Table Of ContentTHOMAS 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,
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In all other countries, sold and distributed
by Kluwer Academic Publishers Group,
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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.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I take this opportunity of thanking the Librarians and Archivists who gave me
so much help during the course of my research.
I gratefully acknowledge permission to quote from manuscript collections
listed here:
Trustees of the Matthew Letters of J. Watt, Junior Birmingham Pub
Boulton Trust lic Library
Mrs C. Colvin Letters of Maria Edge Bodleian Library,
worth Oxford
Mr C. E. Corbett Diary of Katherine Shropshire Record
Plyrnley Office
Mr C. J. Davies-Gilbert Correspondence of Davies Cornwall Record
Gilbert Office
Mrs T. Fletcher Papers of Thomas Bed Bodleian Library,
does Oxford
Lord Gibson-Watt Watt family papers Private collection
Mr T. D. G. Sotheron Letters of Thomas Bed Gloucester Record
Estcourt, of Tetbury does Office
Messrs Josiah Wedgwood, Correspondence of Keele University
Barlaston, Stoke-on Thomas Wedgwood Library
Trent and Keele Uni
versity
and
Bristol City Record Office Family records of Dr J. King
Edinburgh University Library Joseph Black correspondence and
papers
Friends House Library Papers relating to Dr Edward Long
Fox
Lichfield Record Office and Shrop Legal documents relating to the
shire Record Office Beddoes family
Royal Institution Library Letters and note book of H. Davy
xiii
