A lecture on pneumatics at the Royal Institution, London. Coloured etching by J. Gillray, 1802.

A gathering of twenty-five ladies and gentlemen in the lecture hall of the Royal Institution, London. The lecturer, identified by M.D. George as Thomas Young, demonstrates the effect of nitrous oxide by inserting a pipe attached to tubing into the mouth of Sir J.C. Hippisley whose breeches are burst by a fiery explosion. Next to the lecturer stands Humphry Davy, holding bellows. Before him are an air pump containing a frog, two vessels marked "Hydrogen" and "Oxigen", a pig's bladder, a windmill, and a bell jar. In the preparation room behind is a Nairn electrostatic machine. Among the fashionable audience are Count von Rumford and Lord Stanhope