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History of the RSM - September 2011

 
The signature of Thomas Beddoes
The signature of Thomas Beddoes
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Thomas Beddoes

Shown here is the front end board of the RSM Library's copy of Johannes F. Helvetius' Diribitorium Medicum. Amstelodami, 1670, with Thomas Beddoes' ownership signature.

Forced, due to his liberal politics and anti-imperialist ideals to resign his lectureship in chemistry at Oxford University, the chemist and physician Thomas Beddoes (1760 – 1808) retreated to Bristol in 1793 to practise medicine. In 1799 he founded the Pneumatic Institute at Dowry Square in Hotwells, Bristol to put into practice his theories regarding the therapeutic advantages of gas inhalation in the treatment of a variety of ailments.

Throughout his years at Bristol, Beddoes was central to a group of political radicals and literary men including the poets Robert Southey and Samuel Taylor Coleridge, and the publisher Joseph Cottle. He raised subscriptions for the Pneumatic Institute from, among others, the Marquis of Lansdowne, the Earl of Dartmouth, Thomas and Josiah Wedgewood, Dr William Withering, WH Lambton MP, and Professor Alexander Monro.

In October 1798 he appointed a young man newly-arrived from Cornwall as his assistant. The young man's name was Humphrey Davy. He was just 20 years of age.

"The Atmosphere of Heaven", an exhibition of books relating to the early years of anaesthesia and the work of two of its pioneers – Sir Humphrey Davy and Dr Thomas Beddoes can be seen at the RSM Library Second Floor. September 1 – September 30, 2011. Free admission & open to all.

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