1801

Thomas Beddoes to James Watt, 20 January 1801

20 Jan. 1801

Dear Sir

I am chagrined to find that Mr Biddles by whom I sent you the pamphlet on nitrous acid some weeks ago; has not delivered it – He has perhaps sent it by some untrusty hand – The enclosed note to him will bring it to light

Davy’s later experiments are very curious & tend to overthrow the idea of the decomposition of water but they do not remove every cavil. I observed to him that if by adding any substance (as acids or alkalis or what not) to waters in separate tubes, he c^d produce gases in a different proportion from what they been supposed to exist in water, this w^d be an exptum crucis, if at the same time, no acc^t c^d be given of the missing ingredient – As to azote I applied the same analogy to this gas as to the nature of the influence, converting water into gas, that is obscure though it must be analogous to elect^y But azote w^d I doubt not be found to be producible from water by some third similar influence or by some combination of the two – But the azot-generating influence may perhaps be remote from metals It may be exerted by a certain arrangement of vegetable matter & it is likely that atmospheric gas, as such, is generated upon a like principle –

Mr Greene (an M.P.) is coming palsied to take the gas as, I trust it will cure him I sh^d be glad to have his case in the pamphlet – We have also material for a ratio medendi at the Pneu^c Instⁿ – We have ample documents for describing the effect of substances we were led to use on chemical principles – We are not inclined to lay any stress upon this modus agenda – But we know them to be capital medicines –

I am D^r Sir
Yours most truly

Thomas Beddoes

Endorsement: Dr Beddoes / Jan^y 20 1801
MS: LoB MS 3219/4/043/05