Gasogene

{{Short description|Device for producing carbonated water}} {{About|the device for producing carbonated water||Gasogene (disambiguation)}} thumb|200px|right|Late Victorian seltzogene made by British Syphon

The '''gasogene''' (or '''gazogene''' or '''seltzogene''') is a late Victorian device for producing carbonated water. It consists of two linked glass globes: the lower contained water or other drink to be made sparkling, the upper a mixture of tartaric acid and sodium bicarbonate that reacts to produce carbon dioxide. The produced gas pushes the liquid in the lower container up a tube and out of the device. The globes are surrounded by a wicker or wire protective mesh, as they have a tendency to explode.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.bottlebooks.com/Siphons/mixing_it_up.htm |title=Mixing it up: A Look at the Evolution of the Siphon-Bottle |access-date=2006-01-06 |archive-date=2018-08-22 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180822114507/http://www.bottlebooks.com/Siphons/mixing_it_up.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref>

The earliest occurrence of the word noted in the ''Oxford English Dictionary'' dates from 1853, quoting a reference in ''Practical Mechanic's Journal'' on "Gaillard and Dubois' 'Gazogene' or Aerated Water apparatus".<ref>[http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/77244 "gazogene"], ''Oxford English Dictionary'' {{subscription required}}.</ref>

==In popular culture==

A gasogene is mentioned as a residential fixture at 221B Baker Street in Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes story "A Scandal in Bohemia": "With hardly a word spoken, but with a kindly eye, he waved me to an armchair, threw across his case of cigars, and indicated a spirit case and a gasogene in the corner."<ref>{{Citation |last=Doyle |first=Arthur Conan |title=A Scandal in Bohemia |url=https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Strand_Magazine/Volume_2/A_Scandal_in_Bohemia |work=Sherlock Holmes |access-date=}}</ref> One is also mentioned in "The Adventure of the Mazarin Stone". The device plays a key role in Bernard Shaw's 1905 comic play ''Passion, Poison, and Petrifaction, Or The Fatal Gazogene''.<ref>Shaw, pp. 1113–19</ref>

The word is also used in Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child's novel ''Brimstone'', published in 2005, on page 106,<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Preston |first1=Douglas |first2=Lincoln |last2=Child |year=2005 |title=Brimstone |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RWZBIlQII3kC&pg=PA106 |location=New York |publisher=Warner Vision Books |isbn=9780446612753 |page=106}}</ref> and in their 2010 novel ''Fever Dream'' on page 362,<ref>{{Cite book|title=Fever Dream |last1=Preston|first1=Douglas |first2=Lincoln |last2=Child |date=2010 |publisher=Grand Central Pub|isbn=978-0-446-55496-1 |edition=1st|location=New York |pages=362 |oclc=455421005}}</ref> and in their 2013 novel "White Fire."

A gasogene is mentioned, on page 13, as being in the forensic laboratory of Dr. Kingsley, consultant forensic examiner of Scotland Yard in Alex Grecian's 2012 novel ''The Yard''.<ref>{{cite book|last=Grecian|first=Alex|year=2012|title=The Yard|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tzLNtwAACAAJ|publisher=Penguin Books|location=St. Ives, UK|isbn=9780241958919}}</ref>

A gasogene is mentioned and its use described in Sherry Thomas's novel ''A Study in Scarlet Women'' (Book 1 of the Lady Sherlock series) on pages 244 to 246. (Ebook {{ISBN|9780698196353}})

Amelia Peabody pulls a bottle of whiskey, a gasogene, and glasses from a hamper in order to make herself a whiskey and soda after getting her family on a train to Luxor in the novel ''The Golden One'' by Elizabeth Peters, a pen name of Barbara Mertz.

==See also== * Soda syphon * SodaStream

==Notes== {{reflist}}

==References== * {{cite book | last=Shaw | first=Bernard | year=1934 | title=The Complete Plays of Bernard Shaw | location=London | publisher=Odhams | oclc= 2606804}}

==External links== * [http://221bbakerstreetla.com/bs_gasogene.asp picture and description] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040619215345/http://221bbakerstreetla.com/bs_gasogene.asp |date=2004-06-19 }} at [http://221bbakerstreetla.com/ 221b BAKER STREET/LA]

Category:Carbonated water Category:Industrial gases