1 00:00:01,320 --> 00:00:04,280 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff You Missed in History Class, a production 2 00:00:04,400 --> 00:00:14,720 Speaker 1: of iHeartRadio. Hello, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Tracy V. 3 00:00:14,840 --> 00:00:18,360 Speaker 1: Wilson and I'm Holly Frye. Somebody who has made a 4 00:00:18,480 --> 00:00:22,760 Speaker 1: few appearances on past episodes of the show is chemist 5 00:00:22,920 --> 00:00:26,560 Speaker 1: Sir Humphrey Davy. He showed up in our episodes on 6 00:00:26,680 --> 00:00:31,720 Speaker 1: Andrew Cross, John Cleves Simms, and Peter Mark Roget and 7 00:00:31,760 --> 00:00:35,600 Speaker 1: I think maybe also a couple things that previous hosts did. 8 00:00:36,400 --> 00:00:41,120 Speaker 1: Andrew Cross did some experiments involving Davy's technique of using 9 00:00:41,280 --> 00:00:46,680 Speaker 1: electricity to extract metals from ores, and John Cleves Sims 10 00:00:46,760 --> 00:00:50,840 Speaker 1: named Davy as one of his protectors in a proposed 11 00:00:51,080 --> 00:00:55,600 Speaker 1: expedition to prove that the Earth was hollow. Although Davey 12 00:00:55,640 --> 00:00:58,280 Speaker 1: did not think that the Earth was hollow, he had 13 00:00:58,320 --> 00:01:02,960 Speaker 1: not really endorsed the those claims at all. Peter Mark 14 00:01:03,040 --> 00:01:06,080 Speaker 1: Roge is most famous for his thesaurus, but he was 15 00:01:06,120 --> 00:01:08,920 Speaker 1: also a doctor and he worked with Davy on some 16 00:01:09,000 --> 00:01:12,959 Speaker 1: of his chemistry experiments. Our episode on Roje came out 17 00:01:13,000 --> 00:01:15,560 Speaker 1: in twenty twenty two, and we mentioned that some of 18 00:01:15,600 --> 00:01:21,280 Speaker 1: that work was with nitrous oxide or laughing gas. I 19 00:01:21,400 --> 00:01:24,600 Speaker 1: have thought about doing an episode on Humphrey Davy every 20 00:01:24,600 --> 00:01:27,880 Speaker 1: time he has come up on the show. Obviously, he 21 00:01:27,959 --> 00:01:29,800 Speaker 1: touched a lot of things that we've talked on before. 22 00:01:29,880 --> 00:01:32,280 Speaker 1: He just seemed like an interesting person. And then I 23 00:01:32,400 --> 00:01:35,919 Speaker 1: recently stumbled across an article that was about this self 24 00:01:35,959 --> 00:01:40,160 Speaker 1: experimentation with nitrous oxide, something that briefly came up in 25 00:01:40,160 --> 00:01:43,200 Speaker 1: that Roche episode. So I wound up going on a 26 00:01:43,240 --> 00:01:46,520 Speaker 1: hole down, a whole rabbit hole with that, and Davy 27 00:01:46,880 --> 00:01:49,280 Speaker 1: wound up at the top of the to do list. 28 00:01:49,480 --> 00:01:53,120 Speaker 1: So of course that means this episode is going to 29 00:01:53,200 --> 00:01:59,360 Speaker 1: include some discussions and descriptions of substance use. Recreational nitrous 30 00:01:59,360 --> 00:02:02,000 Speaker 1: oxide was not illegal when he was doing this, but 31 00:02:02,040 --> 00:02:05,000 Speaker 1: it is illegal in some places today. And also this 32 00:02:05,200 --> 00:02:09,440 Speaker 1: was an accidental two parter. Was really not expecting that 33 00:02:09,480 --> 00:02:11,440 Speaker 1: when I went into it, which feels like a theme 34 00:02:11,480 --> 00:02:15,640 Speaker 1: with my two parters lately. Today we will talk about 35 00:02:15,639 --> 00:02:20,320 Speaker 1: his early life up through the nitrous oxide experiments, and 36 00:02:20,360 --> 00:02:22,760 Speaker 1: then on Wednesday we will get into his other work 37 00:02:22,800 --> 00:02:27,840 Speaker 1: that happened after that, which also was notable. Humphrey Davy 38 00:02:27,960 --> 00:02:32,040 Speaker 1: was born in Penzance, Cornwall, on December seventeenth, seventeen seventy eight. 39 00:02:32,440 --> 00:02:36,320 Speaker 1: To Robert and Grace Millet Davy. Robert was a wood carver, 40 00:02:36,480 --> 00:02:39,200 Speaker 1: and in seventeen eighty four he also took possession of 41 00:02:39,240 --> 00:02:42,280 Speaker 1: a family farm in Varfel, a couple of miles away. 42 00:02:43,120 --> 00:02:47,320 Speaker 1: A number of sources, including Encyclopedia Britannica, described this as 43 00:02:47,360 --> 00:02:49,799 Speaker 1: an estate, and that makes their life sound a lot 44 00:02:49,880 --> 00:02:53,960 Speaker 1: grander than it really was. Robert was a freeholder, meaning 45 00:02:54,000 --> 00:02:57,080 Speaker 1: that he owned the farm, and the family's ancestry did 46 00:02:57,120 --> 00:03:01,200 Speaker 1: include some more affluent and prominent peace people on both sides, 47 00:03:01,280 --> 00:03:04,720 Speaker 1: so they definitely had more wealth and influence than say 48 00:03:04,840 --> 00:03:08,200 Speaker 1: a tenant farmer or a farm laborer, but their actual 49 00:03:08,240 --> 00:03:11,679 Speaker 1: way of life was really more on the modest side. 50 00:03:11,919 --> 00:03:14,680 Speaker 1: Robert died in seventeen ninety four at the age of 51 00:03:14,680 --> 00:03:19,320 Speaker 1: only forty eight, and Grace inherited about fifteen hundred pounds 52 00:03:19,360 --> 00:03:22,320 Speaker 1: of debt, and that was with an income of about 53 00:03:22,360 --> 00:03:25,640 Speaker 1: one hundred and fifty pounds a year. According to the 54 00:03:25,680 --> 00:03:29,600 Speaker 1: Bank of England's inflation calculator, that would be about sixteen 55 00:03:29,680 --> 00:03:33,800 Speaker 1: thousand pounds a year today or twenty thousand dollars or so. 56 00:03:34,440 --> 00:03:38,120 Speaker 1: And as always these comparisons are very approximate, but this 57 00:03:38,360 --> 00:03:41,360 Speaker 1: just was not enough to pay off that debt or 58 00:03:41,440 --> 00:03:45,200 Speaker 1: to really provide for the family. That family included Humphrey 59 00:03:45,280 --> 00:03:49,560 Speaker 1: and also four younger siblings, so Grace went into business 60 00:03:49,600 --> 00:03:52,360 Speaker 1: with a refugee from France, someone who had fled in 61 00:03:52,400 --> 00:03:55,480 Speaker 1: the wake of violence connected to the French Revolution, and 62 00:03:55,560 --> 00:03:59,800 Speaker 1: they started a milliner's shop in Penzance. Humphrey was sixty 63 00:04:00,080 --> 00:04:02,600 Speaker 1: when his father died, and a couple of months later 64 00:04:02,640 --> 00:04:07,000 Speaker 1: he started an apprenticeship with apothecary physician Bingham Borlaise, with 65 00:04:07,080 --> 00:04:10,000 Speaker 1: the goal of becoming a doctor himself and helping to 66 00:04:10,040 --> 00:04:13,840 Speaker 1: support the family. His education up to that point had 67 00:04:13,880 --> 00:04:16,359 Speaker 1: been kind of erratic. Some of it was paid for 68 00:04:16,480 --> 00:04:20,120 Speaker 1: by his godfather, John Tonkin, who Humphrey also boarded with 69 00:04:20,279 --> 00:04:24,200 Speaker 1: after the family moved to Varfell. Humphrey's teacher in Penzance 70 00:04:24,240 --> 00:04:27,880 Speaker 1: had been cruel and, in Humphrey's opinion, not very interesting. 71 00:04:28,760 --> 00:04:30,960 Speaker 1: For a while, Tonkin paid to send him to a 72 00:04:30,960 --> 00:04:33,400 Speaker 1: different school in Truro, which seems to have been a 73 00:04:33,400 --> 00:04:36,760 Speaker 1: better fit, but Humphrey didn't stay there for very long. 74 00:04:37,920 --> 00:04:41,080 Speaker 1: So Humphrey had gotten pretty use to seeking out information 75 00:04:41,160 --> 00:04:45,080 Speaker 1: about things that interested him on his own. Since Tonkin 76 00:04:45,160 --> 00:04:48,719 Speaker 1: was an apothecary surgeon. That gave Davy access to some 77 00:04:48,800 --> 00:04:52,279 Speaker 1: books on science and medicine, and he was a quick study. 78 00:04:52,839 --> 00:04:57,960 Speaker 1: He was also avidly interested in hunting, fishing, and writing stories, 79 00:04:58,880 --> 00:05:02,000 Speaker 1: so he also developed up to a reputation for idleness 80 00:05:02,360 --> 00:05:06,120 Speaker 1: and for having a romantic streak. He'd been raised Anglican, 81 00:05:06,279 --> 00:05:10,279 Speaker 1: but he leaned more toward having religious and spiritual experiences 82 00:05:10,320 --> 00:05:13,960 Speaker 1: out in nature rather than at church. He was the 83 00:05:14,000 --> 00:05:18,039 Speaker 1: sort of person who taught himself chemistry well enough to 84 00:05:18,120 --> 00:05:21,240 Speaker 1: be able to question the conclusions of the people who 85 00:05:21,279 --> 00:05:25,159 Speaker 1: wrote those textbooks. But he also liked to wander in 86 00:05:25,200 --> 00:05:28,120 Speaker 1: the woods reading poetry when he was supposed to be working. 87 00:05:28,839 --> 00:05:33,760 Speaker 1: It's truly like a magical Jane Austen Hero. Some of 88 00:05:33,839 --> 00:05:38,719 Speaker 1: Davy's self study included reading Antoine Laurent Lavoisier's Elementary Treatise 89 00:05:38,720 --> 00:05:41,839 Speaker 1: on Chemistry, which was published in seventeen eighty nine and 90 00:05:41,880 --> 00:05:46,440 Speaker 1: translated into English in seventeen ninety. We have covered Lavoisier 91 00:05:46,560 --> 00:05:48,720 Speaker 1: on the show before, and we ran that episode as 92 00:05:48,720 --> 00:05:53,320 Speaker 1: a Saturday Classic in January of twenty eighteen. Lavoisier's work 93 00:05:53,360 --> 00:05:56,960 Speaker 1: in the eighteenth century was groundbreaking, and he's considered to 94 00:05:57,000 --> 00:06:00,600 Speaker 1: be one of the founders of modern chemistry. Cuoisier was 95 00:06:00,640 --> 00:06:03,880 Speaker 1: guillotine in seventeen ninety four during the Reign of Terror, 96 00:06:04,240 --> 00:06:09,640 Speaker 1: but was later exonerated. Sources disagree on whether Davy read 97 00:06:09,720 --> 00:06:14,320 Speaker 1: Lavoisier's work in English or in French. He reportedly learned 98 00:06:14,320 --> 00:06:17,720 Speaker 1: French from a priest. This was another refugee, someone who 99 00:06:17,800 --> 00:06:20,440 Speaker 1: had fled the Vonde region of France in the wake 100 00:06:20,520 --> 00:06:24,719 Speaker 1: of counter revolutionary violence, regardless of what language that he 101 00:06:24,760 --> 00:06:29,000 Speaker 1: read it in, though Davy disagreed with some of Lavoisier's ideas, 102 00:06:29,200 --> 00:06:34,640 Speaker 1: particularly Lavoisier's assertion that oxygen was part of all acids. 103 00:06:35,320 --> 00:06:40,440 Speaker 1: Lavoisier had coined the name oxygen from Greek and French 104 00:06:40,480 --> 00:06:44,640 Speaker 1: words that roughly meant forming sharpness, and this was based 105 00:06:44,640 --> 00:06:48,560 Speaker 1: on this whole idea that he thought oxygen was an acidifier. 106 00:06:49,320 --> 00:06:51,800 Speaker 1: Today we know that it is not, and we will 107 00:06:52,240 --> 00:06:56,080 Speaker 1: be returning to Davey's experiments with this later on. This 108 00:06:56,240 --> 00:07:00,120 Speaker 1: self study also led Davy to a particular interest in gas. 109 00:07:01,000 --> 00:07:04,080 Speaker 1: In the context of European scientific thought, the idea that 110 00:07:04,120 --> 00:07:07,800 Speaker 1: air was composed of different gases was still relatively new. 111 00:07:08,680 --> 00:07:12,720 Speaker 1: English chemist John Mayow had described what he called spiritus 112 00:07:13,040 --> 00:07:17,920 Speaker 1: nitroarius in the late seventeenth century. Spiritus nitroarius was later 113 00:07:18,040 --> 00:07:22,080 Speaker 1: known to be oxygen. The idea that air contained a 114 00:07:22,200 --> 00:07:25,520 Speaker 1: mix of gases or different airs, some of which could 115 00:07:25,560 --> 00:07:28,600 Speaker 1: burn and some of which could not, evolved and became 116 00:07:28,680 --> 00:07:33,720 Speaker 1: accepted knowledge over the next century. By the late seventeen hundreds, 117 00:07:33,960 --> 00:07:38,080 Speaker 1: scientists had isolated and named a number of different gases, 118 00:07:38,560 --> 00:07:40,720 Speaker 1: and this had led to the development of a new 119 00:07:40,880 --> 00:07:46,400 Speaker 1: scientific discipline known as pneumatic chemistry, which involved investigating and 120 00:07:46,520 --> 00:07:50,600 Speaker 1: studying all these different airs. Lavoisier was a big part 121 00:07:50,640 --> 00:07:55,440 Speaker 1: of this, as was English chemist Joseph Priestley. Priestley had 122 00:07:55,480 --> 00:07:59,320 Speaker 1: started by studying carbon dioxide, which he called fixed air, 123 00:08:00,000 --> 00:08:03,200 Speaker 1: thanks to the bubbles that rose in the fermentation vats 124 00:08:03,240 --> 00:08:06,640 Speaker 1: that are local brewery. This came up recently in our 125 00:08:06,680 --> 00:08:11,120 Speaker 1: episode on Johann Veeppa and the development of carbonated beverages. 126 00:08:11,920 --> 00:08:16,520 Speaker 1: Priestley and Levoisier were both involved in discoveries connected to oxygen. 127 00:08:17,240 --> 00:08:21,200 Speaker 1: Lavoisier started off calling it quote highly respirable air, while 128 00:08:21,240 --> 00:08:26,240 Speaker 1: Priestley used the term deflogisticated air. The idea of phlogiston 129 00:08:26,320 --> 00:08:29,840 Speaker 1: had been proposed by Johann Becker back in sixteen sixty seven. 130 00:08:30,520 --> 00:08:33,480 Speaker 1: Phlogiston was believed to be a chemical that was contained 131 00:08:33,520 --> 00:08:37,679 Speaker 1: inflammable substances, which was released when those substances were burned. 132 00:08:38,559 --> 00:08:41,760 Speaker 1: Priestley had been trying to remove this so called phlogiston 133 00:08:41,840 --> 00:08:44,880 Speaker 1: from atmospheric air when he found a gas that burned 134 00:08:45,000 --> 00:08:50,360 Speaker 1: very easily, which is what he called deflagisticated air. Eventually, 135 00:08:50,679 --> 00:08:54,640 Speaker 1: Lavoisier demonstrated that flogiston didn't exist and that the element 136 00:08:54,720 --> 00:09:00,400 Speaker 1: needed for combustion was oxygen. Lavoisier and Priestley also studied 137 00:09:00,480 --> 00:09:05,199 Speaker 1: how these gases were involved in human and animal respiration. 138 00:09:05,720 --> 00:09:09,240 Speaker 1: They worked out the basic pattern of inhaling oxygen and 139 00:09:09,400 --> 00:09:14,120 Speaker 1: exhaling carbon dioxide, as well as how plants could restore 140 00:09:14,200 --> 00:09:18,920 Speaker 1: oxygen to the air. For example, Priestley discovered that mice 141 00:09:18,960 --> 00:09:21,960 Speaker 1: that he had caught in his kitchen survived longer in 142 00:09:22,000 --> 00:09:24,920 Speaker 1: a sealed container if they also had a little mint 143 00:09:24,960 --> 00:09:28,800 Speaker 1: plant in there with them. He apparently had kind of 144 00:09:28,840 --> 00:09:32,280 Speaker 1: a soft spot for these mice and figured out how 145 00:09:32,360 --> 00:09:35,400 Speaker 1: quickly he needed to remove them from there so that 146 00:09:35,480 --> 00:09:40,280 Speaker 1: this little child did not kill them. Dutch physiologist Jan Ingen, 147 00:09:40,320 --> 00:09:44,679 Speaker 1: Who's also detailed how light was involved in this reaction 148 00:09:44,840 --> 00:09:49,440 Speaker 1: in plants, outlining the basics of photosynthesis. In seventeen seventy nine, 149 00:09:50,240 --> 00:09:53,480 Speaker 1: Samuel Mitchell, who also came up in our past episode 150 00:09:53,520 --> 00:09:57,480 Speaker 1: on John Cleves Sims, wrote on what he termed gaseous 151 00:09:57,559 --> 00:10:01,640 Speaker 1: oxide of azote. This was an nitrous oxide which Joseph 152 00:10:01,640 --> 00:10:06,320 Speaker 1: Priestley had isolated in seventeen seventy two. Priestley is generally 153 00:10:06,360 --> 00:10:08,320 Speaker 1: noted as the first to do this, but it is 154 00:10:08,440 --> 00:10:12,240 Speaker 1: possible that there were earlier discoveries that weren't documented as well. 155 00:10:12,920 --> 00:10:16,120 Speaker 1: In seventeen ninety five, Mitchell described this gas as having 156 00:10:16,160 --> 00:10:19,320 Speaker 1: an anesthetic effect, but he also concluded that it was 157 00:10:19,360 --> 00:10:23,000 Speaker 1: poisonous and a source of contagion, and he warned against 158 00:10:23,000 --> 00:10:27,760 Speaker 1: inhaling it. So Davy read a paper that Mitchell had 159 00:10:27,760 --> 00:10:31,440 Speaker 1: written on this in March of seventeen ninety eight. He 160 00:10:31,640 --> 00:10:36,920 Speaker 1: thought Mitchell was wrong about this gaseous oxide of a 161 00:10:37,040 --> 00:10:41,600 Speaker 1: zote being toxic. So, just to kind of clarify, like, 162 00:10:41,640 --> 00:10:45,320 Speaker 1: this was research that had been evolving over about one 163 00:10:45,360 --> 00:10:48,440 Speaker 1: hundred years, but in terms of like the specific gases 164 00:10:48,440 --> 00:10:51,160 Speaker 1: we were talking about, Baby was learning about things that 165 00:10:51,200 --> 00:10:54,800 Speaker 1: had been discovered within the last couple of decades. In 166 00:10:54,840 --> 00:10:57,680 Speaker 1: his efforts to prove that Mitchell was incorrect. He started 167 00:10:57,679 --> 00:11:01,960 Speaker 1: experimenting with nitrous oxide, including experimenting on himself, and we 168 00:11:02,000 --> 00:11:15,199 Speaker 1: will get to that after a sponsor break. Before the break, 169 00:11:15,520 --> 00:11:19,320 Speaker 1: we mentioned that Humphrey Davy had started an apprenticeship with 170 00:11:19,400 --> 00:11:23,800 Speaker 1: apothecary physician Bingham Borlays in early seventeen ninety five, and 171 00:11:23,840 --> 00:11:27,520 Speaker 1: that apprenticeship gave him more access to books and materials 172 00:11:27,559 --> 00:11:31,280 Speaker 1: than he would have had otherwise, but this still really 173 00:11:31,440 --> 00:11:36,400 Speaker 1: was not much. Bingham Borlays's apothecary shop had the tools 174 00:11:36,440 --> 00:11:39,960 Speaker 1: and ingredients that were needed to mix and package medicines, 175 00:11:40,000 --> 00:11:44,199 Speaker 1: but this was not a full chemistry lab by any stretch, 176 00:11:44,840 --> 00:11:49,000 Speaker 1: and the only chemistry textbooks that Davy had were Lavoisier's 177 00:11:49,080 --> 00:11:53,040 Speaker 1: Elementary Treatise, which you mentioned earlier, and William Nicholson's A 178 00:11:53,120 --> 00:11:57,040 Speaker 1: Dictionary of Chemistry, exhibiting the present state of the theory 179 00:11:57,080 --> 00:12:01,040 Speaker 1: and practice of that science its application to now aatural philosophy. 180 00:12:01,360 --> 00:12:05,920 Speaker 1: The processes of manufactures, metallurgy, and numerous other arts dependent 181 00:12:06,120 --> 00:12:09,400 Speaker 1: on the properties and habitudes of bodies in the mineral, 182 00:12:09,480 --> 00:12:13,440 Speaker 1: vegetable and animal kingdoms, with a considerable number of tables 183 00:12:13,480 --> 00:12:19,400 Speaker 1: expressing the elective attractions specific gravities, comparative heats, component parts, combinations, 184 00:12:19,400 --> 00:12:24,160 Speaker 1: and other affections of the objects of chemical research. So 185 00:12:24,720 --> 00:12:27,959 Speaker 1: Davy learned what he could and cobbled together a lab 186 00:12:28,000 --> 00:12:31,199 Speaker 1: from what he could find around the house. A surgeon 187 00:12:31,240 --> 00:12:33,959 Speaker 1: had given him an enema syringe and he used it 188 00:12:34,000 --> 00:12:36,960 Speaker 1: to make an air pump. He used this to extract 189 00:12:37,000 --> 00:12:39,640 Speaker 1: the gas from the air bladders in a seaweed called 190 00:12:39,679 --> 00:12:42,400 Speaker 1: bladder wrack, which is common on the coast of Britain. 191 00:12:42,960 --> 00:12:45,520 Speaker 1: He analyzed this gas and found that it had a 192 00:12:45,520 --> 00:12:50,439 Speaker 1: similar composition to ordinary air. Davy also started trying to 193 00:12:50,480 --> 00:12:55,760 Speaker 1: disprove Samuel Mitchell's conclusions about nitrous oxide being a toxic 194 00:12:55,880 --> 00:12:59,720 Speaker 1: source of decay and contagion. He used a method that 195 00:13:00,120 --> 00:13:03,280 Speaker 1: if Priestley had outlined to produce the gas, and then 196 00:13:03,360 --> 00:13:06,080 Speaker 1: exposed mice to it to see whether it killed them, 197 00:13:06,120 --> 00:13:09,920 Speaker 1: which it did not. He also exposed meat to it 198 00:13:10,000 --> 00:13:12,679 Speaker 1: to see if that made the meat decay faster, which 199 00:13:12,760 --> 00:13:15,520 Speaker 1: again it did not, and then he did the same 200 00:13:15,559 --> 00:13:19,200 Speaker 1: with open wounds to see if the nitrous oxide seemed 201 00:13:19,240 --> 00:13:24,000 Speaker 1: to induce some kind of infection. Probably not surprising at 202 00:13:24,000 --> 00:13:27,720 Speaker 1: this point, it did not, and then he cautiously tried 203 00:13:27,800 --> 00:13:32,520 Speaker 1: breathing in some of it, which had no apparent ill effect. 204 00:13:33,440 --> 00:13:37,280 Speaker 1: These and other experiments started attracting the attention of other 205 00:13:37,360 --> 00:13:41,520 Speaker 1: people in Cornwall. One was Scottish inventor James Watt, who 206 00:13:41,600 --> 00:13:44,520 Speaker 1: had introduced an improvement to the steam engine in seventeen 207 00:13:44,640 --> 00:13:50,679 Speaker 1: seventy six, developing the first truly efficient steam engine. James's son, Gregory, 208 00:13:50,720 --> 00:13:53,280 Speaker 1: had started boarding in the Davy home in Penzance in 209 00:13:53,360 --> 00:13:57,040 Speaker 1: seventeen ninety seven, and he and Humphrey became close friends. 210 00:13:57,800 --> 00:14:02,000 Speaker 1: Gregory had tuberculosis free wondered whether any of the gases 211 00:14:02,040 --> 00:14:07,440 Speaker 1: being studied might help him recover. Another was Davy's Giddy, 212 00:14:07,679 --> 00:14:12,560 Speaker 1: who later married agronomist Marianne Gilberton changed his last name 213 00:14:12,640 --> 00:14:16,359 Speaker 1: to Hers. Giddy was a member of the Royal Society 214 00:14:16,480 --> 00:14:20,000 Speaker 1: and High Sheriff of Cornwall. When he heard about Davy's 215 00:14:20,040 --> 00:14:23,840 Speaker 1: work and his aptitude for chemistry, Giddy allowed him to 216 00:14:23,960 --> 00:14:27,720 Speaker 1: use his laboratory and loaned him books and other materials, 217 00:14:27,880 --> 00:14:31,720 Speaker 1: and helped introduce him to other people. James Watt and 218 00:14:31,840 --> 00:14:36,480 Speaker 1: Davy's Giddy eventually connected Davy to physician and chemist Thomas Beddows, 219 00:14:36,720 --> 00:14:40,240 Speaker 1: who had previously been a reader in chemistry at Oxford. 220 00:14:40,760 --> 00:14:44,000 Speaker 1: None of Bettos's lecture notes have survived until today, but 221 00:14:44,120 --> 00:14:48,360 Speaker 1: he seems to have been very popular and knowledgeable. There 222 00:14:48,560 --> 00:14:52,520 Speaker 1: was some controversy in his background. Though he had been 223 00:14:52,560 --> 00:14:56,280 Speaker 1: a strong supporter of the French Revolution in its early years, 224 00:14:56,640 --> 00:14:59,000 Speaker 1: and while he saw the violence that grew into the 225 00:14:59,040 --> 00:15:02,840 Speaker 1: Reign of Terror a antithetical to the Revolution's goals, he 226 00:15:02,960 --> 00:15:06,360 Speaker 1: was still branded as a Jacobin. He butted heads with 227 00:15:06,400 --> 00:15:10,280 Speaker 1: the administration at the Bodleian Library at Oxford, and according 228 00:15:10,320 --> 00:15:13,400 Speaker 1: to some accounts, he was eventually forced out of his position. 229 00:15:14,280 --> 00:15:17,760 Speaker 1: He was also an advocate for social and healthcare reform, 230 00:15:17,920 --> 00:15:21,840 Speaker 1: seeing things like ignorance, drunkenness, and a lack of education 231 00:15:22,440 --> 00:15:25,720 Speaker 1: as sources of illness, but that also meant that he 232 00:15:25,840 --> 00:15:29,840 Speaker 1: tended to blame sick people for their own condition, framing 233 00:15:29,880 --> 00:15:35,000 Speaker 1: them as lazy and stupid. As Humphrey Davy was experimenting 234 00:15:35,040 --> 00:15:39,120 Speaker 1: with gases and his cobbled together chemistry lab, Bedos was 235 00:15:39,160 --> 00:15:43,560 Speaker 1: pursuing the idea of medicine through chemistry. In particular, he 236 00:15:43,640 --> 00:15:47,000 Speaker 1: thought some of these newly discovered gases might offer a 237 00:15:47,040 --> 00:15:51,200 Speaker 1: way to treat illnesses. He used an apparatus designed by 238 00:15:51,360 --> 00:15:55,760 Speaker 1: James Watt for some of these experiments. James Watt's son, Gregory, 239 00:15:56,000 --> 00:15:59,160 Speaker 1: who we just said was friends with Humphrey, had also 240 00:15:59,280 --> 00:16:04,280 Speaker 1: been one of Bedo's patients. Bedos also raised money to 241 00:16:04,320 --> 00:16:07,400 Speaker 1: start a hospital, and in October of seventeen ninety eight 242 00:16:07,440 --> 00:16:12,560 Speaker 1: he hired Humphrey Davy to be its medical superintendent. Davy 243 00:16:13,320 --> 00:16:17,320 Speaker 1: was not a doctor and was also nineteen. This put 244 00:16:17,360 --> 00:16:21,080 Speaker 1: an end to Davy's apprenticeship in medicine, something his godfather, 245 00:16:21,200 --> 00:16:25,520 Speaker 1: John Tonkin, was really upset about. Tonkin had expected Davy 246 00:16:25,560 --> 00:16:28,920 Speaker 1: to follow a respectable path to being a physician, and 247 00:16:28,960 --> 00:16:32,280 Speaker 1: he thought Bedos was kind of a quack. To be clear, 248 00:16:32,440 --> 00:16:35,920 Speaker 1: Bedos was genuine in his belief that inhaled gases could 249 00:16:35,960 --> 00:16:41,200 Speaker 1: treat illnesses, especially tuberculosis, but he was mostly incorrect. Among 250 00:16:41,240 --> 00:16:44,080 Speaker 1: other things, he thought that rosy cheeks, which were common 251 00:16:44,120 --> 00:16:48,360 Speaker 1: in tuberculosis patients, were caused by inflammation brought on by 252 00:16:48,400 --> 00:16:52,200 Speaker 1: too much oxygen. He thought, maybe if they inhaled some 253 00:16:52,320 --> 00:16:55,680 Speaker 1: other gas, it might restore the balance of the oxygen 254 00:16:55,880 --> 00:17:00,600 Speaker 1: in their bodies. That's not how it worked. I also 255 00:17:00,640 --> 00:17:03,040 Speaker 1: feel like there's probably a whole other story to tell 256 00:17:03,080 --> 00:17:06,399 Speaker 1: about this guy. He was not who the episode was about, 257 00:17:06,480 --> 00:17:10,159 Speaker 1: so I did not get that far into it. But 258 00:17:10,880 --> 00:17:15,080 Speaker 1: Beto's Pneumatic Medical Institute opened in hot Wells in Bristol 259 00:17:15,240 --> 00:17:19,040 Speaker 1: in the spring of seventeen ninety nine. Hot Wells was 260 00:17:19,080 --> 00:17:23,360 Speaker 1: one of England's spa towns, like Bath or Brighton. Although 261 00:17:23,400 --> 00:17:27,359 Speaker 1: Bath and Brighton had more luxurious reputations than hot Wells. 262 00:17:28,080 --> 00:17:31,280 Speaker 1: Hot Wells was named for its naturally occurring wells and 263 00:17:31,400 --> 00:17:35,080 Speaker 1: hot springs. There were some baths and hot wells, but 264 00:17:35,200 --> 00:17:38,760 Speaker 1: the water from these hot springs was also consumed for 265 00:17:38,840 --> 00:17:42,760 Speaker 1: its reported health benefits and bottled and sold in other 266 00:17:42,840 --> 00:17:48,400 Speaker 1: parts of England. At the Pneumatic Institute, Davey started researching gases, 267 00:17:48,800 --> 00:17:53,000 Speaker 1: including repeating some of his earlier nitrous oxide experiments, but 268 00:17:53,119 --> 00:17:55,639 Speaker 1: this time on a larger scale and with gas that 269 00:17:55,760 --> 00:17:58,440 Speaker 1: was purer than what he'd been able to produce previously. 270 00:17:59,280 --> 00:18:02,439 Speaker 1: According to his timeline, He did a preliminary test on 271 00:18:02,520 --> 00:18:07,680 Speaker 1: April eleventh, seventeen ninety nine. He heated crystals of ammonium nitrate, 272 00:18:07,880 --> 00:18:11,480 Speaker 1: collected the gas and hydraulic bellows, and inhaled some of 273 00:18:11,480 --> 00:18:15,760 Speaker 1: it to confirm that it was breathable. Then, on April sixteenth, 274 00:18:15,760 --> 00:18:19,440 Speaker 1: in the presence of physician doctor Robert Kinglake. He inhaled 275 00:18:19,640 --> 00:18:23,639 Speaker 1: three quarts of it from a silk bag. In Davy's 276 00:18:23,640 --> 00:18:28,600 Speaker 1: words quote, the first inspirations occasioned a slight degree of giddiness. 277 00:18:28,720 --> 00:18:32,159 Speaker 1: This was succeeded by an uncommon sense of fullness of 278 00:18:32,200 --> 00:18:36,879 Speaker 1: the head, accompanied with loss of distinct sensation and voluntary power, 279 00:18:37,480 --> 00:18:40,800 Speaker 1: a feeling analogous to that produced in the first stage 280 00:18:40,840 --> 00:18:47,399 Speaker 1: of intoxication, but unattended by pleasurable sensation. After this, doctor 281 00:18:47,480 --> 00:18:50,040 Speaker 1: king Lake took Davy's pulse and said that it seemed 282 00:18:50,080 --> 00:18:54,359 Speaker 1: a little quicker and fuller. A second experiment with four 283 00:18:54,440 --> 00:18:57,879 Speaker 1: quarts of nitrous oxide from a silk bag started like 284 00:18:57,920 --> 00:19:02,000 Speaker 1: the first, but also caused quote a sensation analogous to 285 00:19:02,119 --> 00:19:05,879 Speaker 1: gentle pressure on all the muscles, attended by a highly 286 00:19:05,960 --> 00:19:10,720 Speaker 1: pleasurable thrilling, particularly in the chest and the extremities. The 287 00:19:10,760 --> 00:19:14,520 Speaker 1: objects around me became dazzling and my hearing more acute. 288 00:19:15,280 --> 00:19:19,000 Speaker 1: Toward the last inspirations, the thrilling increased, and the sense 289 00:19:19,000 --> 00:19:23,159 Speaker 1: of muscular power became greater, and at last, an irresistible 290 00:19:23,160 --> 00:19:27,879 Speaker 1: propensity to action was indulged in I recollect but indistinctly 291 00:19:27,920 --> 00:19:31,920 Speaker 1: what followed, I know that my motions were various and violent. 292 00:19:32,840 --> 00:19:35,600 Speaker 1: Within ten minutes of stopping his inhalation of the gas, 293 00:19:35,960 --> 00:19:38,679 Speaker 1: Davy's state of mind was back to normal, but the 294 00:19:38,760 --> 00:19:43,199 Speaker 1: thrilling sensation in his extremities lasted a bit longer. His 295 00:19:43,520 --> 00:19:48,400 Speaker 1: self experimentation continued from there. Quote Generally, when I breathed 296 00:19:48,480 --> 00:19:52,359 Speaker 1: from six to seven quarts, muscular emotions were produced to 297 00:19:52,400 --> 00:19:56,720 Speaker 1: a certain extent. Sometimes I manifested my pleasure by stamping 298 00:19:56,840 --> 00:20:00,679 Speaker 1: or laughing, only at other times by dance around the 299 00:20:00,760 --> 00:20:05,560 Speaker 1: room and vociferating. After a number of experiments, Davey wrote 300 00:20:05,560 --> 00:20:08,679 Speaker 1: that with small doses he had five or six minutes 301 00:20:08,680 --> 00:20:12,639 Speaker 1: of exhilaration, but with ten quarts of nitrous oxide it 302 00:20:12,720 --> 00:20:16,359 Speaker 1: lasted for two to three hours. Holly just made a face. 303 00:20:16,520 --> 00:20:20,760 Speaker 1: That's so much nitrous oxide. Yeah, don't do this. All 304 00:20:20,800 --> 00:20:25,840 Speaker 1: substances have risks, right, and repercussions Like he doesn't know it, 305 00:20:25,880 --> 00:20:31,159 Speaker 1: but he's he's hurting his brain right. December twenty sixth 306 00:20:31,320 --> 00:20:34,640 Speaker 1: Davy did an experiment that involved getting into a sealed 307 00:20:34,760 --> 00:20:39,320 Speaker 1: box and breathing an astonishing twenty quarts of nitrous oxide, 308 00:20:39,720 --> 00:20:44,000 Speaker 1: followed by twenty quarts of air an hour later, he wrote, quote, 309 00:20:44,080 --> 00:20:48,040 Speaker 1: I lost all connection with external things. Trains of vivid 310 00:20:48,160 --> 00:20:52,040 Speaker 1: visible images rapidly passed through my mind and were connected 311 00:20:52,119 --> 00:20:55,320 Speaker 1: with words in such a manner as to produce perceptions 312 00:20:55,359 --> 00:20:59,360 Speaker 1: perfectly novel. I existed in a world of newly connected 313 00:20:59,400 --> 00:21:03,840 Speaker 1: and newly mode ideas. I theorized. I imagined that I 314 00:21:03,920 --> 00:21:07,800 Speaker 1: made discoveries. When I was awakened from this semi delirious 315 00:21:07,840 --> 00:21:11,159 Speaker 1: trance by doctor Kinglake, who took the bag from my mouth. 316 00:21:11,680 --> 00:21:15,199 Speaker 1: Indignation and pride were the first feelings produced by the 317 00:21:15,240 --> 00:21:20,159 Speaker 1: flight of persons about me. My emotions were enthusiastic and sublime, 318 00:21:20,560 --> 00:21:23,359 Speaker 1: and for a minute I walked around the room perfectly, 319 00:21:23,440 --> 00:21:27,600 Speaker 1: regardless of what was said to me. After Davy's state 320 00:21:27,680 --> 00:21:31,560 Speaker 1: of mind returned to normal, he said to doctor Kinglake, quote, 321 00:21:31,920 --> 00:21:38,560 Speaker 1: nothing exists but thoughts. The universe is composed of impressions, ideas, pleasures, 322 00:21:38,600 --> 00:21:41,960 Speaker 1: and pains. We will talk about some of Davy's other 323 00:21:42,080 --> 00:21:55,200 Speaker 1: experimental subjects after we take a sponsor break. In addition 324 00:21:55,400 --> 00:21:58,639 Speaker 1: to the opening of the Pneumatic Institute, a couple of 325 00:21:58,680 --> 00:22:02,280 Speaker 1: other notable things happened in Humphrey Davy's life in seventeen 326 00:22:02,359 --> 00:22:06,000 Speaker 1: ninety nine one is that he started publishing works of 327 00:22:06,040 --> 00:22:11,040 Speaker 1: poetry in Robert Southey's Annual Anthology. While he only published 328 00:22:11,080 --> 00:22:14,040 Speaker 1: a few poems during his lifetime, he wrote a lot 329 00:22:14,320 --> 00:22:17,679 Speaker 1: more of them, often in the same journals that he 330 00:22:17,800 --> 00:22:21,280 Speaker 1: was using to record his research notes. A lot of 331 00:22:21,320 --> 00:22:24,040 Speaker 1: these poems really came to light for the first time 332 00:22:24,200 --> 00:22:28,160 Speaker 1: in late twenty twenty three, thanks to efforts to transcribe 333 00:22:28,200 --> 00:22:31,920 Speaker 1: all of his notebooks. This effort has involved the work 334 00:22:31,960 --> 00:22:35,960 Speaker 1: of more than three thousand volunteers who have found literally 335 00:22:36,160 --> 00:22:42,320 Speaker 1: hundreds of unpublished poems. Another moment in seventeen ninety nine 336 00:22:42,440 --> 00:22:44,879 Speaker 1: was that the last of his father's debts were paid 337 00:22:44,920 --> 00:22:48,560 Speaker 1: off and his mother was able to leave that milliner's shop. 338 00:22:49,240 --> 00:22:52,560 Speaker 1: At the Pneumatic Institute, he did experiments using a lot 339 00:22:52,600 --> 00:22:56,520 Speaker 1: of different gases, including some in which he almost asphyxiated 340 00:22:56,600 --> 00:23:01,640 Speaker 1: himself in the process. The measurements involved these experiments required 341 00:23:01,680 --> 00:23:04,399 Speaker 1: him to figure out the residual capacity of the lung, 342 00:23:04,840 --> 00:23:07,400 Speaker 1: that is, how much gas is left in the lungs 343 00:23:07,480 --> 00:23:11,480 Speaker 1: after a person had exhaled. His estimate was forty one 344 00:23:11,560 --> 00:23:15,199 Speaker 1: cubic inches or zero point seventy two leaders, which was 345 00:23:15,240 --> 00:23:19,600 Speaker 1: not correct. The average adult's residual lung capacity is more 346 00:23:19,760 --> 00:23:22,720 Speaker 1: like three leaders. But he is the first person known 347 00:23:22,760 --> 00:23:27,560 Speaker 1: to have tried to quantify this. But the nitrous oxide experiments, 348 00:23:27,800 --> 00:23:31,320 Speaker 1: those were definitely the most famous or infamous of what 349 00:23:31,560 --> 00:23:35,560 Speaker 1: Davy did in that lab and the words of author 350 00:23:35,600 --> 00:23:40,240 Speaker 1: and publisher Joseph Kottle, these experiments quote converted the laboratory 351 00:23:40,400 --> 00:23:44,879 Speaker 1: into the region of hilarity and relaxation. Kottle published the 352 00:23:44,880 --> 00:23:48,959 Speaker 1: work of a number of English Romantic poets, including Samuel Taylor, Coleridge, 353 00:23:49,200 --> 00:23:51,919 Speaker 1: and Robert Southey. You can say that suthy or suthy 354 00:23:51,960 --> 00:23:55,800 Speaker 1: according to pronunciation guides. And some of these people that 355 00:23:55,920 --> 00:23:59,399 Speaker 1: were published by Kottle became test subjects in Davy's nitrous 356 00:23:59,400 --> 00:24:04,360 Speaker 1: oxide express At the institute, Davy and Coleridge became friends, 357 00:24:04,440 --> 00:24:07,120 Speaker 1: with Coleridge describing Davy as a man who had been 358 00:24:07,160 --> 00:24:11,639 Speaker 1: born a poet before converting poetry into science. When asked 359 00:24:11,680 --> 00:24:15,120 Speaker 1: how Davy compared to the men of London, Coleridge answered, quote, 360 00:24:15,240 --> 00:24:17,959 Speaker 1: why Davy could eat them all. There is an energy 361 00:24:18,080 --> 00:24:21,479 Speaker 1: and elasticity in his mind which enables him to seize 362 00:24:21,520 --> 00:24:26,159 Speaker 1: on and analyze all questions, pushing them to their legitimate consequences, 363 00:24:26,800 --> 00:24:31,159 Speaker 1: living thoughts spring like turf from under his feet. Here's 364 00:24:31,200 --> 00:24:35,840 Speaker 1: how Coleridge wrote about his experience with nitrous oxide. Quote 365 00:24:36,000 --> 00:24:39,240 Speaker 1: the first time I inspired the nitrous oxide, I felt 366 00:24:39,280 --> 00:24:43,359 Speaker 1: a highly pleasurable sensation of warmth over my whole frame, 367 00:24:43,920 --> 00:24:47,040 Speaker 1: resembling that which I remember once to have experienced after 368 00:24:47,119 --> 00:24:50,680 Speaker 1: returning from a walk in the snow to a warm room. 369 00:24:51,040 --> 00:24:53,560 Speaker 1: The only motion which I felt inclined to make was 370 00:24:53,600 --> 00:24:56,040 Speaker 1: that of laughing at those who were looking at me. 371 00:24:56,760 --> 00:25:00,000 Speaker 1: My eyes felt distended, and towards the last my heart 372 00:25:00,200 --> 00:25:03,119 Speaker 1: beat as if it were leaping up and down. On 373 00:25:03,280 --> 00:25:07,400 Speaker 1: removing the mouthpiece, the whole sensation went off almost instantly. 374 00:25:08,480 --> 00:25:11,440 Speaker 1: A lot of the people who did this mentioned laughing 375 00:25:11,640 --> 00:25:14,320 Speaker 1: or a sense of giddiness after inhaling nitrous oxide, and 376 00:25:14,359 --> 00:25:18,960 Speaker 1: of course it is also called laughing gas. Coleridge inhaled 377 00:25:19,040 --> 00:25:22,320 Speaker 1: nitrous oxide at the institute at least four times, with 378 00:25:22,560 --> 00:25:26,280 Speaker 1: varying levels of effect. On his last visit, he said 379 00:25:26,359 --> 00:25:29,520 Speaker 1: he at first thought Davy had given him regular air 380 00:25:29,600 --> 00:25:34,160 Speaker 1: by mistake, but then quote, my sensations were highly pleasurable, 381 00:25:34,640 --> 00:25:38,720 Speaker 1: not so intense or apparently local, but more unmingled pleasure 382 00:25:38,840 --> 00:25:43,040 Speaker 1: than I ever before experienced. Peter Mark Roget, on the 383 00:25:43,080 --> 00:25:47,480 Speaker 1: other hand, described feeling vertiginous than having a tingling sensation 384 00:25:47,600 --> 00:25:50,120 Speaker 1: in his hands and feet, and then feeling a bit sleepy, 385 00:25:50,800 --> 00:25:54,520 Speaker 1: but then he roused, and that was followed by delirium. Quote. 386 00:25:54,840 --> 00:25:58,080 Speaker 1: I felt myself totally incapable of speaking, and for some 387 00:25:58,280 --> 00:26:01,399 Speaker 1: time lost all consciousness where I was or who was 388 00:26:01,440 --> 00:26:05,400 Speaker 1: near me. My whole frame felt as if violently agitated. 389 00:26:05,880 --> 00:26:09,760 Speaker 1: I thought I panted violently. My heart seemed to palpate, 390 00:26:09,880 --> 00:26:13,600 Speaker 1: and every artery throb with violence. If let us singing 391 00:26:13,680 --> 00:26:16,560 Speaker 1: in my ears. All the vital motions seemed to be 392 00:26:16,680 --> 00:26:21,640 Speaker 1: irresistibly hurried on, as if their equilibrium had been destroyed, 393 00:26:21,960 --> 00:26:27,320 Speaker 1: and everything was running headlong into confusion. All of this 394 00:26:27,560 --> 00:26:31,680 Speaker 1: was followed by racing thoughts, and about fifteen minutes after 395 00:26:31,720 --> 00:26:34,800 Speaker 1: he had stopped breathing this gas, he felt like things 396 00:26:34,800 --> 00:26:38,600 Speaker 1: were turned to normal. Overall, Reget does not seem to 397 00:26:38,640 --> 00:26:41,719 Speaker 1: have been a fan of nitrous oxide, saying quote, I 398 00:26:41,760 --> 00:26:45,200 Speaker 1: cannot remember that I experienced the least pleasure from any 399 00:26:45,200 --> 00:26:49,080 Speaker 1: of these sensations. I can, however, easily conceive that by 400 00:26:49,119 --> 00:26:53,440 Speaker 1: frequent repetition, I might reconcile myself to them and possibly 401 00:26:53,480 --> 00:26:58,240 Speaker 1: even receive pleasure from the same sensations that were then unpleasant. 402 00:26:59,200 --> 00:27:01,520 Speaker 1: I will say, having a bunch of confusion and racing 403 00:27:01,560 --> 00:27:05,480 Speaker 1: thoughts does not sound pleasant to me. I have thoughts 404 00:27:05,480 --> 00:27:09,359 Speaker 1: we could talk about behind the scenes. So over the 405 00:27:09,400 --> 00:27:14,080 Speaker 1: course of ten months of experimentation, Davy tested nitrous oxide 406 00:27:14,080 --> 00:27:17,560 Speaker 1: as a treatment for headaches, indigestion, and dental pain. And 407 00:27:17,600 --> 00:27:20,760 Speaker 1: he just administered the gas to a number of test subjects, 408 00:27:20,800 --> 00:27:25,080 Speaker 1: who wrote descriptions of what they experienced. Based on all 409 00:27:25,200 --> 00:27:29,520 Speaker 1: of this work, in eighteen hundred, Davy published Researches Chemical 410 00:27:29,560 --> 00:27:35,280 Speaker 1: and Philosophical, chiefly concerning nitrous Oxide or Deflegisticated at Nitrous 411 00:27:35,359 --> 00:27:40,679 Speaker 1: Air and its Respiration. This book is five hundred and 412 00:27:40,840 --> 00:27:44,879 Speaker 1: eighty pages long, and it details a whole series of 413 00:27:44,920 --> 00:27:48,760 Speaker 1: experiments with nitrous oxide that did not involve people inhaling it, 414 00:27:48,880 --> 00:27:53,000 Speaker 1: plus the accounts of his own self experimentation and the 415 00:27:53,080 --> 00:27:58,240 Speaker 1: experiments with other human test subjects. This work was met 416 00:27:58,280 --> 00:28:02,119 Speaker 1: with some skepticism and even ridicule outside of the lab. 417 00:28:02,800 --> 00:28:05,640 Speaker 1: To some people, the whole thing was automatically tainted because 418 00:28:05,680 --> 00:28:09,639 Speaker 1: of Bedo's reputation. In the words of James Watt Junior. 419 00:28:09,880 --> 00:28:13,760 Speaker 1: His research was entirely dismissed by Royal Society President Joseph 420 00:28:13,840 --> 00:28:17,960 Speaker 1: Banks for this reason quote he thinks Bedo's a Jacobin 421 00:28:18,119 --> 00:28:21,960 Speaker 1: and opposes all Jacobin innovations. Even the purity of my 422 00:28:22,040 --> 00:28:25,359 Speaker 1: father's principles does not help Bedos with the contagion of 423 00:28:25,400 --> 00:28:28,960 Speaker 1: the connection. I apprehend the Secret Committee of the Royal 424 00:28:29,040 --> 00:28:33,560 Speaker 1: Society regarded him as a lost sheep, and it also 425 00:28:33,600 --> 00:28:37,080 Speaker 1: seemed like people reported far less dramatic effects from nitrous 426 00:28:37,119 --> 00:28:40,880 Speaker 1: oxide when they tried similar experiments somewhere other than the 427 00:28:40,880 --> 00:28:46,640 Speaker 1: Pneumatic Institution. For years, though, recreational nitrous oxide became something 428 00:28:46,680 --> 00:28:50,640 Speaker 1: of a fad, one that would seen as harmless enough 429 00:28:50,720 --> 00:28:54,920 Speaker 1: that at least two different magazines for Boys printed instructions 430 00:28:54,960 --> 00:28:58,120 Speaker 1: on how to produce and inhale nitrous oxide. In the 431 00:28:58,160 --> 00:29:02,920 Speaker 1: early nineteenth century. There were also nitrous oxide parties, which 432 00:29:02,960 --> 00:29:07,160 Speaker 1: were sometimes framed as scientific demonstrations, which took place at 433 00:29:07,160 --> 00:29:11,680 Speaker 1: people's homes. Humphrey Davy also used nitrous oxide outside of 434 00:29:11,720 --> 00:29:14,880 Speaker 1: the context of his experiments at the institute. He would 435 00:29:14,920 --> 00:29:17,840 Speaker 1: sort of walk through town at night with this silk 436 00:29:17,960 --> 00:29:22,040 Speaker 1: bag of gas and inhale it while he was composing poetry. 437 00:29:22,880 --> 00:29:25,200 Speaker 1: Silk Bag of Gas would be a great album title. 438 00:29:26,360 --> 00:29:29,960 Speaker 1: The response from some of the popular press was outright ridicule, 439 00:29:30,120 --> 00:29:34,440 Speaker 1: with cartoons and pamphlets lampooning Davy's experiments and the people 440 00:29:34,480 --> 00:29:37,880 Speaker 1: who participated in them. This was also the case for 441 00:29:37,920 --> 00:29:41,480 Speaker 1: the nitrous oxide parties and other recreational uses of the 442 00:29:41,520 --> 00:29:44,360 Speaker 1: gas which went on for decades after Davy's work at 443 00:29:44,400 --> 00:29:49,040 Speaker 1: the Institute. For example, in eighteen ten, Cornish clergyman and 444 00:29:49,080 --> 00:29:52,920 Speaker 1: poet Richard Polweel wrote a satirical drama in verse about it, 445 00:29:52,960 --> 00:29:58,040 Speaker 1: called the Pneumatic Revelers in Eklog. Here's a sample quote. 446 00:29:58,200 --> 00:30:00,840 Speaker 1: When I tried it at first on al in society, 447 00:30:01,160 --> 00:30:05,760 Speaker 1: their giddiness seemed to betray inebriety, like grave mandarins, their 448 00:30:05,760 --> 00:30:09,480 Speaker 1: heads nodding together. But afterwards each was light as a feather, 449 00:30:10,000 --> 00:30:13,760 Speaker 1: and they everyone cried twas a pleasure, ecstatic to drink 450 00:30:13,840 --> 00:30:17,000 Speaker 1: deeper drafts of the mighty pneumatic, as if by the 451 00:30:17,040 --> 00:30:20,600 Speaker 1: wand of a wizard. Entranced. How wildly they shouted and 452 00:30:20,680 --> 00:30:24,560 Speaker 1: gambled and danced. Doctor Syntax, who was a character in 453 00:30:24,600 --> 00:30:27,760 Speaker 1: a series of satirical and comic poems by William Combe 454 00:30:28,200 --> 00:30:31,000 Speaker 1: was depicted in an illustration of a laughing gas party 455 00:30:31,080 --> 00:30:34,600 Speaker 1: in eighteen twenty. I will say they were also like 456 00:30:34,680 --> 00:30:39,120 Speaker 1: pamphlets and up and flyers and things that were advertisements 457 00:30:39,200 --> 00:30:46,480 Speaker 1: for these scientific demonstrations that to me were almost hard 458 00:30:46,520 --> 00:30:50,560 Speaker 1: to distinguish from the satirical cartoons about it. They also 459 00:30:51,080 --> 00:30:54,840 Speaker 1: came off as a little comical to me. Uh At 460 00:30:54,880 --> 00:30:57,320 Speaker 1: the same time as all of that was happening. Though 461 00:30:57,520 --> 00:31:03,160 Speaker 1: Davy's experiments were interconnected with the evolution of English Romanticism, 462 00:31:03,680 --> 00:31:07,240 Speaker 1: Davy's writing about the effects of the gas were influenced 463 00:31:07,280 --> 00:31:10,800 Speaker 1: by the movement's focus on things like personal feelings and 464 00:31:10,920 --> 00:31:16,600 Speaker 1: sublimity and beauty, and their experiences with nitrous oxide also 465 00:31:16,760 --> 00:31:20,520 Speaker 1: fed into the work of Romantic poets like Samuel Taylor, 466 00:31:20,600 --> 00:31:25,400 Speaker 1: Coleridge and Robert Southey. Davy also played a more direct 467 00:31:25,520 --> 00:31:29,120 Speaker 1: role in all of this, beyond just his personal friendships 468 00:31:29,120 --> 00:31:33,600 Speaker 1: with these literary figures. In eighteen hundred, William Wordsworth asked 469 00:31:33,640 --> 00:31:36,880 Speaker 1: him to oversee the production and proofreading on the second 470 00:31:37,040 --> 00:31:40,600 Speaker 1: edition of Lyrical Ballads, which was a collection of poems 471 00:31:40,640 --> 00:31:45,760 Speaker 1: by Wordsworth and Coleridge. Decades would pass between Davy's experiments 472 00:31:45,800 --> 00:31:49,000 Speaker 1: and the use of nitrous oxide as an anesthetic, which 473 00:31:49,000 --> 00:31:52,360 Speaker 1: it is still used for today, and some descriptions of 474 00:31:52,440 --> 00:31:55,600 Speaker 1: Davy's life and work characterize him as having missed out 475 00:31:55,600 --> 00:32:00,320 Speaker 1: on or overlooked the potential of nitrous oxide in anesthesia. 476 00:32:00,480 --> 00:32:04,360 Speaker 1: That's a little overstated, though Davy did write about nitrous 477 00:32:04,400 --> 00:32:08,560 Speaker 1: oxide having a potential use quote in surgical operations in 478 00:32:08,600 --> 00:32:12,200 Speaker 1: which no great effusion of blood takes place, and he 479 00:32:12,280 --> 00:32:15,600 Speaker 1: and some of his associates consulted with at least one surgeon. 480 00:32:16,680 --> 00:32:20,080 Speaker 1: But there were several obstacles to the use of nitrous 481 00:32:20,120 --> 00:32:24,360 Speaker 1: oxide as anesthesia in seventeen ninety nine and eighteen hundred, 482 00:32:24,400 --> 00:32:27,800 Speaker 1: which is when most of the experiments are happening. Part 483 00:32:27,840 --> 00:32:30,760 Speaker 1: of it had to do with Davy's understanding of how 484 00:32:30,800 --> 00:32:34,360 Speaker 1: the gas and blood circulation worked. He thought that when 485 00:32:34,400 --> 00:32:37,880 Speaker 1: somebody inhaled nitrous oxide, it made its way into their blood, 486 00:32:37,920 --> 00:32:42,040 Speaker 1: and that any blood loss they experienced would then dampen 487 00:32:42,120 --> 00:32:46,520 Speaker 1: the effects of the gas. I don't think that's how 488 00:32:46,520 --> 00:32:48,840 Speaker 1: it works, but I did not go diving into the 489 00:32:48,880 --> 00:32:51,840 Speaker 1: physiology of this. It's more about that is why he 490 00:32:51,880 --> 00:32:53,960 Speaker 1: did not think it was going to be very useful 491 00:32:54,040 --> 00:32:56,800 Speaker 1: in procedures that involved a lot of blood loss, and 492 00:32:56,880 --> 00:32:59,200 Speaker 1: that is why he specified that it might be good 493 00:32:59,240 --> 00:33:04,200 Speaker 1: for procedures that had quote no great effusion of blood. 494 00:33:04,960 --> 00:33:07,800 Speaker 1: And then, on a more practical level, the nitrous oxide 495 00:33:07,800 --> 00:33:11,840 Speaker 1: that they were producing wasn't particularly potent, and it dissipated 496 00:33:12,480 --> 00:33:16,120 Speaker 1: fairly quickly. It would have required just enormous amounts of 497 00:33:16,120 --> 00:33:19,920 Speaker 1: it to really provide anesthesia for any kind of lengthy procedure. 498 00:33:20,400 --> 00:33:22,880 Speaker 1: They would have had to just continually keep making it 499 00:33:22,920 --> 00:33:25,240 Speaker 1: because it wasn't something that could be made and stored 500 00:33:25,320 --> 00:33:29,240 Speaker 1: for a really long time. Also, some of the experimental 501 00:33:29,240 --> 00:33:32,920 Speaker 1: subjects at the institute described responses to the gas that 502 00:33:33,160 --> 00:33:38,480 Speaker 1: themselves sounded painful. It was not an across the board 503 00:33:38,760 --> 00:33:44,560 Speaker 1: pleasant experience for everybody who tried it. Attitudes about pain 504 00:33:44,600 --> 00:33:46,960 Speaker 1: were also a little bit different in the late eighteenth 505 00:33:46,960 --> 00:33:51,360 Speaker 1: and early nineteenth centuries. Today, pain is recognized as having 506 00:33:51,360 --> 00:33:54,320 Speaker 1: an important function as a signal that something is wrong, 507 00:33:54,800 --> 00:33:57,400 Speaker 1: whether it's that someone has put their hand in scalding 508 00:33:57,480 --> 00:34:01,040 Speaker 1: water or perhaps they have an infection developing in their body. 509 00:34:01,720 --> 00:34:04,960 Speaker 1: This was also true when Davy was living, but doctors 510 00:34:05,000 --> 00:34:08,200 Speaker 1: insurgents also saw pain as a sign that the body 511 00:34:08,320 --> 00:34:12,440 Speaker 1: was healing or at least capable of healing. Pain also 512 00:34:12,560 --> 00:34:16,359 Speaker 1: carried religious and cultural connotations. There was this idea that 513 00:34:16,400 --> 00:34:19,680 Speaker 1: people who were in pain had done something to deserve it, 514 00:34:19,760 --> 00:34:22,279 Speaker 1: whether they were aware of that or not, or that 515 00:34:22,400 --> 00:34:25,520 Speaker 1: pain had been inflicted by God for a specific purpose. 516 00:34:26,120 --> 00:34:28,720 Speaker 1: Of course, all of these beliefs are still around today, 517 00:34:28,840 --> 00:34:31,560 Speaker 1: but not to the same degree that they were prevalent 518 00:34:31,600 --> 00:34:35,279 Speaker 1: at this time. Doctors and dentists just didn't yet have 519 00:34:35,360 --> 00:34:38,319 Speaker 1: a focus on preventing or reducing pain in the way 520 00:34:38,360 --> 00:34:42,359 Speaker 1: that many do today. Past hosts of the show did 521 00:34:42,400 --> 00:34:46,080 Speaker 1: an episode on the development of nitrous oxide use in 522 00:34:46,200 --> 00:34:49,920 Speaker 1: anesthesia in twenty twelve. That was called Horace Wells and 523 00:34:49,960 --> 00:34:52,360 Speaker 1: the Gas War, and we are going to have that 524 00:34:52,440 --> 00:34:56,719 Speaker 1: as an upcoming Saturday Classic. We will also talk about 525 00:34:56,800 --> 00:35:01,680 Speaker 1: Davy's life after nitrous oxide next time. Yeah. In the meantime, 526 00:35:01,680 --> 00:35:04,080 Speaker 1: do you have listener mail? I do. This is a 527 00:35:04,080 --> 00:35:06,440 Speaker 1: listener mail about an episode from a while back, but 528 00:35:06,520 --> 00:35:10,959 Speaker 1: I really liked it. This was from Randy. Randy said, 529 00:35:11,000 --> 00:35:14,200 Speaker 1: hello ladies, and happy Easter if you celebrate. I have 530 00:35:14,360 --> 00:35:17,400 Speaker 1: been catching up on some archived episodes and just listened 531 00:35:17,680 --> 00:35:21,319 Speaker 1: to your twenty twenty episode on Mirisaki Shikibu and the 532 00:35:21,360 --> 00:35:24,200 Speaker 1: Tale of Genji. I thought i'd share how I was 533 00:35:24,239 --> 00:35:27,320 Speaker 1: introduced to her and in part Genji, because I haven't 534 00:35:27,320 --> 00:35:30,080 Speaker 1: really heard of anyone else talk about it. I was 535 00:35:30,120 --> 00:35:32,920 Speaker 1: a fan of all the Carmen San Diego games as 536 00:35:32,960 --> 00:35:36,279 Speaker 1: a kid, but my favorite was Where in Time Is 537 00:35:36,400 --> 00:35:39,719 Speaker 1: Carmen san Diego. As the name suggests, it was a 538 00:35:39,719 --> 00:35:42,960 Speaker 1: time traveling history version of the games where you stop 539 00:35:43,120 --> 00:35:47,719 Speaker 1: Karmen from interfering with major historical events or figures. One 540 00:35:47,760 --> 00:35:50,480 Speaker 1: of the figures you help is Brisaki while she is 541 00:35:50,520 --> 00:35:53,040 Speaker 1: writing the Tale of Genji. It was one of my 542 00:35:53,120 --> 00:35:56,040 Speaker 1: favorite levels in the game. As a budding history and 543 00:35:56,120 --> 00:35:59,560 Speaker 1: literary buff the game introduced me to a lot of people, places, 544 00:35:59,600 --> 00:36:02,200 Speaker 1: events that either weren't covered in my schooling or were 545 00:36:02,200 --> 00:36:04,839 Speaker 1: glossed over. I always thought it was a shame that 546 00:36:04,880 --> 00:36:08,520 Speaker 1: more people hadn't heard of it, let alone played anyway, 547 00:36:08,640 --> 00:36:11,720 Speaker 1: I enjoyed hearing more about Mirsaki, and we'll be adding 548 00:36:11,719 --> 00:36:14,279 Speaker 1: The Tale of Genji to my ever growing to be 549 00:36:14,520 --> 00:36:17,759 Speaker 1: read list. I hope you are both doing well and 550 00:36:17,800 --> 00:36:21,760 Speaker 1: I look forward to more episodes. Randy. Thanks so much, Randy. 551 00:36:23,600 --> 00:36:26,000 Speaker 1: I think I have heard of Where in Time Is 552 00:36:26,000 --> 00:36:28,360 Speaker 1: Carmen San Diego, but it's not something I've ever played 553 00:36:28,400 --> 00:36:32,680 Speaker 1: and did not know that this was a part of it. Also, 554 00:36:34,480 --> 00:36:37,799 Speaker 1: I think I mentioned in the episode on the Sale 555 00:36:37,840 --> 00:36:41,600 Speaker 1: of Genji that what I read in college was like 556 00:36:43,400 --> 00:36:48,520 Speaker 1: an abridged version that was still something like three hundred 557 00:36:48,520 --> 00:36:52,840 Speaker 1: pages long maybe, but was really the first part of 558 00:36:52,880 --> 00:36:58,239 Speaker 1: the story, which leaves off the whole resolution of what 559 00:36:58,480 --> 00:37:01,600 Speaker 1: happens to Genji later in life. But it also means, 560 00:37:01,640 --> 00:37:03,279 Speaker 1: if you want to read the Tale of Genji, it 561 00:37:03,320 --> 00:37:07,279 Speaker 1: is a very long book, So I applaud anyone who 562 00:37:07,280 --> 00:37:10,839 Speaker 1: takes on that effort. I never read beyond what we 563 00:37:10,840 --> 00:37:15,839 Speaker 1: were reading in college, just because I haven't, So thank 564 00:37:15,920 --> 00:37:18,359 Speaker 1: you again for this email. If you'd like to send 565 00:37:18,480 --> 00:37:23,640 Speaker 1: us a note, We're at History podcast at iHeartRadio dot com. 566 00:37:23,800 --> 00:37:25,799 Speaker 1: That is the email address that you can use to 567 00:37:25,840 --> 00:37:29,719 Speaker 1: contact Holly and me. You can subscribe to our show, 568 00:37:29,800 --> 00:37:32,319 Speaker 1: I'm the iHeartRadio app, or wherever else you like to 569 00:37:32,320 --> 00:37:36,279 Speaker 1: get your podcasts, and we'll be back with the rest 570 00:37:36,280 --> 00:37:45,200 Speaker 1: of this story on Wednesday. Stuff you Missed in History 571 00:37:45,200 --> 00:37:49,560 Speaker 1: Class is a production of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, 572 00:37:49,719 --> 00:37:53,320 Speaker 1: visit the iHeartRadio app Apple podcasts, or wherever you listen 573 00:37:53,360 --> 00:37:54,600 Speaker 1: to your favorite shows.