11 Scientific Discoveries That Were Total Accidents

Thought to have happened some time in the early 1800s, the actual invention of painless surgery a bit fuzzy. This is unsurprising, however, seeing as it's generally accepted that it was discovered by a bunch of drug addicts.

In the past, western surgical procedures were a seriously unpleasant business. Generally speaking, you would either have to get your unfortunate vict...er...patient either paralytically drunk, drop him insensible with a blow to the head, or just work quickly and hope he passed out from the pain before too long.

That was until all the cool kids started holding gatherings known as "laughing parties" or, even more whimsically, "ether frolics". During these soirees, guests would inhale large amounts of nitrous oxide, or laughing gas, and have a jolly old time. It was noted that during these highs, the guests would become seemingly impervious to pain, obliviously bouncing off the walls and furniture.

It wasn't until some years later, when the effects of nitrous oxide were being publicly exhibited and one participant badly injured his leg during the demonstrations, that someone had the idea of using it in surgery. 

A dentist in the crowd named Horace Wells noticed that he appeared to barely feel a thing and immediately rushed back to his surgery to yank his own teeth out under its influence. If nothing else, this is a pretty good demonstration of the thin line between genius and crazy.