000			01949nam a2200169 a 4500
020			_a0300124392 (hardcover)
020			_a9780300124392
082			_a610.92 _bJAY
100	1		_aJay, Mike.
245	1	4	_aThe Atmosphere of Heaven: _bThe Unnatural Experiments of Dr Beddoes and His Sons of Genius
260			_aLondon : _bYale University Press, _c2009.
300			_a304 p. ; _c16.51 x 24.13 cm
500			_aAt the Pneumatic Institution in Bristol, founded in the closing years of the eighteenth century, dramatic experiments with gases precipitated not only a revolution in scientific medicine but also in the history of ideas. Guided by the energy of maverick doctor Thomas Beddoes, the Institution was both laboratory and hospital - the first example of a modern medical research institution. But when its members discovered the mind-altering properties of nitrous oxide, or laughing gas, their experiments devolved into a pioneering exploration of consciousness with far-reaching and unforeseen effects. This riveting book is the first to tell the story of Dr. Beddoes and the brilliant circle who surrounded him: Erasmus Darwin, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, and Robert Southey, who supported his ideas; James Watt, who designed and built his laboratory; Thomas Wedgwood, who funded it; and, his dazzling young chemistry assistant, Humphry Davy, who identified nitrous oxide and tested it on himself, with spectacular results. Medical historian Mike Jay charts the chaotic rise and fall of the Institution in this fast-paced account, and reveals its crucial influence - on modern drug culture, attitudes toward objective and subjective knowledge, the development of anaesthetic surgery, and the birth of the Romantic movement.
504			_aIncluded with reference and index
650			_aBeddoes, Thomas, 1760-1808, Chemists England Biography, Gases Therapeutic use History, Physicians England Biography, Pneumatics History,
942			_cBK
999			_c18631 _d18631