Who first identified oxygen?
Oxygen
Oxygen was isolated by Michael Sendivogius before 1604, but it is commonly believed that the element was discovered independently by Carl Wilhelm Scheele, in Uppsala, in 1773 or earlier, and Joseph Priestley in Wiltshire, in 1774. Priority is often given for Priestley because his work was published first. Priestley, however, called oxygen "dephlogisticated air", and did not recognize it as a chemical element. The name "oxygen" was coined in 1777 by Antoine Lavoisier, who first recognized oxygen as a chemical element and correctly characterized the role it plays in combustion.
Inhalation sedation
Nitrous oxide was first discovered by Joseph Priestley in 1772. In 1795, Sir Humphrey Davy and surgeon J. B. Borlase experimented with nitrous oxide and the effects of its inhalation. Davy then published a book in 1799 hinting the possible role of nitrous oxide in achieving mild anaesthesia during surgical procedures. In 1824, Henry Hill Hickman used carbon dioxide to achieve a state of "suspended animation" in animals; successfully diminishing pain during the surgical procedure. In 1831, chloroform was discovered by Justus von Liebig in Germany, Samuel Guthrie in New York and Eugène Soubeiran in France, all of whom worked independently. In 1842, a chemist in Rochester, William Edward Clarke provided Dr. Elijah Pope with ether prior to a tooth extraction of his patient. In the same year, a doctor in Georgia, Dr. Crawford W. Long administered ether to John Venable for the removable of a neck tumour. In 1844, Dr. Horace Wells carried out an experiment on himself where he had Professor Gardner Quincy Colton administer nitrous oxide to himself prior to a wisdom tooth extraction by Dr. John Riggs. Wells discovered that he was unaware of the procedure and experienced absolutely no pain during the procedure.