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William Lewis and Platina BICENTENARY of the ‘COMMERCIUM PHILOSOPHICO- TECHNICUM’

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William Lewis and Platina BICENTENARY of the ‘COMMERCIUM PHILOSOPHICO- TECHNICUM’ William Lewis and Platina BICENTENARY OF THE ‘COMMERCIUM PHILOSOPHICO- TECHNICUM’ By F. w. Gibbs, Ph.D., D.SC., F.R.I.C. The Royal Institute of Chemistry, London Just two centuries ago Lewis’s classic editor of scientific and pharmaceutical works. Attempt to Improve Arts, Trades and Manu- Among these projects was a unique plan to factures began publication. In fact, this was study ways of applying science to the arts the simple sub-title of a work that is univers- and manufactures, with the help of various ally known by its grandiose but not so easily patrons and subscribers. For this purpose he understood main title of Commercium Philo- moved out of London to Kingston in 1747, sophico- Technicum; or, The Philosophical renting a spacious house at the Surbiton end Commerce of Arts. In his dedication to King of West of Thames (now the High Street), George 111, signed on April 7th, 1763, Lewis and not far from places associated with two referred to “the never to be forgotten honour, of his patrons-Stephen Hales of Teddington which Your Majesty was pleased to do me, and the Earl (later the first Duke) of North- by Your attention to some lectures and experi- umberland of Syon House, Brentford. Latcr ments, made by Your command at Kew, for Lewis also rented a smaller neighbouring shewing the application of chemistry to the house, presumably for conversion into his improvement of practical arts as well as of research headquarters. philosophy”. This bicentenary anniversary Almost immediately, in January 1748, he should therefore be of interest to those who take it for granted that awareness of the importance of applying science to industrial needs is a twentieth-century development. In 1737 William Lewis, M.B., then aged 28, had shown his interest in this subject by arranging “at the Elaboratory in New- street, Fetter-lane” a course of chemistry that had as its object “the Improvement of Pharmacy, Trades, and the Art itself”. Probably this was only one of several such courses. By 1745 Lewis was well enough known as a physician, practical chemist and lecturer to be admitted a Fellow of the Royal Society. He had already drawn up an ambitious programme of research and had undertaken several tasks as author and The title page of the Commercium Philosophico- Technicum, dedicated to George IIl on April 7th, 1763. The last section of the book, running to 170 pages, constitutes the jirst authoritative and com- prehensive textbook on the properties of platinum. Platinum Metals Rev., 1963, 7 (2),66-69 6G The laboratory oj an experimentalist as depicted in the frontispiece to the book. Based very closely on his oicn laboratory at Kingston, this shous the chemical apparatus on the left and centre, and the mechanical and physical instruments to the right. This was one of the first laboratories speci$calEy dpsignedfor research in applied chemistry und physics. issued proposals for a new periodical, to have Lewis’s interests covered many aspects of six parts to the annual volume, with the title engineering, physics, metallurgy and Commercium Philosophico-Technicum. In the chemistry, and he gave special attention to event, fifteen years passed before he had the chemical materials and processes used in completed his initial series of researches and various manufactures. The topics he dealt before hc felt assured of sufficient support to with, both theoretically and practically, launch Part I of his first and only volume, included several metals, dyes, colours, glass which nevertheless became a classic in the and ceramics, graphite and “lead” pencils, literature of chemical technology. inks, gilding, japanning, papier mPchC goods, Lewis soon found that he needed an assist- clock-dials, and a host of things of interest to ant in his work, to collect all available informa- manufacturers, scientists and men of fashion. tion on his projects from books and journals, As regards metals, he was chiefly interested to help carry out his programmes of experi- in gold, platina, and iron. His account of the ments, and to draft accounts of this research many operations in which gold was used was for publication. It was about 1750 when, important for many different kinds of trades- through the window of a London shop, men. His work on the iron industry occupied Lewis spotted a young and apparently him for some years, and a final draft was impecunious Aberdeen graduate taking the begun for publication in his proposed Volume opportunity to read part of a Greek book on 11. Parts of this are extant and form portions display there. This was Alexander Chisolm, of six volumes of his manuscript collections whom he forthwith called inside and, after a still to be seen in the Cardiff Central Refer- short interview, took into his employment. ence Library. But his most original contribu- Chisolm remained with Lewis at Kingston tion was an experimental study of the metal until the latter’s death in 1781, when he then known as “platina”, which earned him joined Josiah Wedgwood at Etruria for similar the highest scientific award of the day-the work. Copley Medal of the Royal Society. His final Platinum Metals Rev., 1963, 7 , (21, 67 account of all that was known of this sub- made from it. The metal could be bought stance in 1763 formed a 170-page section of for less than its weight of silver, and formerly the Commercium Philosophico-Technicurn. Here it had been cheaper still. The Spaniards had we can only outline briefly the way in which a way of casting it in alloy form for making this came about. such “toys’). In 1750 Wood asked Brownrigg One of the first British scientists to mention to present his specimens of platina to the platina was William Brownrigg of Cumber- Royal Society. land. Brownrigg’s father seems to have been Lewis had begun his investigation on a associated with the Lawson family at High “quantity of a white metallic substance in Close, Plumbland, where all the estate dues grains, scarcely known before in Europe”, were collected from tenants ;and it is perhaps which had come into the country from more than coincidence that Isaac Lawson and Jamaica, early in 1749. The metal could be William Brownrigg, who had common in- alloyed with gold, and the name “white terests in medicine, chemistry and metallurgy, gold” was suggestive of certain abuses that were both awarded the M.D. degree of had been known to occur in gold imported in Leiden University in 1737. On his return to 1742. Lewis was able to reconcile the in- England, Brownrigg practised medicine at consistencies in the accounts given by various Whitehaven, where he became a useful writers by examining Wood’s specimens. The consultant to the mine-owners, such as Sir piece of a sword pummel, for instance, was James Lowther and the sons of William Wood, made from a cast alloy, and he was able to who had coal and iron interests in the study this material after an ingot of the same neighbourhood of Whitehaven and Frising- metal was sent to him by the Earl of ton. Coal and iron, the hazards of fire-damp Macclesfield, a past President of the Royal in mines, and Cumberland graphite naturally Society. As so many specimens of platina figured among Brownrigg’s interests for were in fact alloys of the substance with other many years. metals, the properties of true platina were From his student days at Leiden, still not known with any certainty, and it was Brownrigg remembered that the physics to establish these that Lewis’s first series of professor, W. J. s’Gravesande, had shown experiments were undertaken. him a specimen of a metal that had a greater But it was not until the beginning of 1754 density than gold-something that an al- that Lewis obtained a large enough supply of chemist would have considered impossible. genuine platina to carry out a full chemical The origin of the metal was not known, but and physical examination. This supply, IOO it was believed to have been brought from 02, he obtained from General Richard Wall, China by the Dutch East India Company. then ambassador from Spain. Further It was thought to be very rare and valuable, specimens were sent to Lewis by other but s’Gravesande did not know what uses it interested people. Unknown to him, Scheffer had. After this, Gaubius, the chemistry in Sweden had already examined some platina professor, often showed it at his public that he obtained when he was in Spain in lectures. Brownrigg recalled this when he 1745, and his work was later published by was shown specimens of a similar material the Swedish Academy of Sciences. Lewis’s which Charles Wood had come across some work, which was entirely independent, was years before when he was Assay Master at described in four papers communicated to Jamaica, and which had been brought there the Royal Society by the Earl of Northumber- from Cartagena (Colombia). Brownrigg was land and Dr. William Watson, the well-known told that plenty of it could be obtained from physician and “electrician)), who acted as an the Spanish West Indies, since sword hilts, intermediary between Brownrigg and Lewis. buckles, and trinkets of various kinds were These papers, neatly prepared in Chisolm’s Platinum Metals Rev., 1963, 7 ) (21, 68 Distinguished chemists of the eighteenth century often had a laboratory building close to their homes. Brownrigg’s laboratory, on the right of the illustration, still exists at his family home, Ormathwaite Hall in Cumberland. (Photograph by N. Wood) handwriting, are still preserved by the Lewis’s platina was still not pure, as he Society.
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