Gardner Quincy ColtonBorn 7 Feb 1814; died 9 Aug 1898 at age 84. American lecturer who was the first to administer nitrous oxide as an anaesthetic. This followed when one of Colton's public demonstrations of the properties of nitrous oxide, was attended by a dentist. It was Horace Wells, who observed a volunteer paid no heed to any pain when he accidentally gashed leg while stumbling around under the influence of a moderate dose of the gas. Wells suggested the use of the gas as an anaesthetic, and even volunteered to have Colton administer the nitrous oxide while one of Wells' molars was extracted by his partner, dentist John Riggs (11 Dec 1844). Between 1864-97, Colton as anaesthetist administered nitrous oxide while his dental colleagues successfully extracted tens of thousands of teeth.« |
