Oh Excellent Air Bag
Oh Excellent Air Bag

Author: Adam Green

Publisher:

Published: 2016-07-11

Total Pages: 146

ISBN-13: 9781911292012

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The summer of 1799 saw a new fad take root in a certain circle of British society: the inhalation of nitrous oxide, also known as "laughing gas." The pioneer of these experiments was a young Humphry Davy, future President of the Royal Society, whose descriptions of being under the influence, as well as those penned by his clique, are among the most remarkable in the history of science. From its subsequent use in "laughing gas shows" through to its eventual employment in anaesthetics, the "delectable air" would go on to inspire more than a century of extraordinary writings that combined the scientific, the poetic, and the philosophical in a wholly new way. This volume collects the most striking examples of both these first-hand accounts and the secondary literature they spawned, including writings by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Robert Southey, William James, and Theodore Dreiser. Far from the images of balloon-huffing festival-goers and post-dental nonsense that nitrous oxide tends to conjure today, this unique anthology reveals the fascinating pedigree of the gas - a history at the very heart of the Romantic movement and one of the great early blooms of psychedelic literature. In addition to the historical texts, the volume boasts a new introductory essay by Mike Jay and an extensive selection of images, including instructional material from early anaesthetic handbooks, and satirical prints from the likes of James Gilray and George Cruikshank.

Robert Southey and the Contexts of English Romanticism
Robert Southey and the Contexts of English Romanticism

Author: Lynda Pratt

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2016-04-08

Total Pages: 298

ISBN-13: 1317062116

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Lynda Pratt's collection of specially commissioned essays is the first edited volume devoted to the multiple connections between Robert Southey (1774-1843) and English Romantic culture. A major and highly controversial personage in his own day, Southey has until recently been the forgotten member of the Lake School.

Young Humphry Davy
Young Humphry Davy

Author: June Z. Fullmer

Publisher: American Philosophical Society

Published: 2000

Total Pages: 420

ISBN-13: 9780871692375

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Humphry Davy's contemporaries bestowed on him their highest honors. Since Davy's death in 1829, each scholarly generation has accrued info. about him & his colleagues. His startling discoveries of the scientifically novel, his isolation & identification of 7 new elements, & his association of electrical properties & chemical behavior coupled with his fame as a lecturer, made him a popular cultural hero. Others saw him as the man who had made agriculture "scientific." Davy's refusal to profit financially from his invention of the miners' safety lamp endeared him to those humanitarians who idealized scientists as members of an altruistic brotherhood. Here is a readable, thoroughly researched biography of Davy's early life. Illus.

Exuberance
Exuberance

Author: Kay Redfield Jamison

Publisher: Vintage

Published: 2005-09-13

Total Pages: 418

ISBN-13: 0375701486

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A national bestselling author examines one of the mind's most exalted states—one that is crucially important to learning, risk-taking, social cohesiveness, and survival itself. “[Jamison is] that rare writer who can offer a kind of unified field theory of science and art.” —The Washington Post Book World With the same grace and breadth of learning she brought to her studies of the mind’s pathologies, Kay Redfield Jamison examines one of its most exalted states: exuberance. This “abounding, ebullient, effervescent emotion” manifests itself everywhere from child’s play to scientific breakthrough. Exuberance: The Passion for Life introduces us to such notably irrepressible types as Teddy Roosevelt, John Muir, and Richard Feynman, as well as Peter Pan, dancing porcupines, and Charles Schulz’s Snoopy. It explores whether exuberance can be inherited, parses its neurochemical grammar, and documents the methods people have used to stimulate it. The resulting book is an irresistible fusion of science and soul.

The Art of Innovation
The Art of Innovation

Author: Ian Blatchford

Publisher: Random House

Published: 2019-09-19

Total Pages: 276

ISBN-13: 1473570735

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Based on the landmark Radio 4 series, this beautifully illustrated modern history of the connections between science and art offers a new perspective on what that relationship has contributed to the world around us. __________ Throughout history, artists and scientists have been driven by curiosity and the desire to experiment. Both have wanted to make sense of the world around them, often to change it, sometimes working closely together, certainly taking inspiration from each other's disciplines. The relationship between the two has traditionally been perceived as one of love and hate, fascination and revulsion, symbiotic but antagonistic. But art is crucial to helping us understand our science legacy and science is well served by applying an artistic lens. How exactly has the ingenuity of science and technology been incorporated into artistic expression? And how has creative practice, in turn, stimulated innovation and technological change? The Art of Innovation is a history of the past 250 years viewed through the disciplines of art and science. Through fascinating stories that explore the sometimes unexpected relationships between famous artworks and significant scientific and technological objects - from Constable's cloudscapes and the chemist who first measured changes in air pressure, to the introduction of photography and the representation of natural history in print - it offers a new way of seeing, studying and interpreting the extraordinary world around us.