P. T. Hinde
William Hyde W O I ~ S ~ O ~
Boston University Boston, Mossochusetts
The m a n a n d his "equivdents"
William Hyde Wollaston,the bicentenary of whose birth occurs this year, was regarded by his contemporaries as a versatile and extremely reliable scientist. A contemporary of Davy and Dalton, he was certainly thought their scientific equal at that time. Today he is a relatively forgotten man. I n part this is because he spread his talents broadly, perhaps a little too broadly. In part it is because some of his work was technological, and quite soon became superseded. Other of his investigations, though accurate and lucid, did but provide experimental support for a contentious theory; acceptance of a theory inevitably leads to a loss of interest in such contributions (e.g., certain of his optical papers which lent support to the wave theory of light).' Because of his excessive caution be himself did not propose any far-reaching hypothesis of the type which catches scientific attention. Wollaston was of a retiring nature and has often been compared to Cavendish, who was notorious for his coldness and reserve. Beneath a rather aloof exterior however, Wollaston was a kind and not unsociable man Many writers have credited Wollaston with being an early convert to Dalton's atomic theory. More careful study suggesk that his acceptance of Dalton's views was a rathcr qualified one. Wollaston advocated the use of "equivalents," or combining weights. To him the term atomic weight had theoretical connotations which he thought were best avoided by experimental chemists. Wollaston was born in August 1766 (a month after Dalton). He was the third son of a clergyman who himself achieved some distinction as an astronomer. He attended Cambridge, graduated M.B. in 1788, then practiced medicine, first in the provinces, but from 1797 in London (1). I n 1800 he failed to obtain a post as a hospital physician and shortly after this he abandoned medical practice. He was without doubt temperamentally unsuited to he a physician; he wrote to his lifelong friend Henry Hasted (a Sussex vicar) at this time (2): Upon the common cdculation my life msy last so many years; would you for any compensation submit to he flogged every day during that period7 Thendoforgive me if I decline that mental flagellation termed anxiety, compared with which the loss of thousands is a flm-bite.
Dr. Wollaston now moved to a more spacious house in Fiteroy Square, where he set up a laboratory. He r e mained there, engaged in independent scientific research, for the rest of his life. He was never actively associated with any university, although an attempt was 'But see Agassi, "Towards a Historiography of Science," Moulton. 'eGravenhaee. 1963. Aeassi argues that a, scientist should be iudeed bv h k k h e n e e % ~~~-~~ ~Kir: ~ choff," 28; 267 (1951); FEEDUSON, E. G., "Bergman, Klaprath, Vauquelin, Wollaston," 18, 2 (1941); DarNs, F. B., "J. Griseom and hls impressions of foreign chemists in 1818-19," 8, 1288 (1931); MCNEVIN,W. M., "Bereelius-pioneer atomic weight chemist," 31, 207 (1954). The first paper may he found in-LEICESTER, H. If.,auu KLICKSTEIN. H. S.. "Sour~eBook in Chemistw." W Graw-Hill, ~ e ~w& k 1952, , p. 221., or in " ~ l e m k cChlh Reprint No. 2," Clay, Edinburgh, 1893. A long extrart from the second paper is in "Source Book in Chemistry." The relevant section is given in "Alembic Club Reprint, ~~
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Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, 104, 1-22 (1814). (13) LADENBERO, A,, "Lectures on the history of the develvl-
ment of chemistry since the time of Lmoisier" (trans. Dobbin), Alembic Ch~b,Edinburgh, 1900; a good discussion of Wollaston's equivalents and their influence on the later development of the atomic theory.
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