September 21, 2014

“O, Excellent Air Bag”: Humphry Davy and Nitrous Oxide. [Via]
posted by homunculus 10 years ago
  • Some of the air of not scientific enough hung around even after he moved to the Royal Institute, as evidenced by this satirical cartoon from Gilray ridiculing him and probably causing him to stop making public lectures.
  • Having dallied with N2O in my more adventurous days, my opinion is that it's not worth much romanticising. It's really just an anaesthetic without the sense of suffocation and nausea, so it provides a pleasant ride to anoxia.