Laughing gas.- Davy (Sir Humphry) Researches, Chemical and Philosophical, chiefly concerning Nitrous Oxide, first edition, engraved frontispiece, lacking errata leaf at end, one leaf near end reinforced at inner margin, A1 with repaired tear and some soiling to this and facing page, some spotting at beginning, later calf-backed cloth, [Dibner Heralds of Science 128; Garrison-Morton 5646; Norman 607, Waller 11113; Wellcome II, p. 436], 8vo, Printed for J. Johnson, 1800.

⁂ "Davy, apprenticed as a surgeon-apothecary, published the above at age 22. Two years earlier, he experimented with various gases at the Medical Pneumatic Institution in Bristol, to deternine their medical properties. He discovered that pure nitrous oxide (laughing gas) was respirable and himself breathed large quantities of it with exhilarating effect. He observed that 'it may probably be used with advantage in surgical operations'" (Dibner).