The Banner-Democrat. [volume] (Lake Providence, East Carroll Parish, La.) 1892-current, 1898-12-03
4 FAMOUS DENTIST.
The Late G. 0. Cotton First Used Laugh
ing Cas- in Practice.

ing Gas" in Practice.
DIR. Gardner Quincy Cotton, late OF
New York city, to whom belongs in
part the credit of an9sthesia by laugh
lug gas, died recently in Rotterdam at
the age of "a. Besides being dem
tist, DIR. Cotton was physician, lee
turer,a critic, an electrician and at one
time gold prospector, having gone to
California with the argonauts Of 40,
both to search for gold aud to practise
medicine among his fellow adveptur-
ers. There is good ground for the be-
lief 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 in Vermont, the twelfth child
of poor parents, he was able to get
only o common school education before
being set to the trade of chairmaking
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 81, in 1885, he added
considerably to his means by writing
for the newspapers, until he had saved
enough money to achieve the first great
ambition of his life, course in the
College of Physicians and Surgeons.
After graduation he studied in the Of
flee of DR.. William Parker and two
years later set out upon lecture
tour, speaking on philosophical and
chemical subjects. His favorite lee
ture was one dealing with electrical
! phenomena and the peculiar effects
upon the brain of nitrous oxide gas,
which he called laughing gas because
of ridiculous performances OF persons
under its influence. These lectures
he supplemented by experiments. In
1914 he lectured in Hartford, and
among those on the stage was DIR.
Horace Wells. A young man having
inhaled nitrous oxide gas -barked his
shins upon chair, but felt no pain
until the effects of the gas wore off.
This struck DR.. Wells so forcibly that
he determined to have tooth out
while under the influence of the gas,
and the experiment was so successful
that he published the result of 1t.
For long time other dentists scoffed
at it, but when it's 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 f)rm 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 an insane asylum. There
after the use of nitrous oxide Tel
away, but DR.. Cotton revived it some
years later, giving full credit for the
discovery to DIR. Wells.
In 1913, to illustrate the practica
bility of electricity rs motive power.
DIR. Cotton built small electrical 10
connective, which drew train of toy
cars around a circular track. This
was put away when the inventor went
west in 1849 and never resurrectet
until wears afterward. In an impor
tant patent suit the doctor was called
as witness and fished it out of an OLD
trunk where it had been for about A
years. With little tinkering it RAJ
as we'll as ever DR.. Colton's testi
mony had vital effect upon the cas-
on trial, and photographs Of the mode
were taken and are now in the Smith
!. sonian institution in Washington. A
! a gold digger DIR. Cotton was moder
, ate success only, but as one of the yer.
few physicians among the argonaut
, he made good thing out Of his ven
, ture. In 1850 Governor Riley APP
,, pointed him the first justice of th
! peace in California. Returning cas-
shortly after he resumed his lecture
,, tours, and early in the Civil war b
got out the Cotton war maps. In 1856
he established the Cotton Dental as
|, sociation, and it is said that he an
, his assistants have pulled from tn
! painful mouths of sufferers more tina
a million undesirable teeth. DR.. Col
ton published many pamphlets upo
] literary, philosophical and theologics
subjects, the best known of which
!, his monograph on Shakespeare an
the Bible" He left a large fortune