Boyle's air-pump
Around 1660 Robert Boyle was the first to fabricate a reliable air-pump. He proceeded to use it to test pretty much everything he could find; from burning matches, to wine, ice, milk, and even insects and birds. His treatise describes 43 experiments in vacuum, and is prefaced by a long letter to the reader in which he asserts that “In an age so taken with novelties as ours” his wish is to promote experimental science and philosophy “the hope of which, is, I confess, a temptation which I cannot easily resist.” A somewhat relatable line for those of us who enjoy science. Less relatable is the nonchalant description of the experiment on the bird, which earned him a spot in a dramatic Baroque painting by Joseph Wright of Derby.
"... the Bird for a while appear'd lively enough; but upon a greater Exsuction of the Air, she began manifestly to droop and appear sick, and very soon after was taken with as violent and irregular Convulsions, as are wont to be observ'd in Poultry, when their heads are wrung off: For the Bird threw her self over and over two or three times, and dyed with her Breast upward, her Head downwards, and her Neck awry"
Source: 1. Boyle, R. New Experiments Physico-Mechanical, Touching the Spring of the Air, and Its Effects, Made, for the Most Part, in a New Pnuematical Engine. (printed by Miles Flesher, London, 1682).
Public Domain
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Full disclosure, I may occasionally borrow a sentence from Will Durant's Story of Civilization. I absolutely love that collection!