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‘Chemical Recreations – Whimsical effects of Nitrous Oxide Gas’, c1823

© 2021 Royal Pharmaceutical Society

Description

Mounted black and white etching, entitled ‘Chemical Recreations – Whimsical effects of Nitrous oxide Gas.’, designed, etched, and published by anon. Undated.

This caricature depicts a man laughing and dancing in the middle of a room, having apparently inhaled nitrous oxide gas. In his left hand he holds up the apparatus used for inhaling nitrous oxide gas; a bag with a tube connected to it. He is watched by amused spectators; three men and a boy. Various chemistry equipment is shown on the table, shelf and floor of the room.

The engraving was the frontispiece illustration in the following book: ‘Chemical Recreations: A Series of Amusing and Instructive Experiments Which May Be Performed Easily, Safely, and At Little Expense to Which Are Prefixed, First Lines of Chemistry …’ written by the English chemist John Joseph Griffin and first published in 1823. The book was popular and went through several editions (5th edition, 1825 / 7th edition, 1834).