Mark Miodownik (Viking (UK, out now); Mariner (US, 17 September))
When Humphry Davy first gave nitrous oxide to people with tuberculosis in the late 1790s, hoping it might provide a cure, he couldn鈥檛 have known that he was also playing a small but important part in culinary history. Yet the links between the two are made clear in Mark Miodownik鈥檚 new book on gases, appropriately called It鈥檚 a Gas.
While it quickly became apparent to Davy that nitrous oxide had no effect on TB, his patients seemed to enjoy the treatment. His personal use of what he called laughing gas is also well known, and he soon realised that it reduced pain.
Advertisement
This should have kicked off the widespread adoption of anaesthetics, but surgeons at the time weren鈥檛 interested, believing pain was a necessary part of healing. It took decades, and the invention of pressurised containers, before the gas was widely used for pain relief. Soon after that, smaller containers, or whippets, made instant whipped cream a possibility.
As a , we can trust Miodownik to handle the science well. But it is the latter part of his job title that comes to the fore here. This is a book about how science is woven into our history, linking many aspects of our lives in ways that can be easily overlooked.
One chapter tracing musical instruments from ancient horns to modern trumpets is revealing. The valve that makes trumpets possible was developed in 1818, and the same innovation later allowed John Dunlop to invent the pneumatic tyre in 1887.
This, in turn, revolutionised transport by making bicycles more comfortable and practical, further changing the world in many ways. For example, one study shows that between 1907 and 1916, the percentage of marriages in England between people from the same parish fell from 77 to 41 per cent.
The use of compressed air spread 鈥� allowing tops to be firmly pushed onto bottles of beer and sliding doors to be controlled on trains. Eventually, the technology was adapted to create light, springy soles for shoes; the trainer was born.
Such links are threaded throughout this entertaining book, which ends with a sobering, though not entirely pessimistic, discussion of carbon dioxide and climate change, as Miodownik reminds us that solutions lie in other gases, such as wind and hydrogen power.
Tom Tierney is a writer based聽in聽Dublin, Ireland
麻豆传媒 book club
Love reading? Come and join our friendly group of fellow book lovers. Every six weeks, we delve into an exciting new title, with members given free access to extracts from our books, articles from our authors and video interviews.
