1801

Thomas Beddoes to James Watt, 8 January 1801

Dear Sir

Some time ago I wrote a note to Mr J^s Watt requesting him to answer me two questions about grates & furnaces – & lest he sh^d be from home I put such a direction upon it as sh^d cause it, in that case to fall into Mr Gregory’s hands – I trouble you as supposing some accident to have befallen the letter –

In a drawing of Dr Black’s furnace with which I was favoured by your means it is directed to lay on charcoal lute – There is perhaps some receipt for making it with which I am not acquainted & beg to be favoured with it –

I also asked Mr J Watt to sketch me in his letter his Rumford grate & back flue – I see none such hereabouts –

You know how busy Davy is with exp^s – I suppose that some modification of the influence disengages or forms azote from water – & that some other modification perhaps throws out atm^c air – for whatever apperçus we may have had on the subject, the precise operation by which the atmosphere is formed still remains a secret & the meteoric modification may different from the terrestrial & aquatic –

I am going on with a popular work on physiology & preventive medicine – I mean to introduce plates enough to explain all the terms & to exhibit y^e most interesting anatomical objects –

We shall soon publish our exp^s on palsy – Nitrous oxyd w^d appear as good a medicine for palsy as any in the Mat. Med. for any other disease, 3 or 4 articles excepted – The book I sent you & Dr Chisholm on yellow fever (2^nd Ed) shew the vast advantage of acid drinks & acid baths in hot climates – & the baths in this country will be a resource in cases little thought of yet – Mrs Beddoes desires to give her compt^s to Mrs Watt

I am D^r Sir
Yr^s most truly

Thomas Beddoes

8 Jan. 1801

Address: Mr Watt / Engineer / Heathfield / Birmingham
Endorsement: Dr Beddoes / Jan^y 8^th 1801
MS: LoB MS 3219/4/043/04