John Mervin Nooth dating history

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John Mervin Nooth FRS (5 September 1737 – 3 May 1828) was an English physician, scientist, and army officer. Nooth earned his medical degree from the University of Edinburgh in 1766 and was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1774. In the same year, inspired by Joseph Priestley's work on "fixed air" (now known as carbon dioxide), Nooth invented an instrument for producing carbonated water. The Nooth apparatus, as it came to be called, became popular for household use; the liquid it produced was thought to have medicinal properties. Modified versions of the Nooth apparatus were used in commercial beverage manufacturing and in early experiments with general anaesthesia. Nooth joined the British Army in 1775 and served in North America until 1784, becoming superintendent-general of the British military hospitals in 1779. In 1788 he was deployed to Quebec; he remained in Canada until 1799 and became involved in scientific and political pursuits there. On his return he settled in Bath, England, where he lived until his death.