The pioneers of chemistry—Black, Cavendish, Rutherford, Priestley,
and Lavoisier—foundationally discovered the gases that comprise the air
we breathe, paving the way for modern chemistry and setting the stage for
the invention of anesthesia. Humphry Davy (1778–1829) was an
Englishman who was apprenticed to a surgeon as a teenager following the
death of his father. In an odd coincidence, the surgical profession can be
glad that Davy was uninterested in surgery, instead partaking in home
experiments with chemicals and flame. He made the acquaintance of
several legendary scientific pioneers while still a youth, and was proffered
an invitation to the Pneumatic Institution, a research facility in Bristol
purpose-built to investigate the medical powers of gases.
Joseph Priestley had been the first, in 1772, to synthesize nitrous oxide
—and the first to note its mind-altering powers. But Humphry Davy
assiduously tested nitrous oxide, and with the help of James Watt, built
testing chambers and refined the production of the gas. Most important,
Davy was the first to consider the medical use of nitrous oxide,
commenting in 1800, “As nitrous oxide in its extensive operation appears
capable of destroying pain, it may probably be used with advantage during
surgical operations in which no great effusion of blood takes place.”^13
The component parts of our worldly atmosphere had been elucidated by
the turn of the 19th century, and as chemistry turned from a qualitative
discipline to a quantitative science, the jigsaw puzzle of our atomic world
was organized. John Dalton (1766–1844) is the Englishman who
formalized the atomic theory, the concept of a law of proportions wherein
atoms (chemical elements which cannot be further subdivided) combine
together to form chemical compounds. Dalton observed that these
combinations are always in specific ratios, and by codifying the recipe
book of chemical formulations, he pulled back the veil of our universe’s
structure. Every chemistry student warming reagents over a Bunsen
burner, and for that matter, every chef combining ingredients like baking
soda (NaHCO 3 ) into a bread dough recipe, is recognizing Dalton’s insight
into the proportionality of our world. (Incidentally, baking soda is used in
baking because the chemical decomposition of baking soda results in the
liberation of water and carbon dioxide (CO 2 ), and this gas release results
in the expansion of the batter, making it lighter and fluffier. Written
chemically, the reaction is: 2NaHCO 3 → Na 2 CO 3 + H 2 O + CO 2 .)