1794

Thomas Beddoes to James Watt, 23 September 1794

Dear Sir

Engravings. I have been making enquiry & find I can get the plates well worked at Bristol – If they cannot be done in a superior style at Birmingham, they may as well come hither –

Oxygene air. I am glad you have at last manganese from Mr Reynolds. If you execute the idea in your last of discovering a more eligible method of procuring ox: air; it may come in time, for I will keep the last pages of your communications standing till the plates are worked off, that I may be able to insert any thing further & they will not be worked off in less than 9 days – it seems.

Pipe. It appeared to me at Painswick that if the pipe bent at right angles from the refrig^y to the H^c Bellows was raised an inch it w^d be better, for in whirling the wooden agitator, the water is thrown into that pipe [sketch of pipe] the apparatus works admirably – so does mine.

Pot. Capper’s pot is come to hand – w^d there be any inconvenience if the neck was a little wider – one can hardly get in one’s hand to take it. – Capper gets wonderful relief; has good nights & no night sweats, yet he cannot recover.

Vitriolic acid – can I not save the apparatus by coating the tube of the refrig^y with lime & solⁿ of borax & lime with a little volatile alkali in the water?

Writing letters lexographically. You must know that this was a late idea of my wife’s & that it has been commended by several persons, as saving words employed in transition from subject to subject & as contributing to clearness.

I am
D^r Sir
Ever yours

Thomas Beddoes

23 Sep^r
Mall Clifton

Address: James Watt Esq / Heathfield / Birmingham
Endorsement: Dr — Beddoes / Sep^r 23 1794
MS: LoB MS 3219/4/28/17