1840 – He was a dentist in Hartford, CT, when he became interested in the possibility of using nitrous oxide – ‘laughing gas’ – as a painkiller while extracting teeth.

1844 – Wells noted the pain-killing properties of nitrous oxide (“laughing gas”) during a laughing-gas road show and thereafter used it in performing painless dental operations.

         – Wells had one of his own teeth extracted while under nitrous oxide, and he extracted several more from patients without pain.

1845 – When he attempted to demonstrate the gas’ efficacy for surgery at the Harvard Medical School, it failed.

1846 – Morton successfully demonstrated the use of ether, first (September) for teeth extraction and then (October) for surgical operations, at Massachusetts General Hospital.

1847 – Wells published a claim in the Hartford Courant that he had discovered the anaesthetics effect of both nitrous oxide and ether, and he elaborated his claims in a pamphlet.