The discovery of nitrous oxide brought the problem of finding a pain-killer was nearer to a solution.
Soon it came to beIt soon became known as ‘laughing gas’ because of its capacity for destroyingalleviating pain and making people laugh. The gas found its way to America, where it was provingproven to be true to its name. Young Americans found the new gas better and cheaper than alcohol, and parties were held only for the purpose of inhaling the gas. One such party was attended by a young dentist named Horace Wells. He observed that after some time the crowd grew very gay and the members, under the influence of the gas, started hurting each other without feeling any pain. Wells becamewas interested. In fact, he was so interested that he asked a fellow-dentist to pull out a perfectly good tooth of his. To his joy and wonder, he found that he felt no pain at all.