Doctor and Mrs Syntax with a party of friends, experimenting with laughing gas
T Rowlandson after W Combe, coloured aquatint, 1823
Following the publication of Davy’s 'Researches' nitrous oxide
(laughing gas) became a craze in public entertainments. This
cartoon satirises the fashion for nitrous oxide 'parties'.
Nitrous oxide has recently regained popularity as a party drug
and is still also used extensively as an analgesic during
childbirth.