A Sad And Strange Death...!

We often forget about the sacrifices made in the name of science and medicine, but from I have seen and read about over the years, it is never a good idea to experiment on yourself. This story is from Listverse.

Horace Wells (January 21, 1815 – January 24, 1848) [Britannica]

Manner of death: Used anesthetics to commit suicide

An American dentist, born in Vermont and educated in Boston, Horace Wells was one of the pioneers in the field of anesthesia. Weary of screaming patients, (it was known to upset him terribly, he often debated leaving the field of dentistry altogether), he was one of the first practitioners to see the value of nitrous oxide or laughing gas as an anesthetic.

After a failed experiment and falling out of favor with the medical community, Wells became a traveling anesthetic salesman and European expert for his former partner, Gardner Quincy Colton. His ‘investigations’ led to a chloroform addiction that would be his down-fall. In 1848, delirious and deranged after a week of self-experimentation, Wells ran into the street and assaulted two prostitutes with sulfuric acid. He was arrested and confined at New York’s infamous Tombs Prison. Recovering from the drug induced psychosis; the true horror of his actions came home to roost. Unable to live with this shame, Wells committed suicide by first inhaling a substantial dose of chloroform and then slitting his femoral artery.

I'd say this old boy definitely had some problems upstairs, if you know what I mean.

Coffee inside today due to the rain.