Category: anaesthetic

Nitrous Oxide: the first anaesthetic: from hero to villain   Nitrous oxide was manufactured by Joseph Priestley in 1772 but it was not till 1844 when it was used as the first anaesthetic Humphry Davy studied the effects of nitrous oxide on the body the gas in the early eighteen hundreds but its first use was in entertainment.  In Boston entertainers would hire a hall. Volunteers from the audience would be called on stage and invited to inhale the gas.