ABSTRACT
Inhalation accidents have been a threat to workers since early times from encounters with gases in fires, mines and fermentation processes. Volcanic and geothermal gases formed the earliest atmosphere of the Earth. Scientists laid the foundations of the chemical industry with the isolation and identification of individual gases. One of the foremost of these, Joseph Priestley (1733-1804), while working as a schoolmaster in England, is credited with the discovery of ‘alkaline air’ (ammonia), vitriolic acid air (sulphur dioxide), nitrous oxide, nitrogen dioxide and methane, as well as isolating what he called ‘dephlogisticated air’ in 1774. Lavoisier, after meeting Priestley, gave the latter the name oxygen and demonstrated its role in respiration and combustion, though the disputed claim for priority for its discovery is one of the most famous episodes in the history of chemistry.
