William Cumberland Cruikshank

William Cumberland Cruikshank (1745, Edinburgh — June 27, 1800) was a British chemist and anatomist. He was the author of "The Anatomy of the Absorbing Vessels of the Human Body", which was first published in 1786.Pilcher, Lewis Stephen (1918). "A List of Books by Some of the Old Masters of Medicine and Surgery", p. 132. Brooklyn, New York.] [Quain, Jones (1892). "Quain's Elements of Anatomy", Vol. II, Part II, p. 546. London: Longmans, Green and Co.]

He went to London in 1771 and became assistant to William Hunter in his anatomical work. In 1797 he was the first to demonstrate that a particular crystallizable substance exists in the urine and is precipitated from it by nitric acid. [Coulson, William (1857). "On the diseases of the bladder and prostate gland ", p. 15. Churchill.] He identified carbon monoxide as a compound containing carbon and oxygen in 1800. [Roscoe, Henry E. and Schorlemmer, Carl (1920). "A Treatise on Chemistry" (5th ed.), p. 797. London: Macmillan and Co., Limited. ] In 1800 he also used chlorine to purify water. [Rideal, Samuel (1895). "Disinfection and Disinfectants", p. 59. J.B. Lippincott Co.]

He is often confused with William Cruickshank (? - 1810 or 1811), professor of chemistry at the Royal Military Academy at Woolwich, who improved the volta battery in 1802.

Notes and references