Researches, Chemical and Philosophical, Chiefly Concerning Nitrous Oxide, or Dephlogisticated Nitrous Air, and Its Respiration. by Sir Humphry Davy
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
In 1798, Humphry Davy was appointed laboratory superintendent of the Pneumatic Institute in Bristol, UK. this was an establishment founded on the belief that the recently discovered gases might have curative applications. Here he set to work on his monumental text on the history, chemistry, physiology and recreational use of nitrous oxide - published in 1800 when he was just 21 years old. Curiously, given the purpose of the Pneumatic Institute, the use of this gas in therapy is barely mentioned: a couple of accounts of its use on paralyzed patients, and that's about the extent. It is at the end of this book that he makes his oft-repeated statement about the possible use of nitrous oxide in surgery: 'As nitrous oxide.appears capable of destroying physical pain, it may probably be used with advantage during surgical operations in which no great effusion of blood takes place.
Spotting medical potential
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