""Thomas Graham,""
(30 June 1995)History of Anaesthesia Society, Proceedings 17 (1995): 36-42
PDF posted with permission of the author.
Several excerpts from the section on "Graham's Researches":
"Among Graham's researches there were three topics of special interest to anaesthetists--the diffusion of gases; osmosis, dialysis and the diffusion of liquids; and inhibition of the oxidation of phosphorous by certain vapours.
. . . . . . .
These experiments were not serendipidous, but arose from some brilliant reasoning. It was by then accepted that the pressure exerted by a gas in a container was a manifestation of the force with which the atoms bombarded its walls. Graham argued that . . . .
. . . . . . .
Graham wen on to apply his observations on diffusion to the mechanics of respiration, arguing that . . . .
. . . . . . .
As a further demonstration of gaseous diffusion, he placed an animal bladder full of coal gas in a receiver of carbon dioxide. After 12 hours . . . (all transcriptions from p. 39).