Excerpt from Notes on the History of Anaesthesia; The Wells Memorial Celebration at Hartford, 1894; Early Record of Dentists in Connecticut In conversation with Dr. Wells, these gentlemen both tried to discourage him, having no faith in his statements, and advised him to give up the use of the gas. Dr. Jack son, noted then as a chemist, treated the subject as lightly as did the medical students, calling it a humbug. That a dentist from a country town could appear in Boston and announce to the world that he had made such a grand discovery was not to be credited, and Dr. Wells soon learned that not one of the influential medical or scientific men in that learned city could be induced to interest themselves in investigating the properties of the gas or lend him any assistance whatever while he re mained in that city. They preferred to hiss and cry humbug rather than to give Dr. Wells a second chance to prove the value of his discovery. He returned to Hartford greatly depressed and in poor health, but in a short time was able to resume his practice. During that and the following year he continued to give the gas freely, and when not able from any cause to attend to the patients, he would bring or send them to the office of Dr. Riggs to have him give the'gas. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.