Ashtabula weekly telegraph. (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1880-1886, 1880-03-05
Sir Humphrey Davy's Courage.

A writer on Sir Humphrey Davy, in
Temple Bar, tells the following stories
of his courage: "The same moral and
physical courage which Davy displayed
in his youth by deliberately taking out
his pocketknife and excising a part of
his leg which had been bitten by mad
dog, and cauterizing the wound with
his own hands, was exhibited in his
chemical investigations. His discovery
that nitrous gas, the vapor of aquafOr-
tis, is not injurious to health, resulted
from experiments on his own life. He
obtained the gas in a state of purity,
and, though very well aware of the dan
ger he ran if the received theory Of its
deadly powers was true, which he
doubted, he resolved to inhale it in its
pure form. Gradually increasing the
dose. he ultimately succeeded in breath
ing four quarts of the gas from and into
a silk bag. He experienced a sense of
giddiness, accompanied with loss of
sensation and vOlition, state analO-
gous to intOxication, attended as he
says, by highly pleasurable thrilling
in the chest and limbs. The objects
around became dazzling and my hear
| ing more acute. Toward the last in
| spiration the sense of muscular power
| became greater, and at last an ire
sistible propensity to action was in
dulged in. My gesticulations were
various and violent. In ten minutes
had recovered my natural state OF
mind
d" And what are we to say of the dar-
ing of the following experiment, at
which he was again operator and sub
iect. He was curious to know what
effect drink would have on person
under the influence of this gas. He
drank bottle of wine in about eight
minutes. Il perceived says he "a
sense of fullness in the head and throb-
bing of the arteries. l lost the power
of speech, and was unable to stand
steadily. In an hour sank into state
of insensibility, in which 1 remained
for two hours and half. was awak
ened by severe headache and nausea,
and my bodily and mental debility were
excessive. In this state breathed five
quarts of gas for minute and half,
but it must have been impure, for it had
no effect He then respired twelve
quarts of oxygen for nearly four min
utes, without any material change in
his sensations. The severe headache
continuing, he respired seven quarts of
quite pure nitrous oxide for two and a
half minutes. After the third respira-
tion the headache vanished. Brilliant
ideas passed through his mind. He
jumped and danced across the room;
but languor and depression succeeded,
which gradually wore off toward even
ing. In his treatise Concerning Nitrous
Oxide he records its amusing effects on
several of his friends. One of them
danced about like spinning top, and
got so pugnacious that he struck at
whoever happened to be near him. Its
influence on such chosen souls as Cole
ridge and Southey was by no means
brilliant. They jumped and skipped
about the room, laughing idiotically,
every CLEAN of intelligence fading from
their faces.
"The experiment on himself by
which Davy proved that hydrocarbonate
acts as a sedative was fearfully daring.
1t was no foolhardy bravado that was
the motive power with him, but love
of scientific investigation. He says he
was anxious to compare its effects with
those of nitrous oxide. Emboldened by
a first experiment, from which he felt
no excessively painful results, he intro
duced four quarts of the gas into silk
bag. After a forced exhaustion of the
lungs, and the nose being accurately
closed, he made three breathings of the
hydrocarbonate. The first produced q
feeling of numbness, the second took
away the power of vision and enfeebled
the other senses, the third sent him
away in swoon, and just left him
power to throw away the tube from his
lips. After short interval he recov,
cred little, and was able to whisper,
Il do not think 1 shall die Placing
his finger on his wrist he found his
pulse beating with excessive quickness
In about minute he was able to walk
but for an hour was weak and giddy
and conscious Of a painfulpressure upOr
the chest.m