LA AUTOEVALUACION UN VALIOSO COMPONENTE EDUCATIVO

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In 1799, having noticed that pain vanished under the influence of this gas, Davy suggested that it be used in surgical operations. This lead was not pursued for another forty-five years. In the 1840s, "laughing gas" appeared in the United States as a form of entertainment. A young dentist named Horace Wells attended a demonstration in Hartford Connecticut in late 1844. The 25C admission bought a dose of NzO, and during the proceedings one of the nitrous oxide sniffers tripped and fell, gashing his leg in the process. To the victim's astonishment, he felt no pain.

Upon questioning the man, Wells was so impressed that he had one of his teeth extracted the next day while under the influence of the gas. He ex- claimed: "A new era in tooth-pulling!" Wells was later urged by friends to patent his discovery, but he refused—"No! Let it be as free as the air we breathe!"

Soon the gas was used as an anesthetic in tooth extractions, in childbirth and to some extent in surgery. But it wasn't until the late 1860s that N;O caught on as a painkiller and use for this purpose spread widely.

At the beginning of this century, attention of a more philosophical nature was directed to this simple compound when William James under- took examination of its properties at Harvard University, Commenting on this nitrous oxide experimentation, James concluded in a much-quoted

"Jr EVENING,

-J" GALLONS OF GAS '

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(but no Mpprt-UcuMou of dtmsiT UIMJ bo cnlrrlulnrd,

Probublj no nnr nlll uKompC to ttchl.

LAD6H, SING, DANCE, SfEAK OB FIGHT, &c- Ac.

•rci.r.lti>e (>. itr l.fl.li,,- (mil nf ilirir cli»r»rn-r. Tlit-f .rryi «» rrliUB

-\. II. Tin- <^H» nill lit* udmlnMcrrd oul> to E<"ntlr~ nit n uf (h«- lir^l r.-^NTl-UHKj. 1 ht- obj.-rl I. |o Make

llu- t-al«-Ht*lm»i-m In «•*. rj r«-(H r<t a c ' "

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Dentists became interested in the anesthetic properties of nttrot, oxide as a result of an accident that occurred during an exhibitio

of its "laughing gas" properties. A self-portrait of William Jc

passage that normal, waking consciousness is but one special kind of con- sciousness—"parted from it by the filmiest of screens, there lie potential forms of consciousness entirely different." James announced it as his "unshakeable conviction" that with application of "the requisite stimulus," other forms of consciousness "are there in all their completeness.... At any rate, they forbid a premature closing of our accounts with reality."

Even today, no one knows how this molecule of only three atoms causes its anesthetic effect, its hilarity or other more profound effects. For many users, there's no doubt it facilitates access to the "unconscious." Some feel that it also gives access to a state of recognition described by Andre1

Breton in Manifestoes of Surrealism:

There is a certain point uf the mind from which life and death, the real and the imaginary, the past and the future, the communicable and incommunicable, the high and low, cease being perceived as contradictions.

t-oientiot forms of Consciousness 399

The sniffer can adjust nitrous oxide dosage easily to whatever level is desired. After stopping sniffing, the effects dissipate rapidly; the gas is removed from the system within five to ten minutes. In contrast to psyche- delics described earlier, the effects resist later description. Users retain an impression of the experience rather than a sharp memory,

Danger occurs—as dental experience has established—when users are foolish enough not to breathe oxygen when inhaling nitrous oxide. Earlier in this century, dentists often gave their patients straight N2O, trying to bring them under it until skin color turned what was known as "Philadelphia blue." The brain, deprived of oxygen too long, can become vegetable. It is a good idea to remember to breathe oxygen regularly. Probably the best prac- tice is to alternate breaths from a nitrous oxide balloon with air,

Users should also avoid inhaling directly from a nitrous oxide aerosol can. Some users have died as a consequence of freezing the throar area because the heat is absorbed as the gas expands. Freon, a similar molecule used as an aerosol propellant, does not have nitrous oxide effects.

The tree flower pictured above was described in the mid-sixteenth century by Bernardino de Sahagun as an inebriating substance taken at night with chocolate. It represents the continuing search for psychedelic!, having recently been brought from Guatemala by Jeremy Bigwood for chemical investigations.