The true Democrat. [volume] (Bayou Sara [La.]) 1892-1928, 1898-10-22
TE Late T.

the age of "a. Dcsid.
tlst, DR.. Cotton was q ply.
turer,a critic, an electrician
tlme gold prospector, having
California with tho argonauts &
both to search for gold and to ORA,
medicine among his fellow adventu.
ors. There is good ground for tho be-
llet that he invented the first electric
motor ever run, but it never got be-
yond the model state, though the little
machine which he built worked per.
fectly.
Born i'll Vermont, the twelfth child
OF poor parents, he was able to get
only a common school education before
being set to the trade of chairmakinr,
All his spare moments were given to
reading and study and with such
good results that when he came to this
city at the age Of q, in 1895, he added
considerably to his means by writing
Tor the newspapers, until he had saved
enough money to achieve the first great
ambition Of his life, q course IN the
College Of Physicians and Surgeons,
After graduation he studied in the of,
lice OF DR.. William Parker and two
years later set out upon lecture
tour, speaking on philosophical and
chemical subjects. His favorite lee
tllre was ono dealing with electrical
phenomena md the peculiar effects
upon the brain Of nitrous oxide gas.
which LIE called laughing gas because
OF ridiculous performances of persons
under It's influence. These lectures
he supplemented. by experiments. In
1914 he lectured In Hartford, and
among those on the stage was DR..
Horace Wells. "a young man having
inhaled nitrous oxide gas barked his
Sims upon a chair, but felt no pain
until the effects of the gas wore off,
This struck DR.. Wells SO forcibly that
he determined to have a tooth out
while under the influence of the gas,
and the experiment was so successful
that he published the result of it.
For a long time other dentists scoffed
at 1T but when its efficacy was proved
beyond doubt two other physicians,
Morton and Jackson, put forth claims
to the discovery which was to render
painless the most distressing form of |
dentistry. The controversy which |
followed was bitter in its progress and |
tragic In its end, for it drove Drs. |
Wells and Morton to suicide and DR.. |
Jackson to On insane asylum There |
after the use of nitrous oxide fell
away, but DR.. Cotton revived it some |
years later, giving full credit for the |
discovery to DR.. Wells.
In 1913, to illustrate the practica-
bilfty Of electricity as motive power, |
DR.. Cotton built small electrical To-
connective, which drew train Of toy
cars around d circular track. This |
vas put away when the inventor went
vest in 1S49 and never resurrectel
Until years afterward. In an impor-
ant patent suit the doctor was called
Is witness and fshed it out of an old
runk where 1t had been for about DO
FEARS. With little tinkering 1t ran
IS we'll as ever. DR.. Colton's testi-
nony had vital effect upon the case
N trial, and photographs of the model
we're taken and ore NOW In the Smith
OMAN institution In Washington. AS
gold digger DR.. Cotton was moder-
tie success only, but as one of the very
CIV physicians among the argonauts
10 made good thing out Of his ven
ure. In 1850 Governor Riley ap-
ointed him the first justice of the
eace In California. Returning east
hortly after he resumed his lecture
ours, and early in the Civil war he
OF out the Cotton war maps. In 1853
G established the Cotton Dental as
ociation, and it is said that vhe and
is assistants have pulled from the
einful mouths Of sufferers more than
'illion undesirable teeth. DIR. Col
Tblished many pamphlets upon !
philosophical and theological ]
he best known of which is {