This Won't Hurt a Bit! A History of Pain Relief

This Won't Hurt a Bit! A History of Pain Relief

April 26, 2013 - September 28, 2013

This exhibit will explore the ways Connecticut's residents and companies help people manage their pain--both dull and acute--paying particular attention to Horace Wells's discovery of anesthesia. The discovery of pain-free surgery is a critically important part of medical and dental history. The story of its discovery and the controversy surrounding who first discovered it will be told. CHS will draw on its collection of books, pamphlets, and manuscript holdings to document the equipment and procedures available to doctors and dentists and the types of pain relievers--physical, homeopathic, and chemical--that were used to soothe or eliminate pain in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.