On this date in 1774, Joseph Priestley discovered oxygen. Noting its effectiveness in sparking combustion, he called the gas 'dephlogisticated air.' Joseph Priestley 1733 - 1804) was a British natural philosopher, clergyman, political theorist, theologian, and educator.Priestley described the new substance he discovered as five or six times better than common air for the purpose of respiration, inflammation, and, I believe, every other use of common atmospherical air.
After testing the air on a mouse and finding, surprisingly, that it lived after breathing the new air, Priestley tried it on himself and recorded: The feeling of it to my lungs was not sensibly different from that of common air; but I fancied that my breast felt peculiarly light and easy for some time afterwards. Who can tell but that, in time, this pure air may become a fashionable article in luxury.
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