History of Seltzer Water

Some would think seltzer water to be a relatively new invention. After all, no reads of old Victorians enjoying glass of bubbly water anywhere. But in fact, seltzer water goes back to even BEFORE the Victorian era. It was invented by a gentleman named Joseph Priestley in 1767 who discovered that if you place a bowl of water above a beer vat, the carbon dioxide that concentrates above the vat would infuse the water producing something akin to the fizzy drink we enjoy today.

Priestley started out as a clergyman in Leeds, England, who was literally burned out of town (that is, his church was put on fire) because some unorthodox views he held. He eventually resettled across the Atlantic in Pennsylvania and befriended Benjamin Franklin, a fellow amateur scientist who, like him, had an interest in electrical phenomenon.

Priestley eventually turned his attention to chemistry. Of the several achievement credited to him is the discovery of oxygen (considered a co-discoverer with Swede with Carl Scheele) and the fact that oxygen is essential to combustion.

To no less an eminent person do we owe our thanks for having invented seltzer water! It was in 1772 he published his paper, Directions for Impregnating Water with Fixed Air, in which describes the process noted above. It would take later "visionaries" to discover how tasty it is to mix soda water with various sugary syrups to produce the colas and other soft drinks that are so well liked today. Alas, Priestley never turned his invention into a commercial enterprise.

Another invention of Priestley's? The pencil eraser, which he called "rubber". Somehow, this curious gentleman found out that Indian gum had a unique ability to rub out pencil lead from a piece of paper.

What a curiously interesting life!