No Laughing Mattter

Gardner Quincy Colton was born on February 17, 1814, in Georgia, Vermont.  Colton may not be a household name, but many of you who suffer from dental phobia(s), may have him to thank for being the first person to administer nitrous oxide (which you know as laughing gas) a general anesthetic for surgical procedures.  

Image Source: oddballfilms.blogspot

Colton was somewhat of an ostentatious showman, who traveled around the country, lecturing on topics such as philosophy, chemistry and the telegraph. He had a formal medical education, but never actually graduated.  Instead, he quit medical school, after discovering that he had a calling to the stage. He was paid $535.00 for his initial demonstration of the use of nitrous oxide which happened to turn out as a moment of serendipity, if you will.   Though, I could not find out where the event occurred, I did find out how, and why, the gas was employed for the first tooth extraction.  

Gardner Quincy Colton

A Connecticut dentist, by the name of Horace Wells attended one of Colton's lectures where he was scheduled to be a volunteer for a molar extraction.  While he was there, another young volunteer suffered a laceration to his leg while under the influence of a moderate dose of laughing gas.  The young man's name was Sam Cooley.  Cooley reported no pain when the injury took place.  Wells was intrigued, as he thought that the effects of laughing gas, as it related to Cooley's injury, may be employed as a pain free way of having teeth extracted, as one may experience an inability to feel or to be aware of [dental] surgery.  "Wells' offending molar was extracted the next day in his office by his partner, dentist John Riggs (1810-1885). Gardner Coulton presided as anaesthetist."  -Source: general-anaesthesia.com

Dr. Horace Wells

Nitrous oxide, also known as laughing gas, is mixed with oxygen, and is frequently employed when one must undergo dental surgery.   It is known as "laughing gas" due to the euphoria after inhaling it.  In general, the gas has no color, it is not flammable, and has a "slightly sweet odor and taste."  It is inhaled by a small plastic mask that fits over the nose, and aids in relaxation. 

Colton then went to California with high hopes during the gold rush.  He never made any money and it is interesting to note that his brother Walter was the Civil Governor of state. 

In 1863, Colton returned East and established a successful company with two dentists, where he adapted the techniques of anaesthesia which he had practiced earlier.  Interestingly, no patient deaths occurred, as the laughing gas was mixed with oxygen to prevent asphyxiation, and it also prolonged the effects of nitrous oxide. 

Colton proffered advise on laughing gas' use:  "Instruct the patient to take full, deep and slow inspirations of the gas and hold the lips and nose so as to allow no particle of common air to enter and dilute the gas. By this means, anaesthesia will be reached in from forty-five to sixty seconds." 

During his practice, between 1864 and 1897, Colton and his associates reported that they successfully extracted teeth under the administration of nitrous oxide anaesthesia from tens of thousands of dental patients.

Dr Gardner Quincy Colton, died August 9, 1898, in Rotterdam, Holland. He had been visiting Europe, and preparing to return home when he succumbed death, brought on by old age.

DID YOU KNOW....

"Laughing Gas" is also used as an oxidizer in rocket propellants, and in motor racing to increase the power output of engines. At elevated temperatures, nitrous oxide is a powerful oxidizer similar to molecular oxygen.

Mark C. Marchbanks, D.D.S., gave  this list, entitled, "Things that May Surprise You about Nitrous Oxide" on April 1, 2014:

"There is a lot more to nitrous oxide than just its use as a sedative. It may be unusual to say this about a gas, but there are a lot of interesting facts about it…

Bacteria in oceans and soil emit nitrous oxide.

The discovery that nitrous oxide helps to relieve pain happened in 1800, but it wasn’t really used for that purpose until 1844, and wasn’t widely used by dentists until the 1860s.

It is nicknamed “laughing gas” because of so-called “euphoric” effects of inhaling it. If you aren’t laughing up a storm after inhaling nitrous oxide, you may be reacting to it by just acting sleepy.

Most people usually experience five stages of sedation: light-headedness, a tingling sensation in the arms and legs, a warm feeling, a feeling of euphoria, and then a sleepy feeling.

“Laughing gas parties” with nitrous oxide were all the rage for the British upper class in the late 1700s.

Nitrous oxide is used in the food industry as well. It helps to give aerosol whipped cream volume. It is used in cooking spray as a propellant. It is used in bags of potato chips so the bags are puffy, which prevents your chips from being crushed.

Nitrous oxide can be used by women in childbirth, and is being used more and more often in hospitals and birthing centers. It doesn’t get rid of the pain, but it does take the edge off a bit. Many women like it because it can be used at any time during labor, there are no serious side effects, it doesn’t require an IV or catheter, and they can still move around during labor.

Nitrous oxide is considered very safe for your child to use while at the dentist. It will help them to relax. Once it is turned off it is flushed quickly from the body, and he or she can stay awake while the dentist is filling their cavity. However, younger children may not want to wear the mask for nitrous oxide, and it may make some children may feel nauseous.

The exact mechanism of how nitrous oxide works isn’t really understood. It seems to act on the brain in many different ways at once.

Many dentists offer scented nitrous oxide to their patients, which may include strawberry, vanilla, mint, or other scents to choose from.

Nitrous oxide works rapidly, and can relax a patient within 3 minutes. It is eliminated from the body about as quickly.

Patients who are afraid of needles may find that nitrous oxide relaxes them enough to face that needle poke.

If you are having nitrous oxide you may not want to have a big meal before you head to the dentist. A big meal combined with nitrous oxide may result in nausea. However, your stomach shouldn’t be empty either—a small meal hours before your appointment is best.

Nitrous oxide is cheaper than IV sedation.

No one is allergic to nitrous oxide. It is safe for those who have diabetes, epilepsy, liver, heart, or cerebrovascular disease, although if you have a respiratory disease you should discuss that with your dentist.

Ye Olde Pay Phone

Image: watchdog.org

There is really nothing pleasant in my memory of using a pay phone, save the association of Clark Kent, transforming into Superman. When I hear the antiquated word "pay phone", I remember the dirty interior of a telephone booth with the non-reflective silver shelf that was installed below the telephone scribbled with obscenities and phone numbers in ink and pencil. I can almost smell the odor of urine and stale smoke.  Chewed bubble gum could be found in and around the stall.   More often than not, the telephone directory had been ripped out from it's metal jacket which swung by a heavy-duty cord.  I recall depositing a dime into the money slot to place a call, and eventually it became a quarter and continued to increase, ad infinite.  (Eventually, telephone companies offered a strip in which you could swipe a credit card).  I also remember the telephone ringing at home, and there would be a slight pause as you picked up.  Next you would hear an operator  tell you that it was a "collect call" and if you agreed to "accept the call", it meant that you would be responsible for "reversed charges", should you chose to accept it.  It's redeeming quality was the ability to dial "0" for an emergency. 

Image: rnsmith.com

In 2015, it was estimated that over two-thirds of the American population owns a cell phone, so it is no wonder that the use of the payphone has dropped from popularity.  Let's face another reality:  Who wants to use something so unsanitary as a "public phone" into which some stranger has spit or breathed heavily?  I've never saw a dispenser of Chlorox or Lysol wipes at the ready; however, these germ and graffiti-ridden stalls, did serve a purpose, for many years. Today, airports are probably the most common place to still find public telephones.

Image: waylou.com

New York City is providing a swanky, cosmopolitan way to replace old coin operated relics into large touch screens that provide city information, emergency broadcasts and local business advertisements.  The endeavor is to remove the obsolete booths and replace them with new hot-spot kiosks at approximately 7,500 and up to 10,000 stations around the city. 

The effort for replacement is called LinkNYC and offers free, high speed Wi-Fi where you can tap in, to access the Internet, services and even get directions.  The Wi-Fi speed is being touted as 100 times faster than average public connections!  

LinkNYC offers a place to charge your devices, while you watch public service announcements on a sleek 55" HD screen.  The plan is also installing "dedicated" red buttons in which you can contact 911 for emergencies.

Library Exchange 

Image: psfk.com

In 2013, John Locke, a city native and architect, has initiated an ongoing project to transfer a couple of the old phone booths into public libraries.  His first experiment with the project was to install pumpkin colored shelves, completely stocked with books, resulted in 100% theft - including the shelves.  He moved his book sharing plan several blocks down, and began to attach a label to the spine of books and stamped the booths with the acronym "D.U.B." which stands for Department of Urban Betterment (though this is unofficial and has not been approved by the city).   His endeavor is honorable, as his goal is to create a system of giving and receiving.  His hope that people will take a book, read it, and return it - or replace it with another book.  John has a good question regarding the antiquity of these conspicuous eyesores, and leaves us with this question: "Is the pay phone an anachronism or an opportunity?"

Image: blog.kilafun.com

This little library in the park is one of about 47 in various neighborhoods of Bogota, Colombia. They were established to promote literacy across the country. Source: bilinguallibrarian.com

Let's have look at how using a phone booth has been utilized, for fame and the strange. 

Cramming... 

In 1959, a world record was set when 25 male students at the YMCA in Durban, South Africa for "cramming" or "stuffing" themselves into a standard telephone booth.  It became a fad that spread into the U.K., Canada and the U.S. 

Images: google; pinterest

Hollywood in a Phone Booth

Of course, giving or receiving news, has to be written into a story line somehow, and using the public telephone was a natural way of delivering it.  

In the movie Goodfellows,  Jimmy (Robert De Niro) hears the news that his partner in crime, Tommy (Joe Pesci), was murdered. Hearing the news over the pay phone, he knocks the phone booth over, in a rage.  

In Dirty Harry, our hero Harry Callahan (Clint Eastwood) is a San Francisco Police Department inspector who receives clues from a serial killer that lead him from pay phone to pay phone to try to prevent the murder of a young girl who is being held for ransom. 

In Die Hard III, John McClane (Bruce Willis) and Zeus Carber (Samuel L. Jackson) race around New York City from one pay phone to the next, trying to intervene on a terrorist's bomb plot. 

The route to the Ministry of Magic was using a phone booth in a Harry Potter movie, where he and Mr. Weasley used a phone booth to access the Ministry on their quest to destroy Lord Voldemort. The booth transports visitors from ground level to the Atrium on floor B8.  To achieve entrance, one dials 62442 (which spell "magic") on the telephone.

In the excellent flick, Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure, Bill (Alex Winter) and Ted (Keanu Reeves) teleport via a phone booth to collect historical figures to pass their history exam.

Perhaps the most famous scene involving the telephone booth was used in perfection for the film, The Birds.  Director Alfred Hitchcock, cast Tippie Hedren as a wealthy San Francisco socialite, who sets her sights on a new boyfriend.  The small town slowly takes a turn for the worst when ordinary birds suddenly begin to attack people.

In the first episode of the Twilight Zone,  Earl Holliman, plays astronaut Mike Ferris, and is alone in an empty town square.  In the isolated and surreal setting, he seems to just miss anyone who may have just been there... but, we "will tell you about next week's story — after this word from our alternate sponsor."

Of course, the quintessential phone booth film, Phone Booth, publicist Stu Shepard (Colin Farrell) is trapped in a phone booth as he fears for his life. Caller (Kiefer Sutherland) is on the other end of the line, and claims to be a sniper aimed for Stu and will shoot him if he ends the call.  This film was introduced to Hitchcock in the 1960's but he never acted on it, and it wasn't made into a movie until 2002.

Wild and Crazy: 
People, places and things... 
you may recognize some of these people! [Found on pinterest]

David Bowie

James "Jimmie" Stewart

The Brady Bunch 

L-R: John Lennon, Ringo Starr and George Harrison

Farrah Fawcet

Jill St. John

Lou Abbott

Marlo Thomas 

Mia Farrow: Filming "Rosemary's Baby"

Australian Aboriginal

circa 1900

Dial and Drive

Operator, well could you help me place this call?
See, the number on the matchbook is old and faded
She's living in L.A. with my best old ex-friend Ray
A guy she said she knew well and sometimes hated

Isn't that the way they say it goes? Well, let's forget all that
And give me the number if you can find it
So I can call just to tell 'em I'm fine and to show
I've overcome the blow, I've learned to take it well
I only wish my words could just convince myself
That it just wasn't real, but that's not the way it feels

Operator, well could you help me place this call?
Well, I can't read the number that you just gave me
There's something in my eyes, you know it happens every time
I think about a love that I thought would save me

Isn't that the way they say it goes? Well, let's forget all that
And give me the number if you can find it
So I can call just to tell 'em I'm fine and to show
I've overcome the blow, I've learned to take it well
I only wish my words could just convince myself
That it just wasn't real, but that's not the way it feels
No, no, no, no - that's not the way it feels

Operator, well let's forget about this call
There's no one there I really wanted to talk to
Thank you for your time, ah, you've been so much more than kind
And you can keep the dime

Isn't that the way they say it goes? Well, let's forget all that
And give me the number if you can find it
So I can call just to tell 'em I'm fine and to show
I've overcome the blow, I've learned to take it well
I only wish my words could just convince myself
That it just wasn't real, but that's not the way it feels

Songwriter
JAMES CROCE

And... Don't forget to call your mother!