absorbed, chemically changed, and metabolized in the human body. While
most medications are absorbed, in varying degrees, in the gut, their use as
a medical mind-controlling substance is unreliable. Therefore, the depth
and timing of somnolence following the ingestion of laudanum was always
untrustworthy, and the pioneers of surgery were saddled with squirming,
tormented patients.
The route of a drug into the bloodstream was the riddle our scientific
ancestors solved using the evolving field of chemistry, and bit by bit, the
puzzle pieces of our biochemical world amalgamated into a coherent
whole. However, before the invention of the hollow (hypodermic) needle
by Alexander Wood in 1855,^6 there were no medicines that could be
injected intravenously to provide surgical-grade sleep. While the isolation
of morphine in 1804 was a breakthrough, the search for another class of
drugs was no laughing matter.
Actually, it was.
Joseph Priestley (1733–1804) was the one man most responsible for
introducing modern chemical and physical studies of gases, even though
he could boast of no formal scientific education.^7 While life on earth is
implausible without water, oxygen is the active ingredient in our planet’s
atmosphere. Oxygen’s presence was hidden from our perceptions until
Priestley’s experiments uncloaked its existence. Early in his learning, the
autodidact Priestley had concluded that air was a “simple elementary
substance, indestructible and unalterable.”^8 In essence, Priestley was
conforming to the ancient Greek conception of air, earth, fire, and water as
the four elemental components of creation. He was breathlessly supposed
to believe that air was homogenous with no component parts, but his
simple experiments would unravel the mystery of air.
Priestley came of age at a time of roiling philosophical and religious
turmoil, compelling solitary scriptural study, and a maverick theological
outlook. His natural skeptical nature was fomented by his immersion in
the Calvinist, and later, Presbyterian teaching. Like Joseph Lister a
century later, Priestley was not allowed to attend Oxford or Cambridge as
a nonmember of the Church of England. Before long, Priestley was
“encouraged to study for the ministry, and study, as it turned out, was
something he did very well.”^9 He taught himself “Latin, Greek, French,
Italian, German, and a smattering of Middle Eastern languages, along with