DOCSLIB.ORG

Nitrous Oxide

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text

Load more

OUTPATIENT ANAESTHESIA with particular reference to Nitrous Oxide by William Denis Ashley Smith VOLUME THREE VOLUME THREE APPENDIX F; A HISTORY OF NITROUS OXIDE AND OXYGEN ANAESTHESIA - COLLECTED REPRINTS Part I? Joseph Priestley to Humphry Davy Brit. J.Anaesth. (1965), 37, 790. Part II: Davy's researches in relation to inhalation anaesthesia. Brit. J.Anaeoth. (1965), 37, 871. Part Hit Parsons Shaw, Doctor Syntax and Nitrous Oxide. Brit. J.Anaesth. (1965), 37, 958. Part IV: Hickman and the "Introduction of certain gases into the lungs". Brit.J.Anaesth. (1966), 38, 58. Part V: The crucial experiment, its eclipse and its revival. Brit. J.Anaesth., (1966), 38, 143. Part VI: Henry Turton, William Lloyd Poundall and Hallam. Brit.J.Anaesth. (1966), 38, 212. Part VII: 1868 - nitrous oxide anaesthesia takes root in Great Britain. Brit.J.Anaesth. (1966), 38, 551. Part VIII; Twenty years of nitrous oxide anaesthesia in Great Britain. Brit.J.Anaesth. (1966). 38, 831. Part IX • The introduction of nitrous oxide and oxygen anaesthesia. Brit. J.Anaesth. (1966), 38, 950. Part X; The early manufacture, storage and purity of nitrous oxide. Brit. J.Anaesth. (1967), 39, 351. Reprinted from the British Journal of Anaesthesia Volume XXXVII, No. 10, October 1965 A HISTORY OF NITROUS OXIDE AND OXYGEN ANAESTHESIA PART I: JOSEPH PRIESTLEY TO HUMPHRY DAVY BY W. D. A. SMITH ALTRINCHAM JOHN SHERRATT AND SON Brit J. Anaesth. (1965), 37, 790 A HISTORY OF NITROUS OXIDE AND OXYGEN ANAESTHESIA PART I: JOSEPH PRIESTLEY TO HUMPHRY DAVY BY W. D. A. SMITH Department of Anaesthesia, Leeds University, England "An historical review may be useful as offering a nitrous air contracted when allowed to stand in kind of a map of the science and of the roads by contact with a paste of iron filings and brimstone. which it has been explored." Some of the thrill of this discovery is communi- (Humphry Davy 1810; cated in his description of it: cited John Davy 1839) The diminution of common air by a mixture of nitrous air, is not so extraordinary as the diminution Towards the end of the eighteenth century which nitrous air itself is subject to from a mixture of iron filings and brimstone, made into a paste with water. increasing knowledge of "different kinds of air", This mixture, as I have already observed, diminishes and of respiration, led to the inhalation of gases for common air between one fifth and one fourth . but medicinal purposes. Inhalation anaesthesia when it is put into a quantity of nitrous air, it diminishes it so much that no more than one fourth of the original emerged from this background of "Pneumatic quantity be left. The effect of this process is generally Medicine", although not quite as soon as it might perceived in five or six hours, about which time the visible effervescence of the mixture begins; and in a very have done. A long-suffering acceptance of pain, short time it advances so rapidly, that in about an hour and of the improbability of its relief during surgical almost the whole effect will have taken place. If it be operations, probably contributed to the delay. suffered to stand a day or two longer, the air will still be diminished farther, but only a very little farther, in The first attempts to introduce nitrous oxide as proportion to the first diminution. The glass jar, in an anaesthetic were short-lived. It was temporarily which the air and this mixture have been confined, has generally been so much heated in this process, that I supplanted by ether and chloroform, even for have not been able to touch it. anaesthesia in the ambulant patient. When it was revived, many of the later improvements in anaes- The remaining air supported combustion and it thetic technique were considered, at least in smelled more like common air than like nitrous air. embryonic form, but their development had to He named it "dephlogisticated air". In his own await the accumulation of experience and basic words (Priestley, 1786): "Dephlogisticated nitrous knowledge, new discoveries and advances in air is the term by which I first distinguished this technology. species of air, because it admitted a candle to burn in it." This is now known as nitrous oxide. The isolation of nitrous oxide and oxygen. Although he did not realize it at the time, "The word 'discovery' is often ambiguous in Priestley first liberated oxygen from saltpetre Science and leads to misunderstandings." Those (potassium nitrate) in 1771 (Hartog, 1933). He words could have been applied appropriately to the obtained it again in 1774 by focusing sunlight on "discovery" of anaesthesia, but they were written mercurius calcinatas (mercuric oxide), having just by Hartog (1941) in relation to the allied subject procured a lens of 12 inches diameter (Priestley, of the "discovery" of oxygen. He continued: "In 1776, p. 33). He discovered that a candle burned in dealing with experiments and observations like it with a remarkably vigorous flame. He wrote those of Priestley and Scheele on Oxygen, I prefer (Priestley, 1776, p. 33): to say that they 'isolated and recognised' or 'identi- But what surprised me more than I can well express, fied' rather than that they 'discovered' oxygen." was, that a candle burned in this air with a remarkably Priestley (1733-1804) isolated both nitrous oxide vigorous flame, very much like that enlarged flame with which a candle burns in nitrous air exposed to iron or and oxygen during the course of his Experiments liver of sulphur; but as I had got nothing like this re- and Observations on different kinds of Air. markable appearance from any kind of air besides this Priestley gave the name "nitrous air" to what is particular modification of nitrous air, and I knew no nitrous acid was used in the preparation of mercurius now known as nitric oxide. In 1772 he found that calcinatas, I was utterly at a loss how to account for it. A HISTORY OF NITROUS OXIDE AND OXYGEN ANAESTHESIA—III 959 In the following year he found that a mouse respiration while the other would support neither. would live longer in this new air than in an equal The former—dcphlogisticatcd air—he renamed volume of common air (pp 33-34). He concluded "oxygen". Their proportions he found to be about that it was better than common air (p. 45) and he 25 parts to 75 parts (Duncum, 1947, pp. 56-57). called it dcphlogisticated air. He breathed it: Humphry Davy's experiments with nitrons oxide. The feeling of it to my lungs was not sensibly different from that of common air; but I fancicd that my breast Twenty-six years after the first isolation of felt peculiarly light and easy for some time afterwards. nitrous oxide, Humphry Davy (1778-1829) was Who can tell that, in time, this pure air may become a appointed Superintendent of the Medical Pneu- fashionable article in luxury. Plitherto only two mice and myself have had the privilege of breathing it. matic Institution which had been set up by Dr. Bcddoes (1760-1808) in Clifton, Bristol. Davy was Patterson (cited Fulton, 1935) has drawn atten- then 21 years old and his status was approximately tion to the fact that as early as 1660 Boyle had equivalent to that of a house surgeon (Cartwright, already committed himself to Paracelsus' earlier 1952, p. 100). conjecture that there is in the air "a little quin- Beddoes was one of the leading authorities on tessence . which serves to the refreshment and pneumatic medicine, which was concerned with restoration of our vital spirits, for which the the administration of medicinal "airs". He was an grosser and incomparably greater part of the Air enthusiast and he so impressed his friends that being unserviceable, it need not seem strange that they encouraged him to set up the Institution and an animal stands in need of almost incessantly provided him with the necessary funds. Its purpose drawing in fresh air". In the same work Boyle calls was to ascertain the effects of the inhalation of attention to the fact that the flame of a lamp is put gases in various diseases, and to discover the out by removal of air just as the life of an animal is best means of applying them. Apparatus for pro- extinguished (cited Fulton, 1935). Priestley saw ducing and receiving the various "airs" had already that there was a similarity between the processes of been designed by James Watt (1736-1819) in combustion and respiration, but his appreciation collaboration with Beddoes (Beddoes and Watt, of the significance of his new gas was hindered by 1796, 2, p. 184). Davy thus had an exceptional his belief in the phlogiston theory. Phlogiston was start to his career. thought to be the inflammable part of any body Nitrous oxide was chosen for particular study, and to escape upon combustion. It was also thought and Davy set about investigating its physical, to take part in respiration. Priestley considered chemical and biological properties. Within a little that the new gas owed its properties to a capacity over a year he had carried out numerous experi- for absorbing phlogiston, and therefore that it ments and written them up in his Researches, initially contained less phlogiston than common Chemical and Philosophical; chiefly concerning air—hence "dephlogisticated air". nitrous oxide, or dephlogisticated nitrous air} and its It was Antoine Laurent Lavoisier (1742-94) who respiration (Davy, 1800b) from which the quota- paved the way to a fuller understanding of the ions given below have been taken. nature of dephlogisticated air. He also discredited Although Davy experimented with the prepara- the Phlogiston Theory.
Recommended publications
  • 5. the Lives of Two Pioneering Medical Chemists.Indd

    5. the Lives of Two Pioneering Medical Chemists.Indd

    The West of England Medical Journal Vol 116 No 4 Article 2 Bristol Medico-Historical Society Proceedings The Lives of Two Pioneering Medical-Chemists in Bristol Thomas Beddoes (1760-1808) and William Herapath (1796-1868) Brian Vincent School of Chemistry, University of Bristol, Bristol, BS8 1TS. Presented at the meeting on Dec 12th 2016 ABSTRACT From the second half of the 18th century onwards the new science of chemistry took root and applications were heralded in many medical-related fields, e.g. cures for diseases such as TB, the prevention of epidemics like cholera, the application of anaesthetics and the detection of poisons in forensics. Two pioneering chemists who worked in the city were Thomas Beddoes, who founded the Pneumatic Institution in Hotwells in 1793, and William Herapath who was the first professor of chemistry and toxicology at the Bristol Medical School, located near the Infirmary, which opened in 1828. As well as their major contributions to medical-chemistry, both men played important roles in the political life of the city. INTRODUCTION The second half of the 18th century saw chemistry emerge as a fledgling science. Up till then there was little understanding of the true nature of matter. The 1 The West of England Medical Journal Vol 116 No 4 Article 2 Bristol Medico-Historical Society Proceedings classical Greek idea that matter consisted of four basic elements (earth, fire, water and air) still held sway, as did the practice of alchemy: the search for the “elixir of life” and for the “philosophers’ stone” which would turn base metals into gold.
  • Humphry Davy, Nitrous Oxide, the Pneumatic Institution, and the Royal Institution

    Humphry Davy, Nitrous Oxide, the Pneumatic Institution, and the Royal Institution

    Am J Physiol Lung Cell Mol Physiol 307: L661–L667, 2014. First published August 29, 2014; doi:10.1152/ajplung.00206.2014. Perspectives Humphry Davy, nitrous oxide, the Pneumatic Institution, and the Royal Institution John B. West Department of Medicine, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, California Submitted 23 July 2014; accepted in final form 18 August 2014 West JB. Humphry Davy, nitrous oxide, the Pneumatic Institu- magnesium, boron, and barium. Davy is also well known as the tion, and the Royal Institution. Am J Physiol Lung Cell Mol Phy- person responsible for developing the miner’s safety lamp. siol 307: L661–L667, 2014. First published August 29, 2014; There is an extensive literature on Davy. A readable intro- doi:10.1152/ajplung.00206.2014.—Humphry Davy (1778–1829) has an duction is Hartley’s (8). The biography by Knight (10) is more interesting place in the history of respiratory gases because the detailed and contains useful citations to primary sources. Tre- Pneumatic Institution in which he did much of his early work signaled neer (17) wrote another biography with an emphasis on Davy’s the end of an era of discovery. The previous 40 years had seen relations with other people including his wife and also Faraday. essentially all of the important respiratory gases described, and the Partington (12) is authoritative on his chemical research. Institution was formed to exploit their possible value in medical Davy’s collected works are available (6). treatment. Davy himself is well known for producing nitrous oxide and demonstrating that its inhalation could cause euphoria and height- Early Years ened imagination.
  • Gas and Poetry: Humphry Davy in Bristol, 1798-1801

    Gas and Poetry: Humphry Davy in Bristol, 1798-1801

    1 17 September 2019 Gas and Poetry: Humphry Davy in Bristol, 1798-1801 Frank A.J.L. James University College London* http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0499-9291 This paper is a contribution, historically grounded, to current discussions about how best to understand the relations of science and literature as cultural and social practices. It examines, in some detail, Humphry Davy’s activities during the two and a half years, from the autumn of 1798 to the spring of 1801, that he worked at Thomas Beddoes’s Medical Pneumatic Institution in Bristol. The loose and ever- changing circle of creative individuals who formed around Beddoes and his Institution involved a formidable array of savants including members of the Watt and Wedgwood families as well as Romantics such as Southey, Coleridge and Wordsworth. The micro-chronological approach adopted here reveals the importance of print culture and sociability in the production of texts and knowledge, as well as the striking number and variety of projects proposed by the circle that never came to fruition. Nevertheless, those successful projects, such as Davy’s work on nitrous oxide and the second edition of Wordsworth’s Lyrical Ballads, contributed to making this period one of the key moments in English cultural history. Keywords: Humphry Davy, Thomas Beddoes, Robert Southey, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, William Wordsworth, Bristol, the Medical Pneumatic Institution, Jacobin Politics, Nitrous * Department of Science and Technology Studies, University College London, Gower Street, London, WC1E 6BT, England; The Royal Institution, 21 Albemarle Street, London, W1S 4BS, England. E-mail: [email protected]. An earlier version of this paper was presented at the “Robert Southey and Romantic-era literature, culture and science: 1797, 1817, a Bicentennial Conference” held during April 2016 in Clifton.
  • Historical Group Occasional Paper 8

    Historical Group Occasional Paper 8

    ‘the first example … of an extensive scheme of pure scientific medical investigation’: Thomas Beddoes and the Medical Pneumatic Institution in Bristol, 1794 to 1799 Frank A.J.L. James Department of Science and Technology Studies, University College London, Gower Street, London, WC1E 6BT, England Royal Institution, 21 Albemarle Street, London, W1S 4BS, England [email protected] The Eighth Wheeler Lecture Royal Institution, 12 October 2015 RSCHG Occasional Paper No. 8, published November 2016 ISBN: 2050-0424 Series Editor: Dr Anna Simmons ORCID identification number (http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0499-9291) Acknowledgements I thank the following archives for permission to study manuscripts and other documents in their collections: Library of Birmingham (LoB), Cornwall Record Office (CRO), Wedgwood Museum (WM), The National Archives (TNA), Bristol Record Office (BRO), British Library (BL), National Library of Ireland (NLI), Bedfordshire and Luton Archive Service (BALAS), the Royal Institution (RI), Natural History Museum (NHM), the Royal Society of London, the Linnean Society, Bristol Central Library, McGill University, Chatsworth, Lambton Park and the Bodleian Library. Letters written by Humphry Davy are freely available on-line at <www.davy-letters.org.uk> as part of the project to publish them by the end of the decade. In the meantime, this paper cites their archival or printed locations. I thank the Research Group of the STS Department at University College London for many valuable comments on an earlier draft. Note to Readers Because of the tendency of the Wedgwood, Watt and Boulton families to use the same forenames in succeeding generations, both the fore and surnames of correspondents are given consistently in the notes.
  • The Subversive Humphry Davy: Aristocracy and Establishing Chemical Research Laboratories in Late Eighteenth- and Early Nineteenth-Century England

    The Subversive Humphry Davy: Aristocracy and Establishing Chemical Research Laboratories in Late Eighteenth- and Early Nineteenth-Century England

    View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by UCL Discovery The Subversive Humphry Davy: Aristocracy and Establishing Chemical Research Laboratories in Late Eighteenth- and Early Nineteenth-Century England Frank A.J.L. James* Introduction As other papers in this volume testify, chemistry, in all its multifarious guises throughout Europe, could be undertaken within a wide range of institutional, organisational and physical settings. This essay discusses the beginnings in England at the end of the eighteenth century of one type of setting, namely institutional laboratories funded by subscription that were either envisioned or came to be devoted to chemical research. Such laboratories required a number of material things before they could start to produce scientific knowledge: a building, building services (heating, lighting, water etc.) and apparatus. Furthermore appropriately trained staff including researchers, laboratory assistants and servants, also needed to be found. Less tangibly, it was important to have available retrievable recording methods and some access to disseminating the knowledge produced. These components did not appear of their own volition, but required substantial financial support, to be organised and governed, all through human agency. Even today none of this is straightforward, but when no appropriate models were available that could be followed to achieve the desired aims, the difficulties became manifold. Inevitably under such circumstances a strong tendency existed to underdefine and underspecify what a laboratory required, particularly in terms of management, and to start with the familiar. That all left ample scope for unintended consequences, the idiosyncrasies of individual agency and the subversion of original aims.
  • The Subversive Humphry Davy 269

    The Subversive Humphry Davy 269

    The Subversive Humphry Davy 269 Chapter 11 The Subversive Humphry Davy: Aristocracy and Establishing Chemical Research Laboratories in Late Eighteenth- and Early Nineteenth-Century England Frank A.J.L. James As other essays in this volume testify, chemistry, in all its multifarious guises throughout Europe, could be undertaken within a wide range of institutional, organisational and physical settings. This essay discusses the beginnings in England at the end of the eighteenth century of one type of setting, namely institutional laboratories funded by subscription that were either envisioned or came to be devoted to chemical research. Such laboratories required a num- ber of material things before they could start to produce scientific knowledge: a building, building services (heating, lighting, water, and so on) and appara- tus. Furthermore, appropriately trained staff including researchers, laboratory assistants and servants, also needed to be found. Less tangibly, it was impor- tant to have available retrievable recording methods and some access to disseminating the knowledge produced. These components did not appear of their own volition, but required substantial financial support, to be organized and governed, all through human agency. Even today none of this is straight- forward, but when no appropriate models were available that could be followed to achieve the desired aims, the difficulties became manifold. Inevitably under such circumstances, a strong tendency existed to underdefine and underspec- ify what a laboratory required, particularly in terms of management, and to start with the familiar. That left ample scope for unintended consequences, the idiosyncrasies of individual agency and the subversion of original aims. This essay explores these themes through examining the founding and development of the first two subscription funded research laboratories in England, located in the Medical Pneumatic Institution (MPI) in Bristol and the Royal Institution of Great Britain (RIGB) in London, both established in the late 1790s.
  • Industrial Revolution, Series III, Parts 1 to 3

    Industrial Revolution, Series III, Parts 1 to 3

    Industrial Revolution, Series III, Parts 1 to 3 INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION: A DOCUMENTARY HISTORY Series Three: The Papers of James Watt and his Family formerly held at Doldowlod House, now at Birmingham Central Library Part 1: Correspondence, Papers & Business Records, 1687-1819 Part 2: Correspondence, Papers & Business Records, 1736-1848 Part 3: Correspondence, Papers & Business Records, 1736-1848 Contents listing INTRODUCTION BY NICHOLAS KINGSLEY PUBLISHER'S NOTE TECHNICAL NOTE CONTENTS OF REELS - PART 1 DETAILED LISTING - PART 1 CONTENTS OF REELS - PART 2 DETAILS LISTING - PART 2 CONTENTS OF REELS - PART 3 DETAILED LISTING - PART 3 LETTER BOOK INDEX NOTES ON INDIVIDUALS INDEX OF NAMED INDIVIDUALS CONSPECTUS OF BUNDLE NUMBERS AND REELS NUMBERS Industrial Revolution, Series III, Parts 1 to 3 Introduction by Nicholas Kingsley, to the Papers of James Watt and his family These documents were purchased from Lord Gibson-Watt, Doldowlod House,Llandundod Wells, Powys, in June 1994, with the assistance of the National Heritage Memorial Fund, Victoria and Albert Purchase Grant Fund and may other donors. They are now housed in the Archives Division of Birmingham Central Library with the shelfmark JWP (ACC 94/69) James Watt James Watt (1736-1819), surveyor, engineer, mathematical and musical instrument maker, chemist and inventor, is famous for his invention in 1765 of the separate condenser, the crucial refinement of Thomas Newcomen's steam engine. The steam engine as improved by Watt was probably the most important technological advance of the industrial revolution; with the fuel economies of the separate condenser, steam engines could operate anywhere. Later improvements included a new coupling so that the engine could work in both directions, rotative motion, and a governor for safety.
  • Thomas Bed Does' Contributions to the Monthly Review, 1793-1801

    Thomas Bed Does' Contributions to the Monthly Review, 1793-1801

    APPENDIX I THOMAS BED DOES' CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE MONTHLY REVIEW, 1793-1801 The material given in this Appendix is based on the work of Benjamin C. Nangle and his original scholarship is here gratefully acknowledged. His two Indexes to the Contributors and Articles in the Monthly Review a together give a history of the Review and biographical accounts of the contributors. In them, the main reviews are listed in alphabetical order of the name of the author of the book reviewed. The Indexes to the Foreign Supplement, which appeared three times a year numbered independently, give only the number of the review article. To show more clearly the significance of Beddoes' work as a reviewer and its relation to his other work, his writings are here placed in chronological order. It can be seen that once the Pneumatic Institute was in being, Beddoes no longer contributed main articles; his reviewing came to an end when he was busy with Hygeia and his attentions turned to Preventive Medicine. Main Reviews 1793 Vol. 11 Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society. Anonymous. p.419. Vol. 12 John Abernethy. Surgical and Phy~iological Essays. p. 48. Thomas Reide. View of Diseases of the Army. p. 89. Medical Facts and Observations, Anonymous. p. 94. 1794 Vol. 13 Experiments and Observations Relative to Animal Electricity. Richard Fowler. p. 297. Transactions of the Royal Irish Academy. Anonymous. pp.385-388. Alexander Philip Wilson. Inquiry into Urinary Gravel. p. 166. Memoirs of the literary and Philosophical Society of Man­ chester. pp. 65 and 182. a Nangle, B. C.: 1934, Monthly Review, First Series.
  • Humphry Davy's Early Chemical Knowledge, Theory and Experiments

    Humphry Davy's Early Chemical Knowledge, Theory and Experiments

    1 15 October 2019 Humphry Davy’s Early Chemical Knowledge, Theory and Experiments: An Edition of his 1798 Manuscript, “An Essay on Heat and the Combinations of Light” from The Royal Institution of Cornwall, Courtney Library, MS DVY/2 Frank A.J.L. James University College London, England This paper publishes, for the first time, Humphry Davy’s June 1798 “An Essay on Heat and the Combinations of Light” written in Penzance. It is the manuscript that he sent to Thomas Beddoes which secured for him the position of Superintendent of the Medical Pneumatic Institution in Bristol while aged only nineteen. It is thus a crucial document that increases our understanding about how Davy made that move from Cornwall to Bristol, without which it is highly unlikely that he would have followed the spectacular career trajectory that he did. The “Essay” provides new insights into Davy’s very early chemical reading (especially the English translations of Antoine Fourcroy’s Elémens d’histoire naturelle et de chimie), the extent to which Davy read this (and other texts) in French, the chemical apparatus he used, the experiments he made and the development and retraction of his theory of phosoxyd (later phosoxygen). Introduction The well-known move that Humphry Davy (1778-1829) made in October 1798 at the age of nineteen from serving an apprenticeship with the Penzance surgeon and apothecary John Borlase (1753-1813) to being Superintendent of the Medical Pneumatic Institution in Bristol was facilitated both by his social connections and by the promise he showed
  • The Subversive Humphry Davy: Aristocracy and Establishing Chemical Research Laboratories in Late Eighteenth- and Early Nineteenth-Century England

    The Subversive Humphry Davy: Aristocracy and Establishing Chemical Research Laboratories in Late Eighteenth- and Early Nineteenth-Century England

    The Subversive Humphry Davy 269 Chapter 11 The Subversive Humphry Davy: Aristocracy and Establishing Chemical Research Laboratories in Late Eighteenth- and Early Nineteenth-Century England Frank A.J.L. James As other essays in this volume testify, chemistry, in all its multifarious guises throughout Europe, could be undertaken within a wide range of institutional, organisational and physical settings. This essay discusses the beginnings in England at the end of the eighteenth century of one type of setting, namely institutional laboratories funded by subscription that were either envisioned or came to be devoted to chemical research. Such laboratories required a num- ber of material things before they could start to produce scientific knowledge: a building, building services (heating, lighting, water, and so on) and appara- tus. Furthermore, appropriately trained staff including researchers, laboratory assistants and servants, also needed to be found. Less tangibly, it was impor- tant to have available retrievable recording methods and some access to disseminating the knowledge produced. These components did not appear of their own volition, but required substantial financial support, to be organized and governed, all through human agency. Even today none of this is straight- forward, but when no appropriate models were available that could be followed to achieve the desired aims, the difficulties became manifold. Inevitably under such circumstances, a strong tendency existed to underdefine and underspec- ify what a laboratory required, particularly in terms of management, and to start with the familiar. That left ample scope for unintended consequences, the idiosyncrasies of individual agency and the subversion of original aims. This essay explores these themes through examining the founding and development of the first two subscription funded research laboratories in England, located in the Medical Pneumatic Institution (MPI) in Bristol and the Royal Institution of Great Britain (RIGB) in London, both established in the late 1790s.
  • Humphry Davy's Contribution to Anæsthesia

    Humphry Davy's Contribution to Anæsthesia

    13 Section of the History of Medicine 571 Whether or no Herophilus performed actual dissection (as Galen believed) he distinguished the arteries from the veins, described the meninges, the fourth ventricle and the torcular Herophili, gave the earliest account of the lacteals and named the prostate and duodenum. He placed the seat of intelligence in the brain. Erasistratus described the cerebral ventricular system and traced the cranial nerves into the brain: he settled the origin of the great venous and arterial cardiac vessels, named the tricuspid valve and postulated a capillary system. Besides work on the lacteals he wrote accurately upon the trachea, the chordce tendinew, the atria and the endocardial valves. His mere record of achievements implies a familiarity with human structure which could derive only from dissection. Rufus of Ephesus described the lens of the eyeball and was author of the first scientific anatomical nomenclature: Soranus described the pregnant uterus and Marinus was the author of several anatomical treatises. By Galen's day Egypt was a Roman province and its customs had further changed. Presumably Alexandria no longer offered the anatomical facilities available four centuries earlier, for Galen worked there without ever dissecting the human body. But in Herophilus, Erasistratus and Rufus scientific anatomy had its beginning, and Egypt made their pioneer labours possible: for nowhere else in the world was such unprejudiced and intimate exploration of the human frame feasible, nowhere else were men already so well acquainted with human visceral anatomy, and nowhere else existed any comparable corpus of purely anatomical knowledge. Anatomy as a scientific discipline came to life in Alexandria, the fruit of the Greek seed in the womb of Egypt.
  • Thomas Beddoes and the Medical Pneumatic Institution in Bristol, 1794 to 1799

    Thomas Beddoes and the Medical Pneumatic Institution in Bristol, 1794 to 1799

    ‘the first example … of an extensive scheme of pure scientific medical investigation’: Thomas Beddoes and the Medical Pneumatic Institution in Bristol, 1794 to 1799 Frank A.J.L. James Department of Science and Technology Studies, University College London, Gower Street, London, WC1E 6BT, England Royal Institution, 21 Albemarle Street, London, W1S 4BS, England [email protected] The Eighth Wheeler Lecture Royal Institution, 12 October 2015 RSCHG Occasional Paper No. 8, published November 2016 ISBN: 2050-0424 Series Editor: Dr Anna Simmons ORCID identification number (http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0499-9291) Acknowledgements I thank the following archives for permission to study manuscripts and other documents in their collections: Library of Birmingham (LoB), Cornwall Record Office (CRO), Wedgwood Museum (WM), The National Archives (TNA), Bristol Record Office (BRO), British Library (BL), National Library of Ireland (NLI), Bedfordshire and Luton Archive Service (BALAS), the Royal Institution (RI), Natural History Museum (NHM), the Royal Society of London, the Linnean Society, Bristol Central Library, McGill University, Chatsworth, Lambton Park and the Bodleian Library. Letters written by Humphry Davy are freely available on-line at <www.davy-letters.org.uk> as part of the project to publish them by the end of the decade. In the meantime, this paper cites their archival or printed locations. I thank the Research Group of the STS Department at University College London for many valuable comments on an earlier draft. Note to Readers Because of the tendency of the Wedgwood, Watt and Boulton families to use the same forenames in succeeding generations, both the fore and surnames of correspondents are given consistently in the notes.