Davy discovers nitrous

“Finally, he arrived at the most propitious of the gases: nitrous oxide. He arrived at it by chance, while experimenting with nitrogen—“ perfectly respirable when pure”—which induced strange effects as soon as it bonded with oxygen. “I made a discovery yesterday which proves how necessary it is to repeat experiments,” he wrote to his closest friend back home on April 10, 1799, then added: This gas raised my pulse upwards of twenty strokes, made me dance about the laboratory as a madman, and has kept my spirits in a glow ever since. The discovery would soon confer upon nitrous oxide the nickname “laughing gas” and upon Davy the status of international celebrity.” — Traversal by Maria Popova https://a.co/09ytBSfg