1 00:00:00,560 --> 00:00:03,760 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff you missed in history class from how 2 00:00:03,800 --> 00:00:13,640 Speaker 1: Stuff Works dot com. Hello, and welcome to the podcast. 3 00:00:13,680 --> 00:00:15,680 Speaker 1: I'm to blame a chuck reboarding and I'm faired out. 4 00:00:16,200 --> 00:00:19,360 Speaker 1: And it always surprised me when I was growing up 5 00:00:19,440 --> 00:00:22,279 Speaker 1: that going to the dentist was characterized as such a 6 00:00:22,360 --> 00:00:26,120 Speaker 1: dreaded event, until that is. I got my first cavity 7 00:00:26,160 --> 00:00:28,560 Speaker 1: a few years ago. I mean, I mean, you remember this, 8 00:00:28,640 --> 00:00:31,000 Speaker 1: like waking up and watching Saturday morning cartoons and it 9 00:00:31,040 --> 00:00:33,120 Speaker 1: seems like all the little kid characters hated going to 10 00:00:33,159 --> 00:00:35,280 Speaker 1: the dentist. I never got that. But then when I 11 00:00:35,280 --> 00:00:38,240 Speaker 1: got my first cavity, I was like, Okay, yeah, this sucks. 12 00:00:38,320 --> 00:00:41,800 Speaker 1: The drilling, the tugging. Even though you can't really feel 13 00:00:41,840 --> 00:00:44,880 Speaker 1: the pain while it's going on, it's still just so uncomfortable. 14 00:00:45,000 --> 00:00:48,800 Speaker 1: I actually haven't had a cavity yet. I mean, knock 15 00:00:48,840 --> 00:00:50,440 Speaker 1: on wood here, I don't want to tell you the 16 00:00:50,520 --> 00:00:53,120 Speaker 1: pat you're still yeah, it could happen, but yeah, I mean, 17 00:00:53,159 --> 00:00:55,680 Speaker 1: I I agree with your old perspective of going to 18 00:00:55,720 --> 00:00:59,000 Speaker 1: the dentist. Isn't that bad? Yeah? You get treats, you know, 19 00:00:59,080 --> 00:01:02,800 Speaker 1: you get flanty youthpaste or whatever. People are nice to you. 20 00:01:02,960 --> 00:01:05,720 Speaker 1: It's fine. So many of you, like me have probably 21 00:01:05,760 --> 00:01:09,119 Speaker 1: experienced some of those the darker side of dental procedures, 22 00:01:09,160 --> 00:01:10,960 Speaker 1: And I mean I didn't even experience the worst of it. 23 00:01:11,000 --> 00:01:14,240 Speaker 1: I can only imagine what having a tooth pulled would 24 00:01:14,280 --> 00:01:17,120 Speaker 1: be like. And in researching today's subject, I not only 25 00:01:17,120 --> 00:01:19,240 Speaker 1: had to imagine what that would be like, I had 26 00:01:19,240 --> 00:01:21,800 Speaker 1: to imagine what it would be like without the glorious 27 00:01:21,880 --> 00:01:25,080 Speaker 1: numbing effects of anesthesia. Because in the time we're going 28 00:01:25,120 --> 00:01:28,360 Speaker 1: back to, which is the early eighteen hundreds, anesthesia and 29 00:01:28,400 --> 00:01:32,199 Speaker 1: its applications and medical procedures had not been discovered yet 30 00:01:32,480 --> 00:01:34,840 Speaker 1: our subject. Horse Wells was one of the first to 31 00:01:34,920 --> 00:01:39,399 Speaker 1: realize that certain substances nitrous oxide in particular, which were 32 00:01:39,560 --> 00:01:42,800 Speaker 1: used at the time for recreation and entertainment, could actually 33 00:01:42,800 --> 00:01:46,200 Speaker 1: be applied to the medical arena, and the first he 34 00:01:46,319 --> 00:01:48,360 Speaker 1: was the first to really try to convince the medical 35 00:01:48,360 --> 00:01:51,720 Speaker 1: community of such. But things didn't really quite turn out 36 00:01:51,840 --> 00:01:54,480 Speaker 1: quite as he had hoped, and it led to a 37 00:01:54,520 --> 00:01:58,720 Speaker 1: bitter competition for notoriety with his contemporaries that his wife 38 00:01:58,800 --> 00:02:02,120 Speaker 1: dubbed the gas War. So we're gonna look at the 39 00:02:02,160 --> 00:02:05,120 Speaker 1: build up two and the fallout from the so called 40 00:02:05,120 --> 00:02:08,440 Speaker 1: gas war, as well as well as of tragic later 41 00:02:08,560 --> 00:02:12,120 Speaker 1: life that some people believe made him the inspiration for 42 00:02:12,280 --> 00:02:16,280 Speaker 1: Robert Louis Stevenson's Dr Juckl and Mr. Hyde. Before we 43 00:02:16,280 --> 00:02:18,320 Speaker 1: get into well story, though, we need to point out 44 00:02:18,440 --> 00:02:22,200 Speaker 1: that Well he's often credited as the discoverer of anesthesia 45 00:02:22,600 --> 00:02:25,760 Speaker 1: in the lation anesthesia specifically, there were a lot of 46 00:02:25,800 --> 00:02:29,440 Speaker 1: people who played a part in this discovery. English chemist 47 00:02:29,520 --> 00:02:33,280 Speaker 1: and natural philosopher Joseph Priestly, for example, first discovered nitrous 48 00:02:33,320 --> 00:02:37,359 Speaker 1: oxide gas in seventeen seventy two. Later that century, British 49 00:02:37,360 --> 00:02:40,560 Speaker 1: scientists or Humphrey Davy started experimenting with it, and he 50 00:02:40,600 --> 00:02:44,840 Speaker 1: realized that inhaling it made him burst out into waves 51 00:02:44,840 --> 00:02:47,320 Speaker 1: of laughter, hence how it got to be known as 52 00:02:47,440 --> 00:02:52,120 Speaker 1: laughing gas. It also brought on a euphoric state. Michael Faraday, 53 00:02:52,200 --> 00:02:57,200 Speaker 1: Davy's associate, found in eighteen fifteen that ether produced similar effects. 54 00:02:57,400 --> 00:03:02,040 Speaker 1: So by eighteen or so Davy had lies that nitrous oxides, 55 00:03:02,120 --> 00:03:06,040 Speaker 1: promised as a painkiller, was really there and its potential 56 00:03:06,520 --> 00:03:10,520 Speaker 1: medical applications were there too, and he included those thoughts 57 00:03:10,560 --> 00:03:12,920 Speaker 1: in some of his writings. But for some reason, the 58 00:03:12,960 --> 00:03:16,960 Speaker 1: medical community didn't really do anything with this information at 59 00:03:16,960 --> 00:03:21,119 Speaker 1: the time, and instead, nitrous oxide and sometimes either too, 60 00:03:21,280 --> 00:03:23,880 Speaker 1: became a huge hit with the upper class, who would 61 00:03:23,919 --> 00:03:27,480 Speaker 1: throw these laughing gas parties where guests would use the 62 00:03:27,520 --> 00:03:32,040 Speaker 1: gas recreationally for those euphoric effects that Dablina just mentioned. 63 00:03:32,120 --> 00:03:35,640 Speaker 1: They would suck the gas out of balloons, and laughing 64 00:03:35,680 --> 00:03:38,960 Speaker 1: gas also became a form of entertainment for the masses. 65 00:03:39,000 --> 00:03:43,040 Speaker 1: To traveling shows would charge admission and allow volunteers to 66 00:03:43,480 --> 00:03:45,520 Speaker 1: try some of the gas out, and then the rest 67 00:03:45,560 --> 00:03:48,960 Speaker 1: of the audience would just watch this volunteer stumble around 68 00:03:49,000 --> 00:03:52,160 Speaker 1: and act all funny and weird. It could be that 69 00:03:52,280 --> 00:03:56,480 Speaker 1: because nitrous oxide was associated with this silliness that medical 70 00:03:56,520 --> 00:03:58,800 Speaker 1: the medical community didn't really take it seriously of the 71 00:03:58,880 --> 00:04:02,440 Speaker 1: sideshow act, and that might be one explanation for why 72 00:04:02,480 --> 00:04:06,880 Speaker 1: it wasn't used in medical applications at this time. Meanwhile, 73 00:04:06,920 --> 00:04:10,800 Speaker 1: surgeries and gental procedures, though like tooth extraction, continued to 74 00:04:10,840 --> 00:04:15,600 Speaker 1: be carried out without any anesthesia. Patients would sometimes get 75 00:04:15,640 --> 00:04:18,919 Speaker 1: a swig of alcohol or opium or man drake maybe, 76 00:04:18,920 --> 00:04:22,000 Speaker 1: but these weren't really great solutions because they often just 77 00:04:22,120 --> 00:04:25,040 Speaker 1: made patients even harder to handle, and if you gave 78 00:04:25,080 --> 00:04:27,440 Speaker 1: them too much, it could kill them. A good example, 79 00:04:27,440 --> 00:04:29,920 Speaker 1: if it's from a recent episode, would be poorled Mr 80 00:04:29,960 --> 00:04:33,599 Speaker 1: Bronte with his eye surgery, and how I just imagine 81 00:04:33,640 --> 00:04:36,800 Speaker 1: how horrific something like that would be without any kind 82 00:04:36,839 --> 00:04:40,880 Speaker 1: of sedative. Yeah. I also read an account in The 83 00:04:40,920 --> 00:04:45,760 Speaker 1: New Republic of a nineteenth century surgery and it mentioned 84 00:04:45,800 --> 00:04:48,960 Speaker 1: how a patient was having tongue cancer removed, and so, 85 00:04:49,080 --> 00:04:51,120 Speaker 1: you know, he had to be held down and restrained 86 00:04:51,160 --> 00:04:53,440 Speaker 1: because you know that you're completely aware of what's going on, 87 00:04:53,520 --> 00:04:57,040 Speaker 1: and you're completely you you want to get away, you know, 88 00:04:57,200 --> 00:04:59,360 Speaker 1: the surgeon just had to cut the tongue off as 89 00:04:59,400 --> 00:05:02,080 Speaker 1: quickly as possible, and then the guy sort of got away, 90 00:05:02,160 --> 00:05:04,640 Speaker 1: he got out of his restraints and it had to 91 00:05:04,680 --> 00:05:07,320 Speaker 1: be chased down so that they could cauterize the wound, 92 00:05:08,480 --> 00:05:10,320 Speaker 1: and ended up burning his lip in the process. And 93 00:05:10,440 --> 00:05:13,280 Speaker 1: it was kind of a mess um. And that's why 94 00:05:13,440 --> 00:05:16,600 Speaker 1: for surgeons, speed was really a virtue at the time. 95 00:05:16,640 --> 00:05:19,080 Speaker 1: It was hard to make a lot of advancements and 96 00:05:19,120 --> 00:05:21,200 Speaker 1: surgery though, because you were just trying to get things 97 00:05:21,279 --> 00:05:25,760 Speaker 1: done as quickly as possible. Escaped. So this was the 98 00:05:25,800 --> 00:05:28,680 Speaker 1: state of the medical community when Horse Wells came onto 99 00:05:28,720 --> 00:05:32,160 Speaker 1: the scene. He was born January twenty one, eighteen fifteen, 100 00:05:32,160 --> 00:05:35,000 Speaker 1: in Hartford, Vermont, into a well to do family. He 101 00:05:35,080 --> 00:05:38,440 Speaker 1: was descended from old school New England aristocrats. His grandfather 102 00:05:38,480 --> 00:05:41,520 Speaker 1: had even served in the American Revolution, and as wealthy 103 00:05:41,600 --> 00:05:43,840 Speaker 1: landowner as well as parents were able to give him 104 00:05:43,880 --> 00:05:46,760 Speaker 1: pretty much everything that he needed. While growing up. He 105 00:05:46,800 --> 00:05:49,640 Speaker 1: went to private schools in New Hampshire in Massachusetts, and 106 00:05:49,680 --> 00:05:53,480 Speaker 1: according to an article by Peter H. Jacobson and Anesthesia Progress, 107 00:05:53,800 --> 00:05:56,800 Speaker 1: Wells proved to be intelligent and inventive at a very 108 00:05:56,839 --> 00:05:59,600 Speaker 1: early age. So in eighteen thirty four, when Wells was 109 00:05:59,680 --> 00:06:02,720 Speaker 1: about nineteen years old, he started training as a dentist 110 00:06:02,800 --> 00:06:06,000 Speaker 1: in Boston by way of what was known then as 111 00:06:06,040 --> 00:06:09,120 Speaker 1: the prefector system. That basically meant that he learned by 112 00:06:09,160 --> 00:06:12,520 Speaker 1: being an apprentice to another dentist. We may have discussed 113 00:06:12,560 --> 00:06:15,320 Speaker 1: this in the McCullough interview a little bit, did um. 114 00:06:15,360 --> 00:06:17,560 Speaker 1: There weren't any dental schools at the time, and the 115 00:06:17,600 --> 00:06:20,800 Speaker 1: first one didn't open until eighteen forty in Baltimore, so 116 00:06:21,080 --> 00:06:24,039 Speaker 1: this was really the only way you could learn a 117 00:06:24,080 --> 00:06:28,320 Speaker 1: profession like this. In eighteen thirty six, Wells moved to Hartford, Connecticut, 118 00:06:28,360 --> 00:06:31,800 Speaker 1: and he opened a practice there which became really successful 119 00:06:31,920 --> 00:06:34,799 Speaker 1: really quickly. He was considered one of the best dennis 120 00:06:34,800 --> 00:06:38,240 Speaker 1: in town, and his patients included people like the governor 121 00:06:38,279 --> 00:06:42,560 Speaker 1: and his family, several other politicians, and some elite businessmen 122 00:06:42,600 --> 00:06:46,080 Speaker 1: as well. He married Elizabeth Wales in eighteen thirty eight 123 00:06:46,080 --> 00:06:49,479 Speaker 1: and they had one son in eighteen thirty nine. He 124 00:06:49,600 --> 00:06:52,240 Speaker 1: also had students who worked with him pretty early on, 125 00:06:52,360 --> 00:06:54,640 Speaker 1: even though he was a young dentist himself. Two of 126 00:06:54,680 --> 00:06:58,920 Speaker 1: these students were John M. Riggs and William T. G. Morton, 127 00:06:58,960 --> 00:07:02,400 Speaker 1: who become major characters later on in this story. Riggs 128 00:07:02,440 --> 00:07:05,400 Speaker 1: ended up practicing in Hartford, right near Wells, and Morton 129 00:07:05,440 --> 00:07:08,320 Speaker 1: moved on to practice in Boston. So at twenty three 130 00:07:08,360 --> 00:07:11,520 Speaker 1: years old, Wells wrote a small book called An Essay 131 00:07:11,600 --> 00:07:14,920 Speaker 1: on Teeth that talked about oral diseases and how to 132 00:07:15,000 --> 00:07:19,120 Speaker 1: treat them, as well as more general oral hygiene, tooth development, 133 00:07:19,200 --> 00:07:22,320 Speaker 1: preventative care, you know, sort of dental basics. And he 134 00:07:22,400 --> 00:07:26,760 Speaker 1: was really passionate about preventative dentistry and children's dentistry too. 135 00:07:26,840 --> 00:07:29,040 Speaker 1: I mean, I would imagine if you're seeing all these things, 136 00:07:29,080 --> 00:07:31,520 Speaker 1: you try to think of ways to avoid them. But 137 00:07:31,680 --> 00:07:35,320 Speaker 1: the main thing Wells did in his practice was unfortunately 138 00:07:35,440 --> 00:07:38,840 Speaker 1: extract teeth, and he was always really troubled by the 139 00:07:38,880 --> 00:07:41,480 Speaker 1: amount of pain his patients would have to go through 140 00:07:41,840 --> 00:07:44,040 Speaker 1: to have a tooth pulled. So he was always trying 141 00:07:44,080 --> 00:07:46,800 Speaker 1: to think of ways to help that situation make it 142 00:07:46,840 --> 00:07:49,120 Speaker 1: a little bit better. And as mentioned, he had a 143 00:07:49,200 --> 00:07:52,680 Speaker 1: very inventive mind. He invented and made his own instruments, 144 00:07:52,720 --> 00:07:56,680 Speaker 1: so it's not too surprising that this problem would eventually 145 00:07:56,920 --> 00:08:00,360 Speaker 1: set the wheels in his head turning. According to Jacobson's article, 146 00:08:00,480 --> 00:08:04,280 Speaker 1: in about eighteen forty, Wells told Hartford physician Linus P. 147 00:08:04,480 --> 00:08:07,960 Speaker 1: Brocket that he was quote deeply impressed with the idea 148 00:08:08,040 --> 00:08:11,240 Speaker 1: that some discovery would yet be made by which dental 149 00:08:11,320 --> 00:08:15,200 Speaker 1: and other operations might be performed without pain. But Wells 150 00:08:15,240 --> 00:08:17,840 Speaker 1: hadn't come up with any sort of solution himself yet, 151 00:08:17,960 --> 00:08:21,880 Speaker 1: when on December tenth, eighty four, he read in the 152 00:08:21,920 --> 00:08:24,680 Speaker 1: Hartford Current that there would be a laughing gas exhibition, 153 00:08:24,760 --> 00:08:28,400 Speaker 1: the kind of the kind that we mentioned a little earlier, right, 154 00:08:28,560 --> 00:08:30,600 Speaker 1: so it was going to be put on that evening 155 00:08:30,680 --> 00:08:34,080 Speaker 1: in the city by gardener Q. Colton. It was billed 156 00:08:34,120 --> 00:08:37,559 Speaker 1: as quote, a grand exhibition of the effects produced by 157 00:08:37,559 --> 00:08:42,800 Speaker 1: inhaling nitrous oxide exhilarating or laughing gas. And we I 158 00:08:42,880 --> 00:08:46,240 Speaker 1: have that Hartford Current article here a little piece from it, 159 00:08:46,240 --> 00:08:48,000 Speaker 1: and I just wanted to kind of read a little 160 00:08:48,000 --> 00:08:51,000 Speaker 1: description of this event and see you can decide if 161 00:08:51,000 --> 00:08:53,720 Speaker 1: you would have been enticed to buy it to come 162 00:08:53,760 --> 00:08:57,720 Speaker 1: to this. What it says after the introduction, where it 163 00:08:57,800 --> 00:09:00,760 Speaker 1: kind of says a grand exhibition of the effects produced 164 00:09:00,760 --> 00:09:04,400 Speaker 1: by inhaling nitrous ox side is forty gallons of gas 165 00:09:04,480 --> 00:09:07,760 Speaker 1: will be prepared and administered to all in the audience 166 00:09:07,760 --> 00:09:11,800 Speaker 1: who desire to inhale it. Twelve young men have volunteered 167 00:09:11,840 --> 00:09:15,880 Speaker 1: to inhale the gas. To commence the entertainment, Eight strong 168 00:09:16,000 --> 00:09:19,560 Speaker 1: men are engaged to occupy the front seats to protect 169 00:09:19,720 --> 00:09:22,920 Speaker 1: those under the influence of the gas from injuring themselves 170 00:09:23,200 --> 00:09:27,440 Speaker 1: or others. This course is adopted so that no apprehension 171 00:09:27,440 --> 00:09:31,240 Speaker 1: of danger may be entertained. Probably no one will attempt 172 00:09:31,280 --> 00:09:34,199 Speaker 1: to fight. The effect of the gas is to make 173 00:09:34,240 --> 00:09:38,560 Speaker 1: those who inhale it either laugh, sing, dance, speak, or fight, 174 00:09:39,240 --> 00:09:43,240 Speaker 1: and etcetera, etcetera. According to the leading trait of their character, 175 00:09:43,920 --> 00:09:46,680 Speaker 1: they seem to remain conscious enough not to say or 176 00:09:46,720 --> 00:09:50,240 Speaker 1: do that which they would have occasion to regret. Oh, 177 00:09:50,280 --> 00:09:54,440 Speaker 1: I would so be there totally. So Colton would travel 178 00:09:54,520 --> 00:09:57,840 Speaker 1: around to various cities putting on these shows. Most sources 179 00:09:57,880 --> 00:09:59,760 Speaker 1: say that he had been a med student one time 180 00:09:59,800 --> 00:10:02,240 Speaker 1: in that's how he got introduced to nitrous oxide in 181 00:10:02,280 --> 00:10:06,079 Speaker 1: the first place. So Wells did decide he had the 182 00:10:06,120 --> 00:10:08,240 Speaker 1: same opinion we did. He decided to go, and he 183 00:10:08,280 --> 00:10:10,560 Speaker 1: took his wife to the event that evening too, and 184 00:10:10,920 --> 00:10:13,640 Speaker 1: they witnessed what was probably pretty typical for one of 185 00:10:13,640 --> 00:10:17,199 Speaker 1: these exhibitions. According to an article by Henry Wood Irving, 186 00:10:17,320 --> 00:10:20,560 Speaker 1: probably a talk later printed in the Yale Journal of 187 00:10:20,600 --> 00:10:25,080 Speaker 1: Biology and Medicine, Colton started off by giving a brief 188 00:10:25,160 --> 00:10:27,920 Speaker 1: lecture about nitrous oxide and its properties, you know, a 189 00:10:27,920 --> 00:10:30,560 Speaker 1: little bit of science talk, and then he took the 190 00:10:30,600 --> 00:10:33,600 Speaker 1: first doves of the gas himself, something that he always did, 191 00:10:33,640 --> 00:10:36,320 Speaker 1: maybe to reassure the audience nothing too bad was going 192 00:10:36,360 --> 00:10:39,200 Speaker 1: to happen. The gas, he is, was contained in a 193 00:10:39,280 --> 00:10:42,480 Speaker 1: rubber bag, and he'd administer it through a kind of 194 00:10:42,520 --> 00:10:45,760 Speaker 1: wooden faucet. Irving actually compared it to what might be 195 00:10:45,880 --> 00:10:50,319 Speaker 1: used in country cider barrels. But after Coulton had exhibited 196 00:10:50,360 --> 00:10:53,080 Speaker 1: the effects of the gas for everybody to see, he 197 00:10:53,080 --> 00:10:55,800 Speaker 1: would invite up those volunteers onto the stage to get 198 00:10:55,840 --> 00:10:59,400 Speaker 1: their fixed. And one of the volunteers that evening um 199 00:10:59,520 --> 00:11:01,920 Speaker 1: the evening that Wells was there with a young drug 200 00:11:01,960 --> 00:11:06,600 Speaker 1: store clerk named Sam Cooley, who happened to be sitting 201 00:11:06,800 --> 00:11:09,559 Speaker 1: right near well What happened to Coolie when he took 202 00:11:09,600 --> 00:11:13,040 Speaker 1: the gas turned out to be particularly interesting. He of 203 00:11:13,080 --> 00:11:17,160 Speaker 1: course started behaving really erratically, and according to Irving, suddenly 204 00:11:17,280 --> 00:11:20,120 Speaker 1: zeroed in on an audience member, and this took him 205 00:11:20,160 --> 00:11:22,760 Speaker 1: for some imaginary enemy that he had made up in 206 00:11:22,760 --> 00:11:25,960 Speaker 1: his head. He was the eight strong, then exactly. Coolie 207 00:11:25,960 --> 00:11:28,800 Speaker 1: then jumped the ropes and started chasing the sky around 208 00:11:28,840 --> 00:11:31,959 Speaker 1: the exhibition hall. At one point he even leaped over 209 00:11:32,000 --> 00:11:35,839 Speaker 1: a sette after him, and then finally came to his senses. Eventually, 210 00:11:36,400 --> 00:11:39,400 Speaker 1: when Coolie sat back down, Wells noticed him sort of 211 00:11:39,480 --> 00:11:42,560 Speaker 1: rolled up his pant leg and reveal and injured and 212 00:11:42,640 --> 00:11:46,520 Speaker 1: bleeding wound. When Wells questioned him about it, Coolly said 213 00:11:46,559 --> 00:11:48,640 Speaker 1: that he hadn't noticed it happened at all. He had 214 00:11:48,640 --> 00:11:51,320 Speaker 1: felt no pain until the nitrous ox side wore off. 215 00:11:51,320 --> 00:11:53,000 Speaker 1: And then he sort of realized like, oh, that kind 216 00:11:53,000 --> 00:11:56,040 Speaker 1: of h yeah, what happened? And then he rolled up 217 00:11:56,040 --> 00:11:58,280 Speaker 1: his pant leg and saw it. That's when Wells had 218 00:11:58,320 --> 00:12:02,000 Speaker 1: his light bulb moment, realizeding what nitrous oxide could mean 219 00:12:02,040 --> 00:12:05,640 Speaker 1: for the dental and medical professions. According to Jacobson's article, 220 00:12:06,040 --> 00:12:09,880 Speaker 1: Wells approached Colton after the show and said, quote, why 221 00:12:09,920 --> 00:12:12,800 Speaker 1: cannot a man have a tooth extracted and not feel 222 00:12:12,800 --> 00:12:15,720 Speaker 1: it under the effects of the gas. Colton said he 223 00:12:15,760 --> 00:12:19,120 Speaker 1: didn't know, to which Wells replied, quote, well, I believe 224 00:12:19,160 --> 00:12:21,720 Speaker 1: it can be done. Of course, he still had to 225 00:12:21,720 --> 00:12:24,240 Speaker 1: put that theory to the test, but Wells didn't really 226 00:12:24,240 --> 00:12:27,360 Speaker 1: waste any time in doing that. He arranged for Colton 227 00:12:27,440 --> 00:12:30,480 Speaker 1: to meet him the next morning at his office with 228 00:12:30,559 --> 00:12:33,520 Speaker 1: some nitrous oxide, and he also told his colleague and 229 00:12:33,600 --> 00:12:37,199 Speaker 1: former student Riggs, who we mentioned earlier, about this idea 230 00:12:37,280 --> 00:12:40,319 Speaker 1: and recruited him to come help out with the procedure. 231 00:12:40,840 --> 00:12:43,960 Speaker 1: Finding a test subject wasn't really tough at all, because 232 00:12:44,320 --> 00:12:47,679 Speaker 1: Wells himself had a decaying wisdom tooth that was really 233 00:12:47,720 --> 00:12:51,160 Speaker 1: bothering him, and he proposed that he would inhale the 234 00:12:51,240 --> 00:12:54,720 Speaker 1: nitrous oxide and then have Riggs pull out the tooth. 235 00:12:54,840 --> 00:12:57,640 Speaker 1: So they all met up at Wells office next morning 236 00:12:57,679 --> 00:13:02,920 Speaker 1: as planned, the morning of December eleven four, Wells, Riggs, Coulton, 237 00:13:03,240 --> 00:13:04,880 Speaker 1: and this bag of gas. I mean, it sounds like 238 00:13:04,880 --> 00:13:07,600 Speaker 1: it's going to be a joke that after something. Coolly 239 00:13:07,760 --> 00:13:10,679 Speaker 1: was there too, since he was sort of the guy 240 00:13:10,760 --> 00:13:13,560 Speaker 1: who had set this whole thing off. And when will 241 00:13:13,640 --> 00:13:16,280 Speaker 1: sat down in the dental chair, he inhaled the nitrous 242 00:13:16,320 --> 00:13:19,440 Speaker 1: oxide from Colton's bag and then, according to Irving's article, 243 00:13:19,960 --> 00:13:24,079 Speaker 1: it was more than anybody had inhaled before, but not 244 00:13:24,200 --> 00:13:27,040 Speaker 1: quite enough to make him totally unconscious. He wanted to 245 00:13:27,080 --> 00:13:29,959 Speaker 1: really test this bury out. Once he was under the influence, 246 00:13:30,120 --> 00:13:33,120 Speaker 1: Riggs extracted the wisdom tooth, which he later said took 247 00:13:33,280 --> 00:13:36,600 Speaker 1: great force to extract. So it's not like he was 248 00:13:37,040 --> 00:13:39,960 Speaker 1: pulling any punches here. It's not like it was a 249 00:13:40,040 --> 00:13:44,840 Speaker 1: procedure right, And Wells didn't exhibit any discomfort at all 250 00:13:44,960 --> 00:13:48,360 Speaker 1: throughout the whole thing. He stayed pretty much doped up 251 00:13:48,400 --> 00:13:50,520 Speaker 1: for a little while after the procedure, but when he 252 00:13:50,600 --> 00:13:54,240 Speaker 1: finally came to Wells is said to have exclaimed, quote, 253 00:13:54,480 --> 00:13:57,439 Speaker 1: it is the greatest discovery ever made. I didn't feel 254 00:13:57,480 --> 00:14:00,320 Speaker 1: so much as the prick of a pin a new 255 00:14:00,360 --> 00:14:03,840 Speaker 1: era in tooth pulling. So after this, Rigs and Wells 256 00:14:03,880 --> 00:14:06,160 Speaker 1: to vote and most of their time to testing out 257 00:14:06,240 --> 00:14:10,200 Speaker 1: nitrous oxide on at least twelve to fifteen other patients, 258 00:14:10,280 --> 00:14:14,559 Speaker 1: and according to Jacobson's article, Wells also administered the gas 259 00:14:14,600 --> 00:14:17,840 Speaker 1: for too heart for doctors who used it during operations. 260 00:14:17,840 --> 00:14:20,720 Speaker 1: So the use of gas worked in all of these 261 00:14:20,720 --> 00:14:23,880 Speaker 1: trial cases, it seemed like it was really going to 262 00:14:24,000 --> 00:14:27,720 Speaker 1: be a great new innovation. Well said later that they 263 00:14:27,760 --> 00:14:31,720 Speaker 1: experimented with other gases too, including ether, but after consulting 264 00:14:31,720 --> 00:14:34,040 Speaker 1: with a local physician, he decided to stick with a 265 00:14:34,160 --> 00:14:38,640 Speaker 1: nitrous oxide because it was considered safer. After these additional tests, 266 00:14:38,680 --> 00:14:41,040 Speaker 1: so to speak, Wells decided that it was time to 267 00:14:41,080 --> 00:14:43,600 Speaker 1: share what he found with the medical community at large. 268 00:14:44,080 --> 00:14:47,400 Speaker 1: He later wrote quote on making this discovery, I was 269 00:14:47,480 --> 00:14:50,680 Speaker 1: so elated respecting it that I expended my money freely 270 00:14:50,760 --> 00:14:53,320 Speaker 1: and devoted my whole time for several weeks in order 271 00:14:53,360 --> 00:14:55,360 Speaker 1: to present it to those who were best qualified to 272 00:14:55,400 --> 00:14:59,480 Speaker 1: investigate and decide upon its merits. Not asking or expecting 273 00:14:59,560 --> 00:15:02,360 Speaker 1: anything for my services, well assured that it was a 274 00:15:02,440 --> 00:15:05,760 Speaker 1: valuable discovery. I was desirous that it should be as 275 00:15:05,840 --> 00:15:08,720 Speaker 1: free as the air we breathe. And that's important to 276 00:15:08,720 --> 00:15:10,840 Speaker 1: remember that he said that, because it kind of sets 277 00:15:10,920 --> 00:15:14,480 Speaker 1: him apart from some of the other people who claimed 278 00:15:14,480 --> 00:15:18,560 Speaker 1: this discovery life. Yes, so he looked into making a 279 00:15:18,600 --> 00:15:22,520 Speaker 1: presentation in Boston, which was the important hub in the 280 00:15:22,640 --> 00:15:25,720 Speaker 1: US at the time, the Medical Hub Medical Hub exactly. 281 00:15:26,040 --> 00:15:30,040 Speaker 1: In doing so, he reconnected with his old student and colleague, Morton, 282 00:15:30,160 --> 00:15:32,760 Speaker 1: who had been studying medicine, who had just begun studying 283 00:15:32,800 --> 00:15:36,560 Speaker 1: medicine at Harvard. So Wells told Morton about his discovery, 284 00:15:36,640 --> 00:15:39,320 Speaker 1: and Morton helped put him in contact with one of 285 00:15:39,400 --> 00:15:43,120 Speaker 1: his chemistry professors, a guy named Charles Jackson, who wasn't 286 00:15:43,160 --> 00:15:45,840 Speaker 1: really much help because he was so skeptical of this 287 00:15:45,920 --> 00:15:48,240 Speaker 1: whole thing. Then he put him in touch with Dr 288 00:15:48,320 --> 00:15:51,680 Speaker 1: John Collins Warren, who was a professor of surgery at 289 00:15:51,760 --> 00:15:55,640 Speaker 1: Massachusetts General Hospital. Warren was pretty skeptical too, but he 290 00:15:55,720 --> 00:15:59,160 Speaker 1: still agreed to let Wells demonstrate his method in front 291 00:15:59,160 --> 00:16:02,120 Speaker 1: of a room full of senior medical students. Which This 292 00:16:02,200 --> 00:16:07,800 Speaker 1: demonstration took place January, and Wells was supposed to administer 293 00:16:07,880 --> 00:16:10,680 Speaker 1: nitrous oxide to a patient who was scheduled to have 294 00:16:10,760 --> 00:16:14,600 Speaker 1: an amputation, but the surgery ended up being canceled, so 295 00:16:14,960 --> 00:16:18,400 Speaker 1: Wells instead proposed, well, let's do a tooth extraction, and 296 00:16:18,440 --> 00:16:22,000 Speaker 1: there was a student present who stepped up as a volunteer. 297 00:16:22,000 --> 00:16:24,040 Speaker 1: It's kind of hard to imagine now, a medical student 298 00:16:24,040 --> 00:16:25,920 Speaker 1: being like, you can work on me because I have 299 00:16:26,000 --> 00:16:28,840 Speaker 1: this tooth that needs to come out. But that's what happened. 300 00:16:28,840 --> 00:16:31,720 Speaker 1: He had a willing patient there, so Wells had the 301 00:16:31,760 --> 00:16:34,240 Speaker 1: student inhaled gas, and when he thought he was ready, 302 00:16:34,520 --> 00:16:37,720 Speaker 1: he started to extract the tooth. The students seemed okay 303 00:16:37,760 --> 00:16:40,160 Speaker 1: at first, but then he cried out at some point 304 00:16:40,200 --> 00:16:42,880 Speaker 1: during the extraction, and the whole thing was considered a 305 00:16:42,920 --> 00:16:47,160 Speaker 1: failure and called, quote a humbug affair. Wells was literally 306 00:16:47,200 --> 00:16:50,960 Speaker 1: booed off stage and he went back to Hartford just devastated. 307 00:16:51,480 --> 00:16:54,320 Speaker 1: Wells theorized later that he had taken away the gas 308 00:16:54,320 --> 00:16:57,359 Speaker 1: applied to early and that the student hadn't been completely 309 00:16:57,440 --> 00:17:00,240 Speaker 1: under its influence during the procedure, and that's why maybe 310 00:17:00,280 --> 00:17:02,480 Speaker 1: he felt something, though not as much as he would 311 00:17:02,480 --> 00:17:07,240 Speaker 1: have felt if he hadn't had anything. Interestingly, though, according 312 00:17:07,280 --> 00:17:10,199 Speaker 1: to an article by Stuart Finder in Anesthesia Progress, the 313 00:17:10,280 --> 00:17:14,439 Speaker 1: student later admitted that he didn't feel the tooth being pulled, 314 00:17:14,520 --> 00:17:18,000 Speaker 1: so he just cried out, maybe because something else, I 315 00:17:18,040 --> 00:17:21,720 Speaker 1: don't know. Regardless, though, Wells took the whole thing really 316 00:17:21,760 --> 00:17:24,280 Speaker 1: pretty hard, and he gave up his dental practice for 317 00:17:24,320 --> 00:17:27,600 Speaker 1: a while, and by spring of eighteen five he was 318 00:17:27,640 --> 00:17:30,639 Speaker 1: referring all of his patients to Rigs. He said his 319 00:17:30,720 --> 00:17:34,200 Speaker 1: experience in Boston brought on quote an illness from which 320 00:17:34,200 --> 00:17:37,840 Speaker 1: I did not recover from many months. He finally started 321 00:17:37,840 --> 00:17:42,439 Speaker 1: practicing dentistry again sporadically later in the year. He continued 322 00:17:42,520 --> 00:17:46,200 Speaker 1: to use nitrous oxide successfully during procedures. I mean interesting 323 00:17:46,240 --> 00:17:49,159 Speaker 1: that he's still so sure that it works, but he 324 00:17:49,240 --> 00:17:52,840 Speaker 1: takes it so hard. This fiasco and Boston. He did 325 00:17:52,880 --> 00:17:56,280 Speaker 1: other stuff too, though, and according to Jacobson's article, he 326 00:17:56,560 --> 00:18:01,359 Speaker 1: arranged a natural history exhibition in Hartford called Panorama of Nature, 327 00:18:01,880 --> 00:18:05,040 Speaker 1: and he also patented a new kind of shower bath. 328 00:18:05,800 --> 00:18:08,639 Speaker 1: In the meantime, though, others had begun to share Well's 329 00:18:08,760 --> 00:18:13,840 Speaker 1: interest in inhalation anesthesia, namely his old buddy Morton. In 330 00:18:13,960 --> 00:18:18,520 Speaker 1: eighty six, Morton announced his discovery of ether as an anesthetic, 331 00:18:18,880 --> 00:18:22,439 Speaker 1: saying that he tested it successfully on many patients, and 332 00:18:22,480 --> 00:18:25,359 Speaker 1: according to an article by U C. L A Professor F. A. 333 00:18:25,480 --> 00:18:30,080 Speaker 1: Carranza on the discovery of anesthesia. It was Morton's old mentor, Jackson, 334 00:18:30,119 --> 00:18:33,040 Speaker 1: who would actually suggested that Morton used ether in place 335 00:18:33,080 --> 00:18:36,679 Speaker 1: of nitrous oxide in his experiments. On October tenth of 336 00:18:36,720 --> 00:18:39,960 Speaker 1: that year, and Morton demonstrated his technique at Massachusetts General 337 00:18:40,000 --> 00:18:43,800 Speaker 1: Hospital during an operation in which Dr Warren removed a 338 00:18:43,840 --> 00:18:46,800 Speaker 1: tumor from a patient's neck. It was a scenario that 339 00:18:46,880 --> 00:18:49,280 Speaker 1: was very similar, of course, to the one Wells had 340 00:18:49,280 --> 00:18:52,280 Speaker 1: faced before, but it was considered a success and the 341 00:18:52,440 --> 00:18:56,000 Speaker 1: entire medical community was paying attention to what Morton was doing. 342 00:18:56,240 --> 00:18:59,960 Speaker 1: Still though, it almost immediately kicked off a controversy about 343 00:19:00,080 --> 00:19:04,240 Speaker 1: who deserved credit for the discovery of anesthesia, and Wells 344 00:19:04,320 --> 00:19:07,800 Speaker 1: wrote a calm collected letter to the Hartford Current in 345 00:19:07,880 --> 00:19:12,200 Speaker 1: December of eighteen forty six, basically outlining his previous experiments 346 00:19:12,200 --> 00:19:15,560 Speaker 1: with nitrous oxide, the events surrounding his visit to Boston, 347 00:19:15,920 --> 00:19:17,800 Speaker 1: and he also pointed out some of the things we've 348 00:19:17,840 --> 00:19:21,160 Speaker 1: already discussed, you know, why his demonstration didn't work, and 349 00:19:21,200 --> 00:19:23,639 Speaker 1: also the fact that he'd used either in the past, 350 00:19:23,760 --> 00:19:26,760 Speaker 1: but really preferred to work with nitrous oxide. You know 351 00:19:26,920 --> 00:19:29,879 Speaker 1: he hadn't been completely clueless about either, Yeah, because that 352 00:19:29,920 --> 00:19:33,200 Speaker 1: was one of the points that was probably being made 353 00:19:33,200 --> 00:19:35,439 Speaker 1: at the time, is that, oh, it was ether that 354 00:19:35,480 --> 00:19:37,480 Speaker 1: works and not nitrous oxide, and you were working with 355 00:19:37,560 --> 00:19:39,639 Speaker 1: the wrong thing. When he's like, well, actually, yeah, I 356 00:19:39,680 --> 00:19:41,919 Speaker 1: have worked with these other things too, but I just 357 00:19:41,960 --> 00:19:45,200 Speaker 1: decided this was the better way to go. But Wells 358 00:19:45,240 --> 00:19:47,840 Speaker 1: and Morton weren't the only ones competing for credit here. 359 00:19:47,960 --> 00:19:51,000 Speaker 1: Jackson also stepped up to the challenge since he had 360 00:19:51,040 --> 00:19:53,720 Speaker 1: suggested ether to Morton. He said the whole thing was 361 00:19:53,760 --> 00:19:56,439 Speaker 1: really his idea, even though, if you'll remember when Wills 362 00:19:56,520 --> 00:20:00,439 Speaker 1: wanted to do this demonstration, very scop tical of the 363 00:20:00,440 --> 00:20:04,040 Speaker 1: whole thing. Another doctor, one that we know the name 364 00:20:04,080 --> 00:20:07,960 Speaker 1: of well being living in Georgia, Dr Crawford Long of Georgia, 365 00:20:08,320 --> 00:20:11,080 Speaker 1: also came forward around this time, and he claimed that 366 00:20:11,119 --> 00:20:14,320 Speaker 1: he'd used ether during surgeries for anesthetic purposes as far 367 00:20:14,359 --> 00:20:16,800 Speaker 1: back as eighteen forty two, so a few years before, 368 00:20:17,640 --> 00:20:21,960 Speaker 1: a couple of years before Wells had started experiment. It's 369 00:20:22,359 --> 00:20:25,119 Speaker 1: Crawford Long's name that I've always heard connected to this 370 00:20:25,200 --> 00:20:28,800 Speaker 1: whole subject, So there you go. But Long, for whatever reason, 371 00:20:28,960 --> 00:20:32,000 Speaker 1: never demonstrated this to the public or communicated it to 372 00:20:32,160 --> 00:20:37,159 Speaker 1: the medical community until after Morton's success became public. So 373 00:20:37,600 --> 00:20:40,760 Speaker 1: all of this back and forth, all of this battle 374 00:20:40,840 --> 00:20:44,520 Speaker 1: and kicked off what Wells's wife later called the gas 375 00:20:44,520 --> 00:20:48,080 Speaker 1: War according to Jacobson's article, and Wells really made it 376 00:20:48,160 --> 00:20:51,960 Speaker 1: his mission after that to prove his claim to the discovery. 377 00:20:52,040 --> 00:20:54,720 Speaker 1: He traveled to Europe in late eighteen forty six, which, 378 00:20:54,920 --> 00:20:57,199 Speaker 1: as we've discussed in the past, was kind of the 379 00:20:57,280 --> 00:21:00,600 Speaker 1: center of medical innovation at the time. He gave some 380 00:21:00,680 --> 00:21:05,160 Speaker 1: demonstrations at medical institutions in Paris and petition the Academy 381 00:21:05,200 --> 00:21:08,400 Speaker 1: of Medicine and the French Academy of Sciences and the 382 00:21:08,400 --> 00:21:12,720 Speaker 1: Parisian Medical Society with his claim by February eighteen forty seven, 383 00:21:12,760 --> 00:21:14,920 Speaker 1: you know, really trying to get his name out there. 384 00:21:15,400 --> 00:21:17,919 Speaker 1: After that little European tour, he came back to the 385 00:21:17,960 --> 00:21:21,520 Speaker 1: United States and published a pamphlet called History of the 386 00:21:21,600 --> 00:21:25,879 Speaker 1: Discovery of the Application of Nitrous oxide, gas, ether and 387 00:21:26,000 --> 00:21:30,320 Speaker 1: other vapors to Surgical Operations, which also asserted that he 388 00:21:30,440 --> 00:21:34,720 Speaker 1: deserved the credit for the discovery of anesthesia. In the meantime, 389 00:21:34,720 --> 00:21:38,119 Speaker 1: Wells also started experimenting more with ether and chloroform as 390 00:21:38,200 --> 00:21:41,000 Speaker 1: farm as fantasthesia. He moved to New York City actually 391 00:21:41,040 --> 00:21:44,840 Speaker 1: in January eighteen forty eight, where he continued sporadically practicing 392 00:21:44,920 --> 00:21:50,080 Speaker 1: dentistry and administering anesthesia and experimenting on the side. Along 393 00:21:50,080 --> 00:21:53,000 Speaker 1: the way, though, he became addicted to the chloroform that 394 00:21:53,040 --> 00:21:56,400 Speaker 1: he was experimenting with, and on the evening of January 395 00:21:56,040 --> 00:21:59,480 Speaker 1: twenty one, eighteen forty eight, which was his thirty third birthday, 396 00:22:00,000 --> 00:22:03,439 Speaker 1: well under the influence of chloroform, Wells took some sulfuric 397 00:22:03,480 --> 00:22:06,919 Speaker 1: acid from his office and threw it on to prostitutes, 398 00:22:07,119 --> 00:22:11,000 Speaker 1: burning one of their necks. After this, he was jailed 399 00:22:11,000 --> 00:22:13,560 Speaker 1: into his prison. He was allowed to get a few 400 00:22:13,600 --> 00:22:16,240 Speaker 1: things from home though before getting locked up, and two 401 00:22:16,240 --> 00:22:18,879 Speaker 1: of the things he brought with him were some chloroform 402 00:22:19,200 --> 00:22:24,600 Speaker 1: and a razor. On January eight he inhaled some chloroform 403 00:22:24,720 --> 00:22:28,080 Speaker 1: while in his fell and then committed suicide by flashing 404 00:22:28,160 --> 00:22:32,159 Speaker 1: his left formoral artery. Twelve days or so before he died, 405 00:22:32,400 --> 00:22:35,680 Speaker 1: the Parisian Medical Society voted that he was quote do 406 00:22:35,880 --> 00:22:39,640 Speaker 1: all the honors of having first discovered and successfully applied 407 00:22:40,080 --> 00:22:44,160 Speaker 1: the youth of vapors or gases whereby surgical operations could 408 00:22:44,160 --> 00:22:48,159 Speaker 1: be performed without pain, so he got that recognition that 409 00:22:48,200 --> 00:22:50,239 Speaker 1: he was trying to get. It also gave him an 410 00:22:50,280 --> 00:22:53,439 Speaker 1: honorary m d. And made him an honorary member of 411 00:22:53,480 --> 00:22:56,960 Speaker 1: the Society. But of course Wells didn't learn about any 412 00:22:57,000 --> 00:23:00,440 Speaker 1: of this before his death, so it was a sad 413 00:23:00,520 --> 00:23:02,480 Speaker 1: end for a guy who was really passionate about his 414 00:23:02,560 --> 00:23:06,280 Speaker 1: career and about reducing patients pain. Ultimately that's what he wanted. 415 00:23:06,320 --> 00:23:09,359 Speaker 1: But it was that decline towards the end that some 416 00:23:09,520 --> 00:23:13,479 Speaker 1: say influenced the Doctor Jekyll and Mr Hyde story. So 417 00:23:13,600 --> 00:23:16,120 Speaker 1: I don't know if there are some literary buffs out 418 00:23:16,160 --> 00:23:18,960 Speaker 1: there who can make the connections and want to. I've 419 00:23:18,960 --> 00:23:20,800 Speaker 1: read the book, but I read it a long time ago, 420 00:23:21,080 --> 00:23:23,280 Speaker 1: so here, But I mean, I can see that connection 421 00:23:23,320 --> 00:23:26,240 Speaker 1: between self experimenting, which I know is the common thing 422 00:23:26,640 --> 00:23:29,240 Speaker 1: in the medical world at this time. But you're making 423 00:23:29,280 --> 00:23:34,160 Speaker 1: yourself into from somebody who's respectable and innovative into somebody 424 00:23:34,240 --> 00:23:38,320 Speaker 1: who is burning prostitutes with your gothic a little bit 425 00:23:38,320 --> 00:23:41,600 Speaker 1: of a monster. And he continued to receive honors even 426 00:23:41,640 --> 00:23:44,359 Speaker 1: after his death, though in eighteen sixty four. In eighteen 427 00:23:44,480 --> 00:23:48,520 Speaker 1: seventy respectively. The American Dental Association in the American Medical 428 00:23:48,520 --> 00:23:53,080 Speaker 1: Association both recognized Wells as the discoverer of anesthesia. Of course, 429 00:23:53,160 --> 00:23:56,240 Speaker 1: as we mentioned earlier in this podcast, this is still 430 00:23:56,320 --> 00:23:59,320 Speaker 1: sort of a debated point, since others such as Long 431 00:23:59,440 --> 00:24:03,040 Speaker 1: may have you used inhalation agents earlier than Wells did, 432 00:24:03,440 --> 00:24:05,560 Speaker 1: And as you mentioned, I mean, that's that's who you 433 00:24:05,600 --> 00:24:07,919 Speaker 1: think of when you think of the discovery of anesthesia. 434 00:24:08,000 --> 00:24:11,920 Speaker 1: For other people, it might be Morton. Um. So there 435 00:24:11,920 --> 00:24:14,919 Speaker 1: are a lot of people that could lay claim to this, 436 00:24:15,040 --> 00:24:17,440 Speaker 1: but as well as who really recognized the true potential 437 00:24:17,480 --> 00:24:19,920 Speaker 1: of what he found and sought to get the word 438 00:24:19,920 --> 00:24:23,439 Speaker 1: out about it with apparently no desire for profit. And 439 00:24:23,480 --> 00:24:26,560 Speaker 1: that's that point again that we come back to, because 440 00:24:26,600 --> 00:24:29,080 Speaker 1: Morton handled it differently. He did. I mean, Morton, on 441 00:24:29,119 --> 00:24:32,080 Speaker 1: the other hand, did appear to have personal gain in 442 00:24:32,160 --> 00:24:35,080 Speaker 1: mind when it came to anesthesia, and at first he 443 00:24:35,440 --> 00:24:38,080 Speaker 1: tried to keep the type of gas he was using secret. 444 00:24:38,160 --> 00:24:42,200 Speaker 1: He called it lethon and tried to disguise its scent. 445 00:24:42,400 --> 00:24:45,680 Speaker 1: He wanted to try to make it a patented gas 446 00:24:45,680 --> 00:24:48,560 Speaker 1: because of course everybody was interested in using it at 447 00:24:48,560 --> 00:24:50,760 Speaker 1: this point, but it eventually came out that it was 448 00:24:50,840 --> 00:24:53,040 Speaker 1: just ether you is something that anybody could get a 449 00:24:53,080 --> 00:24:57,560 Speaker 1: hold of, and hospitals and other institutions were allowed to 450 00:24:57,640 --> 00:25:00,200 Speaker 1: use it as they wished. It wasn't under any one 451 00:25:00,280 --> 00:25:04,320 Speaker 1: individual's control. And after that, Morton still tried to get 452 00:25:04,320 --> 00:25:06,240 Speaker 1: a pat and he tried to pass and he's like, Okay, 453 00:25:06,280 --> 00:25:09,119 Speaker 1: if I can't patent the gas itself, maybe I can 454 00:25:09,200 --> 00:25:12,640 Speaker 1: patent its method of use. He seemed determined to try 455 00:25:12,640 --> 00:25:15,359 Speaker 1: to make money off of this discovery, and even after 456 00:25:15,440 --> 00:25:18,680 Speaker 1: Well's death, Morton and Jackson continued their little gas war. 457 00:25:18,760 --> 00:25:21,080 Speaker 1: They continue to compete to be recognized as the true 458 00:25:21,080 --> 00:25:24,879 Speaker 1: discovery of anesthesia, and they both pursued one hundred thousand 459 00:25:24,920 --> 00:25:28,680 Speaker 1: dollar award for the honor from US Congress. Morton even 460 00:25:28,720 --> 00:25:32,240 Speaker 1: tried to bribe people like Rigs and even Well's widow 461 00:25:32,640 --> 00:25:36,280 Speaker 1: to lobby for him in this respect, but ultimately neither 462 00:25:36,680 --> 00:25:39,440 Speaker 1: I've ever got the cash. Sounds like it got pretty 463 00:25:39,480 --> 00:25:42,840 Speaker 1: pretty dirty at the end there, so Well the supporters 464 00:25:42,880 --> 00:25:46,560 Speaker 1: continued to defend him, and if there was truly a 465 00:25:46,560 --> 00:25:48,520 Speaker 1: winner in the gas war, I mean, it sounds like 466 00:25:48,640 --> 00:25:51,439 Speaker 1: just a lot of tragedy came out of it. If 467 00:25:51,480 --> 00:25:54,600 Speaker 1: there was a winner. It was probably just society at large. 468 00:25:54,920 --> 00:25:57,240 Speaker 1: You know that you wouldn't have to get your eye 469 00:25:57,240 --> 00:26:00,480 Speaker 1: surgery like Mr Bronte, or get your wisdom to pyanked 470 00:26:00,480 --> 00:26:04,639 Speaker 1: out without something doubling the pain. Yeah, going to the 471 00:26:04,680 --> 00:26:07,920 Speaker 1: dentist could be a pleasure for people everywhere rather than 472 00:26:07,960 --> 00:26:11,480 Speaker 1: just something that you dread. And the use of anesthesia 473 00:26:11,600 --> 00:26:14,520 Speaker 1: was of course adopted all over the world, although there 474 00:26:14,600 --> 00:26:17,719 Speaker 1: was some resistance to this along the way. Today we 475 00:26:17,760 --> 00:26:20,800 Speaker 1: know that there are many different types of anesthesia that 476 00:26:20,840 --> 00:26:24,560 Speaker 1: have allowed for all sorts of medical innovations and um. 477 00:26:24,600 --> 00:26:27,360 Speaker 1: And so you know, no matter who we can give 478 00:26:27,440 --> 00:26:33,240 Speaker 1: total credit to for u discovering anesthesia, probably all of 479 00:26:33,280 --> 00:26:36,960 Speaker 1: these people. Um, there's no doubt that it did good. 480 00:26:37,119 --> 00:26:39,080 Speaker 1: And I feel like there's one more person we have 481 00:26:39,200 --> 00:26:43,040 Speaker 1: to mention outside of this gaff Forlors fiasco. But Queen 482 00:26:43,119 --> 00:26:48,119 Speaker 1: Victoria helped really popularize the use of anesthesia because she 483 00:26:48,240 --> 00:26:51,200 Speaker 1: used it, I think and maybe her last or maybe 484 00:26:51,200 --> 00:26:55,280 Speaker 1: even her last two pregnancies or her childbirth, and it 485 00:26:55,680 --> 00:26:58,280 Speaker 1: helped send the message that this was something okay, it 486 00:26:58,359 --> 00:27:00,640 Speaker 1: was safe. If the Queen was using it, you're good 487 00:27:00,680 --> 00:27:03,520 Speaker 1: to go to. Yeah. Also from a moral standpoint. I 488 00:27:03,520 --> 00:27:07,359 Speaker 1: think one of the the reasons people were opposed to 489 00:27:07,480 --> 00:27:10,960 Speaker 1: using it is because a lot of religious institutions, for example, 490 00:27:11,080 --> 00:27:14,160 Speaker 1: thought that you were supposed to, especially during childbirth, you're 491 00:27:14,160 --> 00:27:18,000 Speaker 1: supposed to feel that pain. And her using it in 492 00:27:18,080 --> 00:27:20,880 Speaker 1: childbirth for one of her children, I think just sort 493 00:27:20,880 --> 00:27:23,040 Speaker 1: of made it, Like you said, it made it a 494 00:27:23,040 --> 00:27:26,119 Speaker 1: little better, made it okay for more people. And of 495 00:27:26,160 --> 00:27:31,560 Speaker 1: course we couldn't get out without making a Queen Victoria 496 00:27:31,680 --> 00:27:35,560 Speaker 1: because the Queen of podcast cameo. I know, name dropping, 497 00:27:35,840 --> 00:27:38,960 Speaker 1: but that's enough for now. On Queen Victoria and anesthesia. 498 00:27:39,040 --> 00:27:41,479 Speaker 1: If you want to write to us and let us 499 00:27:41,480 --> 00:27:44,120 Speaker 1: know some of your own experiences with this topic. Did 500 00:27:44,160 --> 00:27:47,000 Speaker 1: you learn that a certain person was the discoverer of 501 00:27:47,040 --> 00:27:49,480 Speaker 1: anesthesia when you were growing up and and want to 502 00:27:49,520 --> 00:27:52,280 Speaker 1: share with us, Or do you have a really interesting 503 00:27:52,359 --> 00:27:56,119 Speaker 1: tental experience that you'd like to share her. Remember we 504 00:27:56,200 --> 00:27:58,400 Speaker 1: do hear some of those sometimes. We know that our 505 00:27:58,440 --> 00:28:02,560 Speaker 1: our podcast is on this and for some people who 506 00:28:02,720 --> 00:28:05,600 Speaker 1: use it while they're getting your root canals done, that's true. 507 00:28:06,440 --> 00:28:10,000 Speaker 1: Or maybe you just have some completely unrelated suggestions that 508 00:28:10,080 --> 00:28:11,760 Speaker 1: you want to share with us. You can write to 509 00:28:11,840 --> 00:28:15,400 Speaker 1: us and send us all those Things at History podcast 510 00:28:15,400 --> 00:28:17,480 Speaker 1: discovery dot com or you can look us up on 511 00:28:17,480 --> 00:28:20,000 Speaker 1: Facebook and we are on Twitter ATMs in history. And 512 00:28:20,040 --> 00:28:22,119 Speaker 1: if you want to learn a little bit more about 513 00:28:22,119 --> 00:28:24,000 Speaker 1: the topic we talked about today, we do have an 514 00:28:24,080 --> 00:28:27,960 Speaker 1: article called how Anesthesia Works and you can find that 515 00:28:28,080 --> 00:28:31,280 Speaker 1: by searching on our homepage at www dot how stuff 516 00:28:31,280 --> 00:28:37,239 Speaker 1: works dot com. Be sure to check out our new 517 00:28:37,320 --> 00:28:40,680 Speaker 1: video podcast, Stuff from the Future. Join how Staff Work 518 00:28:40,720 --> 00:28:44,280 Speaker 1: Staff as we explore the most promising and perplexing possibilities 519 00:28:44,280 --> 00:28:47,800 Speaker 1: of tomorrow. The house Stuff Works iPhone app has a rise. 520 00:28:48,040 --> 00:28:49,920 Speaker 1: Download it today on iTunes.