- William Brownrigg
William Brownrigg M.D. F.R.S. (1711-1800) was a doctor and scientist, who practising at the port of
Whitehaven inCumberland . While there, William Brownrigg carried out experiments that won him not only a place inThe Royal Society but the prizedCopley Medal .Early life and education
He was born at High Close Hall 24th March 1711. His father was George Brownrigg of local gentry and his mother Mary Brownrigg from Ireland.
William was educated in Latin and Greek by a local clergyman from the age of 13 and by the age of 15 was apprenticed to an apothecary in
Carlisle . Then followed two years studying under a surgeon in London before going to Leiden where he studied underBoerhaave , s' Gravesande, von Royen and Albinus. He graduated in 1737 with his thesis "De Praxi Medica Ineunda" - about the environment where the clinician practices medicine.Medical career
Brownrigg returned to England and took up medicine with an established doctor called Richard Senhouse in Whitehaven. Senhouse died soon after, making Brownrigg the principle doctor in the area for many years to come. His casebook survives and was recently transcribed. [Jean E. Ward, "The Medical Casebook of William Brownrigg", (Joan Yell Pub. 1993: Wellcome Institute for the History of Medicine: ISBN 0854841253 ] It contains interesting descriptions of his patients and remedies and some of the earliest English references to
Puerperal fever . [Irvine Loudon, "The Tragedy of Childbed Fever] (Oxford University Press 2000: ISBN 019820499X), p17 ]William Brownrigg married in 1741 to Mary Spedding whose father and uncle ran the collieries for James Lowther whose family had developed Whitehaven to become a major seaport. This increased William's local influence and also promoted his interest in the health and welfare of the miners.
Later in 1771, with the threat of an epidemic from Europe, Brownrigg who had studied the subject from outbreaks of
Typhus at Whitehaven, published a paper "Considerations on the means of pestilential contagion, and of Eradicating it in Infected Places."cientist
His medical interest led him to investigate the gases the miners breathed -
Fire damp (methane ) andChoke damp (oxygen depleted air). Carlisle Spedding helped to build a laboratory for Brownrigg and fed it with gases from a nearby coal mine through lead pipes. Brownrigg developed methods of collecting and transferring the gases and supplied James Lowther with gas filled bladders to show to The Royal Society which then elected Brownrigg as a Fellow.His experiments on gases continued and after visiting a spa resort in Germany he became interested in gases to be found in mineral waters. A paper he published entitled "Experimental inquiry concerning the nature of the mineral elastic spirit or air contained in the Pouhon water, and other acidulae" earned him the prestigious Copley Medal in 1766.
Discovery of Platinum
His relative, Charles Wood, had brought samples of
platinum back fromJamaica . Brownrigg wrote up Wood's experiments and did some of his own. He was the first to recognise it as a new element and brought the new metal to the attention of The Royal Society stressing its possible importance and the need for more investigation. [An Encyclopaedia of the History of Technology By Ian McNeilPub. 1990 Taylor & Francis: ISBN 0415013062]alt Manufacture
Brownrigg also produced a major treatise on salt manufacture. He hoped that improved domestic production could make Britain self-sufficient in this valuable resource thereby improving the fishing industry and economy both in Britain and America. [ [http://books.google.com/books?id=H6wAAAAAMAAJ "The Art of Making Common Salt..." by William Brownrigg Published 1748 C. Davis] ]
Franklin
In 1771 Dr. Benjamin Franklin was on a tour of Britain with Sir John Pringle who advised him to visit William Brownrigg. Franklin stayed at Brownrigg's home of Ormathwaite in the Lake District and was presented with a signed copy of his book on salt. [Edwin Wolf, "The Library of Benjamin Franklin" (Kevin J. Hayes 2006: ISBN 0871692570), p. 47. ] Franklin demonstrated his experiment of adding oil to the water surface of
Derwent Water to calm the waves. He later corresponded with Brownrigg on the subject leading to another paper for The Royal Society's transactions.Other interests
Brownrigg was a business man as well as a doctor and scientist. He went into partnership with Anthony Bacon from Whitehaven in 1765 to develop the iron industry in Wales which led to the expansion of
Merthyr Tydfil , particularly theCyfarthfa Ironworks . [ [http://wbo.llgc.org.uk/en/s-BACO-N00-1718.html Welsh Biography Online] ] He also inherited a share of John Speddings ropery and invested in the Keswick Turnpike Trust.With his retirement to Ormathwaite, he became interested in improving the local agriculture, made a study of minerals, and encouraged Father Thomas West to write "A Guide to the Lakes", the first guide book to the Lake District.He had several society positions including magistrate, Patent searcher at Port Carlisle and Receiver General of Government Taxes for Cumberland and
Westmorland .He died in 1800 and was buried at Crosthwaite church where his coffin was carried by 3 baronets and other local gentry. His friend and biographer Dr. Joshua Dixon felt that his importance and abilities had been overlooked due to his modesty and reluctance to leave his home county of Cumberland in later life.
External Links
[http://www.whitehavenandwesternlakeland.co.uk/people/brownrigg.htm William Brownrigg biography at Whitehaven and Western Lakeland]
References
*The original biography was later re-published to a wider audience in the Annals of Philosphy
*
*
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
