The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1913-07-14

was suffering with an aDscessed upper incisor tooth. So he took several in halations of the chloroform vapor, and in that state of drowsiness which he afterward called "obtundure'' he fore ed a lance against that part of the gum covering the root of the tooth. When he withdrew the instrument he discovered, much to his amazement, that the point had penetrated g. quarter of an inch or more, and no particle of discomfort had been experienced. He then took his courage in both hands, care fully adjusted a pair of forcepe over the incisor, breathed deep of the sweet pungency, and pulled Ahis own tooth absolutely without pain
 This was the first surgical opera ton ever performed under analgesia poppy of the ancients), and the first operation performed under chloroforn1 in America,
 Naturally, pr. Hewett was enthusi- astfc; but, like every medical or surgi- cal innovation, dental ana1gesia met with a skeptical and frigid1y discour- aging reception He continued to ad- dental and surgical practice for over fifty years, operating under every pos Sible condition with surgical anal gesia,' emitting only four or five of the gravest and most complicated gen. eraI operations, for which he used the aneSthetic stage.
 But, except for the support Of a few pioneers, the practice met with scant favoE It is only within a few years that analgesia has achieved general recognition. In fact, 1t IS still in the swaddling clothes period, so far as any extensive use is concerned.
 Dr. Wolf of Washington, D. C., re- lot %R,a% of he Aff method'' had been. introduced a tall raw-boned. awkward, man, with a sad face and kindly eye, came to his office to have tooth extracted.
 Just as the doctor was about to op- crate, the stranger said. Wait aSmo- ment, please drew from his pocket a small vial, removed the cork, and in haIed deeply of volatile substance for a minute. ''Now you may pro ceed,'' he said, and opened his mouth.
 The tooth was removed painlessly. The substance was chloroform; the pa tient, Abraham Lincoln.
 Six years later Qs6S) Dr. Andrews of Chicago added pure oxygen to 'sN 2O.'' as dentists and surgeons prefer to call the laughing gas, and attempted to perfect a certain, safe method of producing ana1geeia. The results were fairly satisfactory, considering the crudeness of his invention; but the profession still held coy1y aloof from the new-fangLed device.
 Until thirty years later. Dr. Charles Teter of Cleveland, O., began experi- menting with the gases, and devised a contrivance for scientifically admins tering definite percenta ges of nitrous oxid and oxygen, thereby enabling the operator to analgesize thu patient. or to carry him into deep and prolonged surgical anesthesia, at will Other ex- perimenters have since designed simi- lar apparatus.
 When anesthesia could be maintain ed with this mixture for an indefinite time, 1t attracted the attention of the medical profession, which is now rapidly taking up this method.
 At first it was regarded as exclusive 1y a dental anesthetic for minor oper- ations; but in the last few years, after extensive use and experiment by such prominent surgeons and anesthetis as Grille, Kelley, Parker, Teter, Bevan, Gwanthney, and Catch, attention has