IRISH CHEMICAL PIONEERS OF 1SO YEARS AGO' DESMOND REILLY Mills, Ltd., Cornwall, Ontario,
Howard Smith Paper Canada
THE year 1799 marked the climax of an important era in Irish science. Richard Kirwan, one of the leading chemists of the day, became president of the Royal Irish Academy. In that year, too, he published his noteworthy "Analysis of Mineral Waters" and his "Geological Essays." 1799 was the last year in which a native Irish Parliament sat in Dublin until modern times, for a t the end of the year the Act of Union with Great Britain came into force. The high cultural and scientific level of Ireland's capital was soon to be dimmed, and little of worth in native contributions to scientific progress xvas to be observed till more recent times. I t is fitting now, a hundred and fifty years later to put on record some of the work of Irish chemists in the period which ended in 1799. Little has been puhlished abroad on the work of these Irishmen, if we accept the few tributes that have been paid to Richard Kirwan and to Bryan Higgins. I hope in this account to conclude with some reference to the work of these men, but first I would like to tell you something of earlier lesser men who nevertheless contributed in some measure to chemical progress. As in other European countries at the time, the approach to chemistry was very often through medicine, and many of our early discoveries in chemistry can be credited to the work of such iatrochemists. One such medical man in Ireland was Dr. Thomas Rutty, a Quaker, who studied medicine in Dublin, and later in London and Leyden. When he returned to practice in Ireland, he became well known as a voluminous writer on medical and scientific subject^.^ Chemically, Rutty is best k n o m for the methods of milk analysis which he devised, methods which are remarkably like those used a t the present time. A fruitful cause of controversy in those times was concerned with the mineral and therapeutic qualities of the waters of various spas. Rutty was in the thick of such discussions and tussled with another notable Irish scientist of the day, Dr. Charles L u c a ~ . ~ Lucas had operated a pharmacy in Dublin, and had
gained some notice, it is said, by advertising his drugs and remedies in Latin in the daily press. Lucas believed that governmental control and regulation of drugs was necessary, and by his writings secured the passage of the necessary legislation in the Irish Parliament. Later, Lucas abandoned the drug business and went abroad to study medicine. He attended schools a t Paris, Rheims, and Leyden in Europe. His chemical interest in the composition of mineral waters led h i to carry out careful analyses of the spa waters a t Spa, Aachen, and Bath, and to publish his well-known "Essay on Mineral Waters." It was with certain conclusionsin this widely read book that Rutty di~agreed.~ A third medical man of note at that period was Antrim-born Dr. David M a ~ B r i d e . As ~ a young man, he was apprenticed to a local surgeon, and later worked on a hospital ship, and as a naval doctor acquired a knowledge of ships' diseases that he later put to good use. MacBride first came to scientific notice in 1764 with his publication "Experimental Essays." At that time, Joseph Black was carrying out his classical researches in Scotland on "fixed air," or carbon dioxide. In one of the "Essays," MacBride added some new facts to Black's work, and may he said to a certain extent to have anticipated the work of the English chemist, Henry Cavendish, in this connection. In another of the "Essays," MacBride told of the way in which he had treated sailors afflicted with scurvy. To prevent the disease, he had suggested the use of fresh wort or infusion of malt at sea. The British Navy carried out initial tests on the method at two of its bases, but had not developed it further. It was eventually superseded by the use of lemon juice which James Lind had first suggested in 1734. However, the efficacy of MacBride's treatment was proved by his brother, John MacBride, commander of a British vessel, who used it on a voyage of two years' duration in 1765.
'In his later years, Lucas was best known for his political activities. When Benjamin Franklin was sent to Europe as Diplomatic Agent for the United Colonies, he visited Ireland ' Pmented before the Division of the History of Chemistry at twice, in 1769 and in 1771. He wrote to James Bowdoin of the 116th meeting of the American Chemical Society, at Atlantic Boston, on January 13, 1772, "In Ireland among the patriots I dined with Dr. Lucas. They are all friends of America-I said C~ty,New Jersey, September, 1949. REILLY,D., "Three Centuries of Irish Chemists," Cork everything I could think of to confirm them." O'BRIEN,M. J., University Press, Cork, Ireland. 1941, p. 6. RYAN, R., "Irish Firsts in American Historv." ", Ameriesn-Irish Hist. "Worthies of Ireland," 11, Ryan & Warren, 1821, p. 500. Soc., Chicago, 1917, p. W. A. J7''Dict. Nat. Biog.," Oxford University REILLY,D., ibid., 5; h b l i n Penny J., i, 389. HERBERT, 'ARCHBOLD, R., "Worthies of Thomond," 2nd series. G. MeKern, Limerick, Press, London, 1909, p. 424. Dubl. Quart. J . Med. Sn'., New D., "Three Centuries of Irish Ireland, 1944, p. 39. D u m p , R., "Diet. Nat. Biog.," Oxford series. iii, 281 (1847). REILLY, Chemists," Cork University Press, Cork, Ireland, 1941. p. 6. University Press, London; 1909, p. 231. 2
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porrxnt Irish ~ocivtit-, which still flonrisll at thc Drcscnr day. These arc rhr h v a l 1ri.h Acadcmv ~" nn(l the ( ~ o ~ aDublin i) Society. 1; is appropriate in this account to tell you something of the origin of these bodies, for their beginnings were in the period under review. William Molyneux, an Irish uatriotic miter and also a leading mathematician and physicist, in cooperation with Sir William Petty, best known for his important geological survey of Ireland, decided in 1683 to start an Irish equivalent of the Royal Society of London.8 The group was called the Dublin Philosophical Society. This Society, the antecedent of both the Academy and the Royal Dublin Society, first met in 1785. It began with 20 members, who met in a city coffeehouse. The Society divided its work into three branches, the first being concerned with mathematics and physics, the second with "polite literature, history, and antiquities," and the third mith medical science, including chemistry. On the chemical side, early papers dealt mith crystallography, the supposedly petrifying qualities of the waters of Lough Neagh (~vhichhad been puzzling philosophers since the 9th century), bkaching properties of mineral waters, and experiments with acids and alkalips. The Society eventually moved its meetings to a room in Dublin University. Copies of the minutes and the papers were sent to the Royal Society and read there, and may still be seen in the London files. In addition to meetings, the Dublin Philosophical Society operated a museum, a laboratory, and a hotanical garden. Among the papers read at the Society was one by William Molyneux in lfi86 on the theory and practice of viewing pictures in miniature with a telescope, which was of interest in that it enunciated the basic principle of the modern moving picture where a rapid succession of images gives an impression of continuous movement. Molyneux in fact is believed to have been the first to experiment on this moving picture idea. Political upsets, due to the wars of James and William of Orange led to the breakup of the Society in 1688. However, the Society blossomed again mhen peace was restored, and had a link mith its older members in its revised form in the person of Thomas Molyneux, brother of William, a friend of Robert Boyle, and the first to pnhlish a scientific report on the Irish elk.' And so we move forward to the end of the century, and the time of Richard Kirwan, greatest scientific figure of that period? At the time the name of Kirwan ~
MacBride's "Essays" were translated into French and German and won him a European reputation. He MacBride was responsible for an important improvement in the art of tanning, mhen he suggested using limewater in place of ordinaly water to extract the bark. For this discovery, he mas made an honorary member of the Royal Dublin Society and awarded its silver medal. He then petitioned the Irish Parliament for a subsidy to perfect his invention, and though a committee reported favorably on th? process, he did not apparently receive any grant. The granting of aid to scientific vcrkers was not unusual in those times. For instance, William Maple, who had given evidence on the debased currency known as 'Wood's Halfpence," had been granted the equivalent of $1000 for a method of tanning with septfoil and hark. MacBride also puhlished an "Introduction to the Theory and Practice of Physic," based on his medical lectures. This work mas translated into Latin and published in Utrecht, Holland, in 1774. It is claimed that not since the time of Rohert Boyle had any Irish chemist enjoyed a wider European reputat'on than David MacBride. Mention has already been made in pass'ng of two im-
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'DUNIDP, R., D i d . , k t . Biqg., 13, 585 (1909). M'Gee, T. D'Arcy, in "Irish Writers of 17th Century," on essay publishrd in A. M. Sullivan and T. D . Sullivan, Irish Readings, 11, 103. MOORE, X., D i d . ~ V a l .Biog., Oxford University Prcss, London, 1909, p. 584. REILLY, J., AND N. O'FLYNN,Isi8,ZQg (1930). I\ICLAUGHI.TB, P. J., Studies, Sept. and Dee., 1939, Mar. and June, 1940. M.,Proe. THOMSON, T., History of the Royal Society. DONOVAN, Roy. Irish Aead. (1817-50). MAXWELL, C., "Dublin Undw t,he Georges," Dublin, 1936, p. 179.
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was known in scientific circles from one end of Europe to the other. It was said that, even in the midst of European wars, letters addressed to "Richard Kirwan, Dublin" would pass freely through all frontiers. Many universities honored him, and he was spoken of at various times as "the Great Chemist of Ireland," the "Philosopher of Dublin," the "Nestor of English Chemistry." Kirwan was born in Galway in the west of Ireland, of Catholic parents, and originally intended to become a priest. 'Penal restrictions against Catholics were then in force, so he was smuggled to the European continent to complete his education in France. Though interested in scientific experiments as a boy, he decided a t one stage to abandon the idea of science altogether. He had decided not to enter the Church and had returned to Ireland. He wrote to Joseph Black, making a number of observations on caustic alkalies based on his own experiments. Black did not r e ~ l vto the letters. This discouraged Kirwan, but later he went back to his researches, and in fact in later life he and Black were the best of friends. Like some other scientists, Kirwan found himself in possession not only of a wife hut also of a mother-in-law some time later. His mother-in-law disapproved strongly of his experiments, the smells they caused, the pieces of glass tubing that he connected together with pig's bladder. So insistent was she that she prevailed upon Kirwan to drop chemistry and become a lawyer. Kirwan qualified as a lawyer, but was never overenthusiastic about the work. Eventually, he had his own way, and was able to get back to his chemical experiments. He bought a large library and set up a laboratory, and was soon making a name for himself in srientific circles. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society, and received its highest award, the Copley medal, for a series of papers on chemical affinities. Later his able comments on the work of Henry Cavendish, the "Newton of Chemistry," won him another staunch scientific friend. Kirwan's "Elements of Mineralogy" was the first systematic textbook of its kind in the English language, and included original work of his own. I t was translated into three foreign languages, and was long a standard text. McLaughlin says in a review of Kirwan's work that "in a comparatively short time, Kirwan became recognized as an authority in chemical science, and over a long period his name was to be seen more frequently auoted than that of anv other chemist in the scientific journals of Europe. He entered into lengthy correspondence with all the savants. . .. He became the associate and friend of Black, Cavendish, Priestley, Sir Joseph Banks, Cavallo, Bergman, and Scheele and numerous others equally distinguished.. . . Gifted with a prodigious and exact memory, remarkable powers of assimilation and masterly familiarity with modern languages, he kept scientists informed of the work of brother scientists in an age when communications were
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slow and difficult. . . . Honours were showered on him by scientific societies at home and abroad." When Catherine the Second of Russia opened her Academy in Moscow, she offered Kirwan a professorship. He did no$ go,but sent instead Bryan Higgins, of whom I will have a little more to say later. From 1777 to 1787, Kirwan carried on most of his work in London. Toward the end of that period, he hecame involved in the phlogiston controversy. The older scientists still held to the old view on the existence of phlogiston, and Kirwan championed their cause in his essay on the subject in 1787, published in London. Lavoisier and his school in France read Kinvan's essay, and came to a decision to refute it point by point. They realized that in that way they could finally kill the older incorrect view. The essay was translated into French, and each chemist of the school given a section to answer. Lavoisier, Fourcroy, Bertollet, Morveau, and Monge worked on the refutal, and soon Kirwan's
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essay was republished with the French chemists' rebuttals a t the end of each chapter. Kirwan received a copy of the reprint, and acknowledged his error. Thoughhe acceptedthe new view, his friends Priestley and Cavendish relpained adherents to the phlogiston theory to the end. In 1787, when Kirwan returned to Dublin, the old Dublin Philosophical Society had given way to the Royal Irish Academy. He became a member, and soon its "Transactions" were enriched with his papers. Coming straight from the center of the latest discoveries in England, he gave a big impetus to scientific studies in Ireland. Kirwan's main purpose in much of his later work in Ireland was to bring science within the reach of the ordinary man, and to apply the latest discoveries to aid Irish industry and agriculture. To that end, he published a comprehensive account of the geological structure of various Irish counties, and introduced a method for comparing the h6ating values of local and of imported coals. To the linen makers, he pointed out that imported alkalies were not needed to bleach their h e n . He wrote on the best, types of fertilizers for different soils, and in fact laid the foundation in such work for the later studies by De Saussure in the field of plant nutrition. In an effort to popularize the study of minerals in Ireland, Xirwan arranged for the purchase of a celebrated collection of minerals, the Leskean collection, costing some $6000. This was reputed to be the best collection of its kind in existence, and contained 7000 specimens. It was placed on public display, and attracted wide interest. Like Rutty and Lucas, Kirwan was interested in the composition of mineral waters. He wrote on the waters of various Irish spas, and a reading of his reports shows that qualitative analysis was well developed at that time. Other important achievements of Kirwan included a method for estimating the fat content of milk, and valuable reports on dyeing, tanning, malting, kelp-burning, fisheries, and coal mines. Though Kirwan was a renowned chemist in his day, we read little of him in the histories of science today. Like many other good chemists, he was just not fortunate enough to have his name associated with one of the major discoveries that rates in the textbooks. Yet, all in all, his researches were valuable and played their part in buildig up modern chemistry. It would not be out of place in this account to conclude with some reference to the work of William Higgins, for one of the last acts of the Dublin Parliament before the Act of Union was to appoint a number of
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professors to the lately formed Dublin Society. Among the appointments was that of William Higgins as professor of chemistry and mineralogy. William Higgins was born in Sligo, Ireland, and worked in London under his uncle, Bryan Higgins, another notable chemist.* In London, William Higgins published his remarkable book titled "A Comparative View of the Phlogistic and Antiphlogistic Theories," a book which in many ways may be claimed as one of the earliest expressions of the atomic theory. Thep~iorityof Higgins over Dalton in certain aspects of the theory has already been put forward in two scientific publications, and will not be referred to further here.1° When William Higgins came to Dublin to take up his appointment, he came to what n-as probably the first regular chemical laboratory opened in either Ireland or England. Systematic courses of lectures in science for the general public were begun, and soon became an important feature of Dublin life. So big was the demand for lectures that it was necessary to go outside of the city, and give supplementary courses of lectures in provincial centres.'l The life of a chemistry professor in those days was a varied one, and included duties outside of regular lectures and laboratory tests. Various government and other inquiries came to Higgins for attention, including the devising of a suitable hydrometer for use by revenue officers. Higgins also examined the possibility of using potato starch as a food, and suggested the use of calcium sulfate instead of potash in bleaching. Reading over the accounts of scientific workers in those times, a hundred and fifty years ago, one cannot but marvel a t the versatility of chemists in those days. In these days of specialization, when most of us find it hard to keep in touch with disco\-eries outside of our own special fields, we cannot help comparing with those earlier days when a chemist was an all-round worker. He examined coal samples one day, starches and cereals the next, compiled lists of minerals at one time, and carried out experiments on dyeing or on bleaching a little later. Science, we cannot help feeling, was a less complicated business in those days, as the brief accounts I have given of certain early Irish scientists illustrate. 9 REILLY, D., "Three Centuries of Irish Chemists," 6 (1941); Dubl. Quart. J . Med. Sn.,Nerv series, 8, 487. MELDRUM, J., New Id,and Revz'ew, 31, 275 (1909-10). " REILLY, J., AND D. T. MACSWEEIEY, Sn'. Proc. Roy. Dubl. Soc., 19, No. 15 (1929). ATKINSON,E. R., J. CHEX. Eoac., 7, .? , (144il) " - --,. Moss,R_J.,"HistOryofRoyal DublinSooiety,"Dublin,1915, W. K., Dubl. Q w I ~J. . Med. Sn'., 5, 231 p. 355. SULLIVAN, (1848); 7, 201 (1849); 8, 465 (1849).
