Joseph Black (172%99), famous for his quantitative studies of heat and t h e discovery of carbon dioxide, taught chemistry a t the Universitv of Edinbureh for over thir tv vears. Yet. h e

Herbert 1. Pratt Textile Fibers Department

E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Co., Inc. Wilmington, Delaware 19898

never puhlishedhis lectures. Notes taken by others were sold widely a n d in 1801, Dr. John Vaughan (1775-1807), a physi- cian of Wilmington, Delaware, obtained a "correct copy" of t h e lectures which h e proposed to edi t a n d publish.' Before going ahead, he wrote t o two of Black's former pupils, Dr. Samuel L. Mitchill(1764-1831) of Columhia College and Dr.

Samuel L. Mitchill's Evaluation of the Lectures of Joseph Black

Benjamin Rush (1745-1813) of t h e University of Pknnsylva- nia, asking what they thought of t h e idea (2). Both men were pessimistic as to the hook's value. They thought i t was out of date and doubted tha t i t would sell, so Vaughan discarded his plans, evidently without cause.2 Two years later, John Rohison (1739-1805) Black's close friend a n d executor puhlished t h e lectures in two volumes from Black's own notes. A German translation was issued in 1804-05, an American edition in 1807, a n d a second German edition in 1818 (4). It has been suggested t h a t t h e wide distrihution which t h e book enjoyed was d u e more t o sentiment among Edinburgh alumni a n d Black's students than to any value i t might have had as a t e x t ( 5 ) .

Dr. Mitchill's letter of reply to Dr. Vaughan's query about ouhlication offers interesting commentary on Black as a lec- turer and on t h e chemistr; of t h e timks. It also reflects Mitchill's prdif ious involvement in professional and political . - affairs.

Washington December 29,1801

My Dear Sic Your letter of the 23rd instant was received this day. It would have

been in mv hands sooner. had I been in town. But I was absent. havine hern rngnged in an txcurjion during s tew dnys rerplte f n m (:on. grprs~md ;attendmcc.'tu v i i t Aicmndrin, and then a trip t<, Mrs. \\'nahmytun'i at hlvunt Vernun. I now lose nu'l'ima replymy tc, the subject you have stated to me.

The excellence of Professor Black's lectures has long heen univer- sally acknowledged. Their utility however was greatly enhanced by the experimental illustrations with which he accompanied them. Those ex~eriments made so considerable a Dart of his course. that I rmwmlwr w r ) well the amount c t t my notes, and I atwndrd him two srwitms. was frequently very small when reduced t ~ r wr:ting; so much uithr mRltW ahleh h ~ g n r r usomrirteduf thingsdvnr, rather than s o d 4

The years which I attended him were 178415 and 1785/6. At that time, his arrangement was very different from that which a Professor would find it necessary to adopt a t thisTime. It consisted in tracing the phenomena of Heat and Mixture in Bodies, as divisible into Earths, Metals, Salts, and inflammable^.^ The doctrines of the Airs and Water which are now so prominent and essential were but un- derparts of his plan or hut ineidently connected withiLk And he was besides a Phlogistion of the old school. Manuscript copies of hislec- tures were then commonly enough sold by those who made a profit- able Business of taking and transcribing them. As I took nates for myself, I never bought any of these copies, nor did I ever examine how far the" were correct. From Dr. Black's verv slow and deliberate manner qlf *peaking, I ran r ~ i i l y hrliwe agwd ropy might he wkrn d a l l that part whwh could be expwf i4 in w d * . -

Iiut a i he dterwardi adoptd l.avuiairr's'l'heory, i t might br pre- sumed he made a great alteration both in the arrangement and matter of his lectures. How far this went I never could exactly inform myselts I question if it went so far as the Frenchmen at the time endeavored to persuade the World. When Lavoisier published Black's letter of

recantation, I recollect it was thought rather ostentatious and some- what indeli~ate.~

In oublishine his lectures. vou meditate what I have not heard that hisexccuttm thought wmhy LO be undertaken. Yuu remember that his dmtrmr uflatcnt heat, his experiments un the freningut M'ater. and on Lime. Alkalis and fixed air, have heen long before the ~ u L I I ~ c . And these contained his own or peculiar Discoveries and opinions. The rest were very much the same that every lecturer de l i~ers . '~

You know my desire to promote the interests of Science, and par- ticularly to advance the Scientific Character of my Countrymen &

'Vaughan had taught popular lectures on Chemistry in 1799-1800 and had published a "Chemical Syllabus" (I).

'Rush studied under Black 1766-1768. Rush's "Syllabus of Chemistry" (1770). the first chemistry hook published in America, followed Black's lectures almost to the letter and notes taken by Rush's pupils show that he followed the same outline until after 1790. Therefore, it is somewhat surprising that he saw little value in Black's lectures (3).

"Mitchill served as a Representative from New York State 1801- 1804,1810-1813 and as Senator 1804-1809 (6).

'Thomas Cachrane, Black's pupil in 1767-1768, compiled two volumes of notes of 652 and 688 pages on 6%'' X 3:V paper (7).

%lack's overall plan changed very little. Mitchill's 1784 outline is essentially the same as that recorded by Thomas Cochrane in 1767, and by Robisan in 1803. The Robison edition concludes with a section on Water and has a section on Apparatus as did Coehrane's notes.

the Robison edition, Black noted that he might be thought guilty of an omission if he did not ". . .constitute a class of AIRS or GASES, as they are now named. But there is nonecessity for consti- tuting such a class, and even the propriety of it may he called in question." They are ". . .various kinds of matter comhined with latent heat, the ealorique of the French chemists. . . ,"but they are ". . . more dissimilar in their chemical properties than any substances we know, and resemble each other in a quality almost purely mechanical (their elastic fluidity) merely because they derive thisaerial form from heat combined in them" (8).

7Lord Brougham (1778-1868) described Black's style as ". . .perfect philosophical calmness; there was no effort, it was an easy and graceful conversation. The voice was low hut perfectly distinct and audible through the whale of a large hall.. ." (9).

HBlack evidently adopted the new ehemishry almost immediately after its publication. In a letter to Lavoisier dated October 24,1790, Black said, "I endeavor in my courses to make my pupils understand the new principle and explanations of the science of chemistry that you have so happily invented.. ." (10).

In the Robison edition of the "Lectures" (I, 4391, Black discussed Lavaisier's theory of dephlogistieated air as the cause of acidity, and calling it oxygen gas said, "I therefore admit the variety of the name oxygenaus gas and shall use it without hesitation in the rest of the course."

"'Recantation" seems to be a strong word since Black was teaching the new chemistry. Robison made a number of statements about this letter (11,219-220), which Lavoisier published in Annales de Chirnie in March, 1791, stating that Lavoisier tried to "wheedle" and "screw out of' Black acquiescence to the new chemistry. He further stated that Black refused Lavoisier's request, hut nevertheless the letter was puhlished before Black's refusal reached Paris. However, Robison's allegations were not true since Black had written to Lavoisier on December 28,1790, "You have my fullconsent to publish my letter" 1111. . .

IQBlack published no account of his experiments on latent and specific heat but they were referred to in an anonymous work of 1770. His work on specific heat was read to the Literary Society of Glasgow on March 28,1760. The relation between mild andcausticalkalis was puhlished by the Philosophical Society at Edinburgh in 1756 (12).

Volume 53. Number 12 December 1976 / 745

country.'' That the publication of Dr. B's Lectures in America would be liberal spirited and laudable, there can be no douht. I t would be reputable in you to be the Editor, but will the work when published correspond with the present state of Chemical Taste and Knowledge? Will it be read, and can purchasers enough be found for it? If your copy is of the date when I attended him, I question whether it would answer your expectations, as the Science has undergone sucha Rev- olution since. If it is new-modelled according to the most recent principles, my information is not exact enough to determine whether it will bear competition with Chaptal's (14). Gren's (151, LaGrange's (1.5) and Parkinson's (17) elementarv Tracts. ,~ . .

Y.na SPP mv emnlovment in Leeislation does not mevent mv at- ~ . .. . .. .~ 2 ~~ 7~ , ~~~ ~ ..

tentinn Soi rnm- I wdenwrr cu I,) rnanagr the one a not m nrylrct thc othpr I hope y u haw rereiwd the Nw. Nu uf the \led. Hcapo- <y. "l'hli, \\ hich m a k e s the 2nd No. 01 thc 5th Vul . rrnchrd m e n iew

')Mitehill had just published his third book on chemistry, "Synopsis of Chemical Nomenclature." During his lifetime, he contributed twenty-two hooks and pamphlets and more than 140artjcles to the scientific literature. See "Bibliography of Mitehill's Writings" in Reforonrn i 1.71 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

hlitrhill'5 rhrrnitd ind rnrdirnl kn<rwlc&e prowd of great value ~n gu\,crnmcn~. He ~ 3 , chainnan uithe c~rmmitlees irn ('umn~errr and \ I ~ m ~ f n r t u r e . , Umal Atfmrs, and ()urrantiw I{egulatwu In lo~l'i. he was able to show the Secretary of the Navy that gunpowder was often defective because of the deliquescence of impure saltpeter. Also, he introduced a bill to improve the patent laws but i t did not pass 1181 .. .

'I'hv l r d ~ r n l ilcpoi,ror\ xns founded hg hlilrhlll in 1797 and cclilrd 1,). hnm m r ~ l IRLl 119).Thrma~arint~'sreviewoithc Amwicnn rditim of Hlnck's rhctnistry dt.clnrrd i t superwr tu the B1iti3h work because of "the correction of many Scotticisms" (20).

'"Dr. Edward Miller (1760-1812) was coeditor of the Medical Re- pository (21).

"John Haygarth (1740-1827), an English physician, who thought all fevers were the result of contagion, urged cleanliness of body and home as a preventive (22). The review referred to appeared in Medical Repository (21).

days ago. Dr. Miller" will attend to the publication of the next No. ,411 things are arrangvd tor r t . I rrqurst you t u prrusr rhr Hewew of Haygnnh and rspcidly the Thew, of Clranbnraa therr~n mntained. I l,cl~cvr i t wntains the Lou the Fruphzts of H ~ o l r h . ' .

Yours with great Esteem and Regard, Sam L. Mitchill

Literature Cited ill Pratt,H.T.. J.CHF.M. EDUC.39.42 119621. 121 Letters Vaughn tu Rush (December 28, 1801 and January&, 18021 and M i v h i l l L a

Vaughn (December 29, 1801 I Vaughan Olllecthn, Hirtrrical S,,riety of'Delaware. wi1mingfon.

1 3 Miles. Wyndham,"Benjamin Rush,Chemid"Chyrnia. 1.37 119591. ( 0 Partington, .I. R.,''Jmoph Blaclt's Lecfvren on the Elements ofChemialry? Chymio.

c 17ii4fi01 . , . . , . . . . , . 151 Miles. Wyndham,"J-~h Black.Benjemin Rush,and theTeschinzofCh~miitrvat

. .. , Thomas Cochrane."~&~i~l Chemical Industries. Lld., Cheshire. 1966, XI1

IS1 Reference (41. p. 42. 191 Smith, E. F.,"Old Chemirtrles: McGraw-Hill. New Yi~rk, 1927, p. RO.

I101 McKio, Douglas. N a m and Recnrdr ol the Roy. .Sor. $ Londun. 7 . 9 (December. 19491.

11 11 Kelprenee i101. pp. 12.86. (12) Parlingtun. J. R.. '.A History ofChemialry." MacMillm. London. 1962. Vsi. Ill. pp.

,<G ,wa ."", iI:II Hall. Cuuriney R.. "A Scientist i n the Early Republic: Columbia Univesity P~ess.

New York. 1934, po. ld0-150. ,141 Chsptal. Jean Anwine Claude. "Elemens of Chemistry," Lsndsn. 1791. and phi la^

delphia. 1795, ,804. 115) Gren Frrdorich, "Principle8 of Modem Chemistry Syslematically Amanpod: Lmdsn.

1800. (161 La Grange. Edmund Jean Baplink,"A Manual ofa Course <of Chemistry or Serier of

F.rperiments and l l lv~tratiunn Necessary U, p<,rm a Cllmplete Cllurse 101 that Science': Translated from tho French. Lundcm. ,800.

1171 Parkins"". .James, "The Chemical Pocketbook or Memswnda Chemiea Arranyed in a Compndium of Cherniafry." L""d"", 1800.

1lRl Reference (l3l.p. 113. (191 Edelstein.Sidnay M., Chymia. 5. IS6 119591. 1201 Mrdrrai R~posi tory , Second Hexsde. IV , :SO8 118071. (211 Kelley, Hovard A.. and Burrwe, Wsltpr. "Dictionary vfAmerican M d i r a i Riciyraphy.':

D. Appleton,NeuYork, 1928.p. 819. (221 ''Dictionary of National Biography: Oxford Univwrity Press, Londcm, 1950, p. 294. (231 M ~ d r c d Rapoailnry, 5,179 118021.

746 / Journal of Chemical Education