How did Humphrey Davy discover the effects of nitrous oxide?
simple, he inhaled it personally! Following Priestley’s discovery of nitrous oxide, Humphry Davy of the Pneumatic Institute in Bristol, England, experimented with the physiological properties of the gas, such as its effects upon respiration. He even administered the gas to visitors to the institute, and after watching the amusing effects on people who inhaled it, coined the term ‘laughing gas’! Davy even noted the anaesthetic effects of the gas: “As nitrous oxide in its extensive operation 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”. However, despite this observation, for the next 40 years or so the primary use of N2O was for recreational enjoyment and public shows. So called nitrous oxide capers took place in travelling medicine shows and carnivals, where the public would pay a small price to inhale a minute’s worth of the gas. People would laugh and act silly until the
