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Thomas Beddoes M.D. 1760-1808 Chemists and Chemistry THOMAS BEDDOES M.D. 1760-1808 CHEMISTS AND CHEMISTRY A series of books devoted to the examination of the history and development of chemistry from its early emergence as a separate discipline to the present day. The series will describe the personalities, processes, theoretical and iechnical advances which have shaped our current understanding of chemical science. DOROTHY A. STANSFIELD THOMAS BEDDOES M.D. 1760-1808 Chemist, Physician, Democrat D. REIDEL PUBLISHING COMPANY A MEMBER OF THE KLUWER ACADEMIC PUBLISHERS GROUP DORDRECHT/BOSTON/LANCASTER Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Stansfield, Dorothy A., 1914- Thomas Beddoes, M.D., 1760-1808. (Chemists and chemistry) Bibliography: p. Includes indexes. 1. Beddoes, Thomas, 1760-1808. 2. Chemists - England­ Biography. 3. Physicians - England - Biography. I. Title. II. Series. QD22.B263S83 1984 540'.92'4 [BI 84-8421 ISBN-13: 978-94-009-6305-4 e-ISBN-13:978-94-009-6303-0 DOl: 10.1007/978-94-009-6303-0 Published by D. Reidel Publishing Company. P.O. Box 17, 3300 AA Dordrecht, Holland. Sold and distributed in the U.S.A. and Canada by Kluwer Academic Publishers, 190 Old Derby Street, Hingham, MA 02043, U.S.A. In all other countries, sold and distributed by Kluwer Academic Publishers Group, P.O. Box 322, 3300 AH Dordrecht, Holland. All Rights Reserved. © 1984 by D. Reidel Publishing Company. Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 1984 No part of the material protected by this copyright notice may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission from the copyright owner. For Ronald TABLE OF CONTENTS PREFACE ix ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS xiii CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE xvi CHAPTER 1. Introduction 1 CHAPTER 2. Early Life 6 I. Shropshire Background 6 II. Student Days: Oxford and London 13 CHAPTER 3. Edinburgh Medical School 21 CHAPTER 4. Chemical Reader 31 CHAPTER 5. The Midland Circle 60 CHAPTER 6. Revolutionary and Educationalist 80 CHAPTER 7. Bristol: Reviewing for The Monthly Review 97 CHAPTER 8. The Arrival of Coleridge/Political and Literary Activities 120 CHAPTER 9. The Pneumatic Institute/Humphry Davy 145 CHAPTER 10. Preventive Medicine 175 CHAPTER II. Religio Medici 197 CHAPTER 12. Behind the Print 216 CHAPTER 13. Family and Reputation 241 APPENDIX I. Thomas Beddoes' Contributions to The Monthly Review, 1793-1801 254 APPENDIX II. Dr Joseph Priestley's Letter to Humphry Davy, Oct. 31,1803 261 NOTES AND REFERENCES 262 BIBLIOGRAPHY 282 INDEX OF NAMES 289 INDEX OF SUBJECTS 296 PREFACE We meet in Thomas Beddoes an able chemist, engaged in a field where impor­ tant new discoveries were being made; a good doctor eager to fmd experi­ mentally soun.d ways of healing and to make known the principles of maintaining good health; a vigorous, independent man sharing the hope which the ideas of the French Revolution gave so many 9f his contemporaries. In his life he was a controversial figure and judgement and detached appreciation of his work was often made impossible by anger at his 'revolutionary' political views. It becomes evident that where Beddoes was held in esteem and where he had influence it was not for particular activities but for what he was 'in the round'. With due respect - and with gratitude - to specialist accounts of his achievements as a chemist and of his endeavours to fmd a cure for pulmonary consumption and his efforts to bring about an understanding of the importance of preventive medicine, I have tried in this account to 'see him whole'. Historians of chemistry and of medicine; educationalists; and those concerned with 'women's studies' will each continue to find particular episodes or parts of Beddoes' life of special interest. At the same time I hope this, the first attempt at a biography - for J. E. Stock's 1811 account is truly named "Memoirs" - will add to our understanding of his varied activities. This study had originally a quite limited aim; to trace in greater detail the part Thomas Beddoes, a chemist, played in making known to Samuel Taylor Coleridge the work of the German philosopher, Emmanuel Kant and, in general, German ideas and writings. The warm account of Beddoes' personality given by Dr Cartwright in his "English Pioneers of Anaesthesia" led me to widen my scope. During the years 1789-1801 Coleridge was one of the group at the Pneumatic Institute in Clifton where Beddoes was testing his hypothesis that pUlmonary tuberculosis might be usefully treated by the use of gases and there he was introduced to new ideas and new experiences. As a result of Humphry Davy's work the experiments focussed on nitrous oxide and Coleridge took part in the serious experiments in the laboratory, not only in light-hearted sessions of breathing this 'laughing gas' just for the sensation. So he came to feel the intellectual excitement of the recent discoveries in the chemistry of gases and the mysterious elation and 'heightened sensibility' that came from a few inhalations of nitrous oxide. ix x PREFACE Once we attempt to go beyond this to discover the scientific ideas that made the experience at the Pneumatic Institute more than a short-lived excitement for Coleridge and to endeavour to find out what made Beddoes so important both for the poet and for the young chemist, Humphry Davy, we are in difficulties. For Davy, clearly, Beddoes was important as his mentor in chemistry, but for Coleridge there was much more than a simple introduction to new writers. From the time they met in 1794 a whole cluster of shared ideas and activities linked Beddoes and Coleridge. It was a time of develop­ ment and change in Coleridge's political and philosophical thinking; he drew away from his older friend, but the excitement of chemistry, the friendship with Beddoes and Davy had important and lasting results. This has been treated in depth by Professor T. H. Levere. I hope the account given here of Coleridge and Beddoes' friendship will be a useful prelude and an addition to our understanding of Coleridge's early work. The origin of this study itself reminds us that the time was one before specialisation - certainly before the 'two cultures'. Thomas Beddoes himself wrote verse; his older contemporary, Erasmus Darwin, was admired as a poet. A century later, Erasmus' grandson Charles sadly admitted that as his mind had become a machine for "grinding general laws out of a large collection of facts", he had quite lost the power to enjoy poetry. Thomas Beddoes with his many interests and activities can give us some feel of that earlier world. To do justice to Beddoes' many-sided activities a thematic rather than a strictly chronological treatment has been used. I freely admit that I have written this account of Beddoes' life from a point of view entirely in sympathy with his generally 'progressive' and politically democratic views. The time seems right to correct the over-simplified rejection of Beddoes as a 'revolu­ tionary' and only by standing on his side can we understand what his convic­ tions were and how they penetrated all his work. I am not unmindful of the arguments in support of Pitt and Burke. My exploration began entirely to satisfy my own curiosity and has continued without being connected with any learned institution. In these circumstances I have been especially grateful to those busy academics who have found time to talk of Beddoes, to challenge and even to encourage. They are so many and over such a long period that some will probably have for­ gotten and I must make my thanks in general to them all. Among them I most specially thank Dr Hugh Torrens of Keele University, who encouraged me from the beginning, strengthened my flagging will to continue and in the end generously shared with me his large collection of Beddoes material. My sincere thanks are due also to Professor T. H. Levere of the University of PREFACE xi Toronto who has spared time on his visits to this country for helpful and stimulating conversation about the whole area of Beddoes' work, and to Michael Neve of the History of Medicine Unit, University College, London, who has frequently discussed with me the various stages of this work. Through the kindness of Lord Gibson-Watt, I was able to read the letters of Thomas Beddoes and of James Watt Jr in his private collection of Watt family papers. These letters were invaluable in connection with the help given by James Watt in the making of the apparatus for the breathing of gases and in the setting up of the Pneumatic Institution. To my friends, Mr and Mrs D. Corser, Miss E. Dudley and Miss B. Lewis, I offer most sincere thanks for their hospitality on many occasions during my search for Beddoes material and for their readiness to enter into my enthusi­ asm. Miss Dudley's kind and expert help in identifying material in the Bodleian library has saved me much time and has been invaluable. At home I have received most kind help from those who have typed my untidy manuscript and who have given me loyal domestic support. I must put on record the part played by my husband, Ronald, in the making of this book. He has most patiently and kindly undertaken support work, correcting, editing, retyping. Much more: he has been ever ready to live with Beddoes, to make clear his scientific work, to discuss the significance of his activities. Without him, I could only have written another partial account of Beddoes, for, most important of all, it was my husband who first, long ago, led me to appreciate the excitement of science.
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