 French researcher Victor T. Junod was the first to describe symptoms of narcosis in 1834 , noting " the functions of the brain are activated , imagination is lively , thoughts have a peculiar charm and , in some persons , symptoms of intoxication are present . " Junod suggested that narcosis resulted from pressure causing increased blood flow and hence stimulating nerve centers . Walter Moxon ( 1836 – 1886 ) , a prominent Victorian physician , hypothesized in 1881 that pressure forced blood to inaccessible parts of the body and the stagnant blood then resulted in emotional changes . The first report of anesthetic potency being related to lipid solubility was published by Hans H. Meyer in 1899 , entitled Zur Theorie der Alkoholnarkose . Two years later a similar theory was published independently by Charles Ernest Overton . What became known as the Meyer @-@ Overton Hypothesis may be illustrated by a graph comparing narcotic potency with solubility in oil . 
