Page:American Medical Biographies - Kelly, Burrage.djvu/1238

NAME WELLS 1216 WELLS surgeon of the Woman's Hospital in the State of New York. In 1885 he began private practice with Munde, with whom he continued for twelve years, acting as assistant editor of the Amer- ica): Journal of Obstetrics. Upon Munde's retirement in 1892 he became editor-in-chief, and held this position until his death. Wells supervised the translation and made additions to the American edition of Pozzi's "Medical and Surgical Gynecolog>';" he wrote articles also on gjnecologj-, obstetrics and ab- dominal surgery. He was an active, interested member of the American Gynecological So- ciety and of varioUs local medical societies. He joined and was greatly interested in the work of the Medical Reserve Corps and as a captain in this corps, a few months before his death, was assigned to active service in exam- ining recruits. At his expressed desire he was laid avj-ay in his captain's uniform. In S4 Dr. Wells married Mary Prances, daughter of Benjamin Pomeroy, of Southport, Connecticut, of an old New England family. His wife and four daughters survived him. He was a wiry man of spare habit, with sandy hair, and a clear, penetrating glance; keen, alert, responsive and always courteous, a man of many friends. His claim upon posterity rests in his good judgment and ad- mirable management of so important a period- ical as the American Journal of Obstetrics during the years when g'necolog>' was the most active, growing medical specialty. In this useful and not inconspicuous field his tal- ent for industry found the recognition which slowly comes to patient, faithful service. As a writer he dealt with such current gynecological topics as the relation of cervical lacerations and uterine disease, the use of eser- ine. early rising after abdominal operations, and hypernephroma. He was a good cyclist and when the Ameri- can Gynecological Society met in Baltimore in 1895 the writer tried to do Wells up by lead- ing him to the foot of the nanny-goat hills in Druid Hill Park and starting up the steep ascent. The result was that the writer fell off and Wells went triumphantly over the top ! Wells died on July 6, 1917, from the results of an injury received while riding his wheel. Howard A. . Kelly. Amer. Jour, of Obstet, G. W. Kosmak, 1917, vol. Ixxvi, 209-211. Port. Med. Rec, 1917, vol. xcii, 73. N. Y. Med. Jour., 1917, vol. cvi, US. Jour. Amer. Med. As.'^o., 1917, vol. Ixix. 137. Well», Ebenezer (1801-1879) Prof. Wells, a renowned lecturer on obstet- rics at the Medical School of Maine, although gossip says that he gained his appointment more by petticoat government than medical worth, deserves mention as a worthy doctor. He did good work and was a teacher in medi- cine in the proper sense of that word at a time when learning was at a low standpoint. Born in Warren, Maine, March 9, 1801, he was educated by the Rev. Mr. Weldon, of that town, studied medicine with Dr. Joel Stock- bridge, of Bath, and graduated at the Medical School of Maine in 1823, afterwards settling in Freeport, Maine, and practising there abo'ut fifty-six years. He married first, October 19, 1823, Lydia Sewall, of Bath, and had three children, and afterwards Mary Angier, daughter of Dr. John Angier Hyde, a practitioner of Freeport, who was often called to assist our learned professor of obstetrics in difficult labor cases, when knowledge from practice was far ahead of book-learning. Ebenezer Wells was probably one of the best educated men of his time in Maine. He was a good lecturer and well thought of by his patients and brother practitioners. He was early a member of the Maine Medical Society, and attended its meetings with great regu- larity. After a while he got into politics. Clinging, however, to his practice and profes- sorship, he was given a position as postmaster as a reward for political skill with the Whigs. This he held for eight years, then joined an- other party and was postmaster for twelve years more. He was also a member of the State Legislature for several years, and held various positions of trust, being, in fact, a very popular man of the past, and working always for the improvement of the community in which he lived. He died after a brief illness, October 23, 1879. James A. Spalding. Trans. Maine Med. Asso. Wells, Horace (1815-1848) The credit of first using inhalation of an effective anesthetic for surgical purposes is generally assigned to Horace Wells, a dentist of Hartford, Connecticut. Born in Hartford, Vermont, January 21, 1815, he died in New York City, January 24, 1848. He was edu- cated in New England academies and began to st'udy dentistry in Baltimore in 1836. He had seen a person made insensible to pain at a lecture by Dr. G. O. Colton in December, 1844, and himself had a tooth extracted next day under the influence of the nitrous oxide gas. He at once began to use it in dentistry. In January, 1845, he went to Boston, where his pupil. Dr. W. T. G. Morton (q.v.), gave him