Nitrous Oxide and Oxygen - History

History

Nitrous oxide as a single gas was first used as a medical analgesic in 1844 by American dentist Horace Wells, growing in popularity in the late 1800s. Negative side effects were found from the hypoxia caused by a lack of oxygen, and the requirement to have at least 21% oxygen content in the gas was discovered (the same percentage as in air).

In 1911, the anaesthetist Arthur Ernest Guedel first described the use of self-administration of a nitrous oxide and oxygen mix.

It was not until 1961 that the first paper was published by Michael Tunstall et al. describing the administration of a pre-mixed 50:50 nitrous oxide and oxygen mix, which led to the commercialisation of the product.

Read more about this topic:  Nitrous Oxide And Oxygen

Famous quotes containing the word history:

    “The history of work has been, in part, the history of the worker’s body. Production depended on what the body could accomplish with strength and skill. Techniques that improve output have been driven by a general desire to decrease the pain of labor as well as by employers’ intentions to escape dependency upon that knowledge which only the sentient laboring body could provide.”
    —Shoshana Zuboff (b. 1951)

    “A man will not need to study history to find out what is best for his own culture.”
    —Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)

    “Only the history of free peoples is worth our attention; the history of men under a despotism is merely a collection of anecdotes.”
    —Sébastien-Roch Nicolas De Chamfort (1741–1794)