Exploring Sir Humphry Davy's experiments with nitrous oxide, involving test subjects like Coleridge and Roge, detailing the effects experienced such as warmth, laughter, vertigo, and delirium. The chapter discusses the recreational and scientific uses of nitrous oxide, its popularity leading to parties and publications, and its connections to English Romanticism.
Chemist Sir Humphry Davy is known for his work with nitrous oxide, or laughing gas. That early part of his career is the focus of part one of this two-parter.
Research:
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- “Sir Humphrey Davy’s Harmful Emissions – November 2015.” Newcastle University Special Collections. 11/30/2015. https://blogs.ncl.ac.uk/speccoll/2015/11/30/sir-humphrey-davys-harmful-emissions/
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- Lacey, Andrew. “Humphry Davy and the ‘safety lamp controversy’.” 7/22/2015. https://www.theguardian.com/science/the-h-word/2015/jul/22/humphry-davy-lamp-controversy-history-science
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- Thomas, John Meurig. “Sir Humphry Davy and the coal miners of the world: a commentary on Davy (1816) ‘An account of an invention for giving light in explosive mixtures of fire-damp in coal mines’.” Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society. 4/13/2015. https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsta.2014.0288
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