other citizens of Hart-
 ford of high distinction :

 Hon. Truman Smith:             Hartford, Dec. 18, 1858.
  _ Dear Sir : As the city of Hartford had  the honor  of giving
 birth to anaesthesia,  or the use of gases and vapors, for the allevia-
 tion of pain, and believing  that the claims of the late Horace
 Wells, as the author of that discovery, have not been brought as
 fully before the world as the case demands, we request you, at your
 convenience, to give our citizens a  history of that great discovery,
 and  the efforts made to  deprive Dr. Wells of his just rights—
 T. C. Brownell, Th. S. Williams, Wm. W. Ellsworth, Seth Terry,
 B. Hudson, Harvev Seymour, James W. Bunce, T. M. Allen, S. B.
 Beresford, M.D., B. Rogers, M.D., P.  M. Hastings, M.D., A. W.
 Barrows, P. W. Ellsworth."

   But we need not  multiply the overwhelming proofs.  The Ian
 guage of Dr. Wells himself is definite and emphatic.  After men-
 tioning the first successful experiment, that on himself, he says:

   "This was in  the fall of 1844.   Being a resident of  Hartford,
 Connecticut, I proceeded to Boston in December of the same year,
 in order to present my discovery to the medical faculty; first making
 it known to Drs. Warren, Hayward, Jackson, and Morton ; the
 last two of whom expressed themselves in the disbelief that surgi-
 cal operations could be performed without  pain—both  admitted
 that this modus operandi  was entirely new to them; and these are
 the individuals who now claim to be the discoverers."

   There is, as we have said,  an emphasis in this simple statement
 of Dr. Wells which  must  convince  every unprejudiced mind, the
 honest judgment of all men, of the shameless injustice sought to
 be  perpetrated, and this even in the absence of the mountain of
 unimpeached and unimpeachable testimony we have brought for-
 ward. And these men, mark the fact, sought & patent for the dis-
 covery, wished  to monopolize the blessings to flow from it, whilst
 Dr. Wells, in the publication from which we have just quoted, says,
 in the manner of  one whose whole  being  overflowed with benevo-
 lence, that, whilst he was " well assured that it was a valuable dis
 covery—he was desirous that it should be as free as the air we
 breatlie."
  Why, that was  the very spirit of Benevolence itself, proving J'
discovery worthy of the source from which it emanated.  No w
spirit actuated him in seeking to vindicate his claims to the ' 
12              WHO "CONQUERED PAIN?"

honor to which he was entitled, and mankind now, in awarding to
him what is his just due, may turn to the memory of the man him-
self with just pride.   lie is in his grave, a victim to his great dis-
covery, having experimented too far upon his own frail sj'stem,
and for the good of mankind.  No contests or  awards can disturb
him more;  but the dishonest attempts to deprive him of his honors
have aroused those who knew his worth, who will never cease bat-
tling until his claims are established.
  Some stress  has been attempted to be put upon a letter written
by Dr. Wells, in  Oct. 1846, in answer to  one  from  Morton of a
previous date,  in Avhich he cautions  Dr. Morton not to dispose of
certain "rights" the latter claimed to a "compound" he said  he
had  discovered.  This letter is fully  explained by  Dr. Wells in
another of April,  1847, where he says :

  " The letter which  is there introduced with my signature was
written in answer to one which I received from Dr. Morton, who
represented to me that he had discovered a ' compound,' the effects
of which, as described by him, entirely eclipsed those produced by
nitrous oxide gas or sulphurate ether, he stating that his compound
would  invariably produce a sound sleep, the length  of which was
wholly optional with the operator; that he had not made a single
failure  in one hundred and  sixty cases, etc.  He also stated that
he had obtained a patent for this compound.   I  accordingly started
for Boston to learn more of this improvement on my discovery,
with which I had made him acquainted long before.   While at his
office, I saw the (so called)  compound administered  to a  patient;
it  apparently had the same effect as the  gas,  which I had  manv
times administered for the same purpose.  Before I left for home,
the gas was given to  several other patients, with but partial suc-
cess—at least so said the patients with whom I  conversed.  I then
inquired about his patent, (his assumed ' rights,"*)  and found, to my
surprise, that he had not obtained one, nor even made an applica-
tion for one; this being done at a subsequent  period, as  the date
of his specifications and patent clearly show.''''

   Very effectually does this plain statement from Dr. Wells  dis-
pose of Dr. Morton's " rights" to any superior  " compound" he
had claimed consideration for, in his letter;  and  here this part of
the question may  safely rest.
  And now a few words further as to  the light  in which this inva-
luable discovery is viewed abroad. In Dr. Ronx'  Report from the
Committee of Eminent Surgeons and Physicians of France, on the
prizes in Medicine and Surgery for the years 1847 and 1848,  the
following decisive language is held:

  " A splendid service has been rendered to science and humanity 
WHO  "CONQUERED  PAIN?"
13
 in the discovery of a means nearly infallible, or at  least successful
 in the generality of cases, of rendering man temporarily insensible
 to pain, with  a  transient perturbation  only, after which all the
 functions return  to their natural play.  There have been, indeed,
 deplorable instances of baneful  effects by anaesthetic agents, from
 adscititious causes, but the number of them is infinitely small, com-
 pared with the prodigious multitude of trials.  There is no exag-
 geration in asserting that, from the time—a little more than three
 years since—the inhaling ether or chloroform has been introduced
 into the practice of physic and surgery, a hundred  thousand indi-
 viduals—first in America, and by American surgeons, who enjoy
 the glory of the initiative, and then in different parts of the world
 —have been subjected to it; and in this number, not more than
 twelve or  fifteen disastrous cases can be cited.  Owing  to  their
 particular situations, some of the members of your Committee—
 two particularly, Messrs. Velpeau and Ronx—have been called to
 pay a large tribute  to science  as it regards the employment of
 anaesthetic  agents.  Their single experience is imposing  enough.
 Since the end  of 1846, Drs. Velpeau and Ronx have each, apart,
 practiced etherization,  properly so called, first; then chloroform-
 ization, five hundred times at least;  a thousand or twelve hundred
 individuals, or  more perhaps, have been ancesthized by their hands
 or under their  eyes, in order to be subjected to surgical operations
 more or less grave;  and  they, the surgeons, have never seen the
 practice attended with instant death; both doubt that it ever had
 a bad influence on the consequences or proper results of their op-
 erations ; they are disposed, on the contrary, to ascribe to  it a
 favorable influence."

   The New- York Journal of Medicine, in an able article on ether-
 ization and  chloroform, uses the following emphatic  language in
 relation to Dr.  Wells :

   " Although he (Dr. W.)  is now beyond the reach of praise or
 censure, we rejoice that justice will at least be done  his memory,
 and that professional opinion is so unanimously awarding  him the
 sole credit of introducing and  establishing the existence of anaes-
 thetic agents ;" and in another part of the same article adds: " Let
 us hear what Dr. Warren says on this subject.
   "'In  this country,' (says  Dr. Warren,) 'Dr. Horace Wells, of
 Connecticut, made many trials of this gas in  1844.   In the autumn
 of that year he came to Boston, and in company with  Dr. Morton,
 visited me at the Medical College, for the purpose of requesting
 that the Medical Class should have an opportunity of hearing some
 remarks  on the use of the nitrous oxide  for the  prevention
 of pain.  These remarks  were actually made, and at a subsequent
 day a trial of the gas took place.  But as I was very much occu-
pied at  the time, these occurrences made so  little  impression on
my mind, that when, in the  latter part of 1846, we were  assailed 
14               who  "conquered pain?"
 in regard to Dr. Morton's first experiments for a too great facility
 of adopting novelties, and the facts above mentioned were brought
 to corroborate the charge, I was for some time not able to under-
 stand the grounds of the attack.  Dr. Wells, however, in the sum-
 mer of 1847, mentioned to me circumstances which recalled to my
 mind his visit; and his statement was aftenoards confirmed by that
 of Dr.  Morton.  Such are the facts within  my knowledge of Dr.
 Wells'  efforts to discover a mode of preventing or  alleviating pain
 in surgical operations.  It appears  that he actually did prosecute
 his trials in Connecticut and elsewhere to  such  an extent, that
 when the matter was investigated by the legislature of the State in
 the winter o/'1847, his labors were thought worthy  of honorable
 notice.''"
   " And yet," says the Journal, " Dr. Warren claims for Boston
 the honor of the discovery."

   That paper continues:

   " Now  let it be observed, that  Dr. Wells  has proved that, as
 early as 1844, he had performed more than  twenty successful op-
 erations, while his patients were in an insensible state, under the
 influence of nitrous oxide and ether ;  that  he communicated the
 discovery of this condition, and  made  known these  facts to Drs.
 Morton, Wan-en, etc., in the fall of 1844, namely, the discovery of
 an agent ' for the prevention of pain;' for the former  state in their
 specification (Boston Med. and Sur. Jour.) that this  is what they
 claim as their discovery!  We can not refrain from expressing our
 conviction that Dr. Wells has been very unfahly treated, and that
 the time has come for awarding him the justice he so richly merited.
 Is it unfair to suggest that, or even unreasonable to conclude, that
 the tragical event that ended the labors of Dr. Wells  was induced
 in a measure by a consciousness of  his own  deserts,  joined to an
 apparent  unconsciousness of them by  his professional brethren?
 It is indeed a saddening reflection, that  had his discoveries, to
 which others who  enjoyed  his confidence unjustly  lay claim, been
 duly awarded him, and duly appreciated while he lived, he now
 might be (among)  a valued and useful  member.  Rarely is desert
 awarded or even acknowledged here; too often, as  in this  case,
 justice  comes too  late, and it is only when reward is useless and
 praise an  empty sound, that the name of the true benefactor is
 heard.  But from his ashes  let the truth arise, and in this mournful
 instance, we can only say,

                     1 Palmam qui meruit ferat.'"

  And  now, in view of what we have presented, in  view of the
unanswerable testimony we have  adduced, we call on the members
of the Medical Profession every where to come forward  and do long- 
WHO "conquered pain?"
15
withheld justice to the memory of Dr. Wells.  Let American
physicians and surgeons especially, who (in the language of one of
the splendid tributes from abroad we have quoted) "enjoy the
glory of the initiative," let the American members of the profes-
sion come forward, and do simple justice to the memory of one
who procured for them, at the cost of his life, the shining honor
thus handsomely acknowledged by the eminent surgeons and phy-
sicians of France.   Will they do this?