{"title":"Lost and found: The Nooth apparatus","authors":"Thomas J.J. McCloughlin","doi":"10.1016/j.endeavour.2021.100763","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>John Mervin Nooth, military surgeon, correspondent of Joseph Priestly and Benjamin Franklin, and noted inventor and scientist has been lost and found several times, through his eponymous invention: the Nooth apparatus. A large glass apparatus superficially resembling a Kipp’s gas generator was used originally for carbonating water during the “fizzy water” craze in the eighteenth century, only to be outdone by one Mr. Schweppes. The apparatus would later form part of the first anaesthetic equipment used in surgery, some twenty years after Nooth apparatus ceased to be made. The now part-Nooth apparatus / anaesthetiser would then, too, be forgotten again with the advent of the use of nitrous oxide. The Nooth apparatus in the Dublin City University Science Archive was found in a glassware dump in 2000 by the author, and subsequently cleaned, and restored in 2017. It is currently on display, but it is also used, with slight modification, as a gas generator for the undergraduate teaching of trainee teachers with the lesson: “never throw anything away.”</p></div>","PeriodicalId":51032,"journal":{"name":"Endeavour","volume":"45 1","pages":"Article 100763"},"PeriodicalIF":0.5000,"publicationDate":"2021-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1016/j.endeavour.2021.100763","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Endeavour","FirstCategoryId":"98","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0160932721000181","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q3","JCRName":"HISTORY & PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
John Mervin Nooth, military surgeon, correspondent of Joseph Priestly and Benjamin Franklin, and noted inventor and scientist has been lost and found several times, through his eponymous invention: the Nooth apparatus. A large glass apparatus superficially resembling a Kipp’s gas generator was used originally for carbonating water during the “fizzy water” craze in the eighteenth century, only to be outdone by one Mr. Schweppes. The apparatus would later form part of the first anaesthetic equipment used in surgery, some twenty years after Nooth apparatus ceased to be made. The now part-Nooth apparatus / anaesthetiser would then, too, be forgotten again with the advent of the use of nitrous oxide. The Nooth apparatus in the Dublin City University Science Archive was found in a glassware dump in 2000 by the author, and subsequently cleaned, and restored in 2017. It is currently on display, but it is also used, with slight modification, as a gas generator for the undergraduate teaching of trainee teachers with the lesson: “never throw anything away.”
期刊介绍:
Endeavour, established in 1942, has, over its long and proud history, developed into one of the leading journals in the history and philosophy of science. Endeavour publishes high-quality articles on a wide array of scientific topics from ancient to modern, across all disciplines. It serves as a critical forum for the interdisciplinary exploration and evaluation of natural knowledge and its development throughout history. Each issue contains lavish color and black-and-white illustrations. This makes Endeavour an ideal destination for history and philosophy of science articles with a strong visual component.
Endeavour presents the history and philosophy of science in a clear and accessible manner, ensuring the journal is a valuable tool for historians, philosophers, practicing scientists, and general readers. To enable it to have the broadest coverage possible, Endeavour features four types of articles:
-Research articles are concise, fully referenced, and beautifully illustrated with high quality reproductions of the most important source material.
-In Vivo articles will illustrate the rich and numerous connections between historical and philosophical scholarship and matters of current public interest, and provide rich, readable explanations of important current events from historical and philosophical perspectives.
-Book Reviews and Commentaries provide a picture of the rapidly growing history of science discipline. Written by both established and emerging scholars, our reviews provide a vibrant overview of the latest publications and media in the history and philosophy of science.
-Lost and Found Pieces are playful and creative short essays which focus on objects, theories, tools, and methods that have been significant to science but underappreciated by collective memory.