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Thomas Thomson (1773–1852) Historian of Chemistry*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 January 2009

Andrew Kent
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Synopsis

Professor Thomson had been a typical Scottish ‘lad o’ pairts'. Deservant of repute as teacher, scientist, editor and historian, his most distinctive achievements were in scientific journalism and propaganda. These were powerfully exhibited in the interests of Dalton's Atomism and of Prout's Hypothesis—and in university politics.

His work for Chambers' Encyclopaedia and for Nicholson's Journal was influential and effective. His textbooks gained an international esteem and each successive edition was kept up to date.

Much of his professional outlook and experience is expressed in his History of Chemistry (2 vols. 1830–31). Researches in his old Department at Glasgow on his choice and use of material provide the main topics of this Address. These volumes are still important.

Type
Research Article
Information
The British Journal for the History of Science , Volume 2 , Issue 1 , June 1964 , pp. 59 - 63
Copyright
Copyright © British Society for the History of Science 1964

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References

1 Kent, A. (Ed.): An Eighteenth-Century Lectureship in Chemistry, Glasgow, 1950, p. 15.Google Scholar

2 These were undergraduates in the Chemistry Department, The University, Glasgow, who chose a research topic in History of Chemistry during their final year.

3 (a) D.N.B., London, 1898, Ivi, 452. ‘Thomas Thomson.’

(b) Thomson, R. D., Edinburgh New Philosophical J., 1852, liv, 86.Google Scholar

(c) Crum, W., Proc. Phil. Soc. Glasgow, 1855, iii, 250.Google Scholar

(d) Biographical Dictionary of Eminent Scotsmen, Edinburgh, 1875, half volume, vi, 452. ‘Thomas Thomson.’

(e) Partington, J. R., in An Eighteenth-Century Lectureship in Chemistry, p. 176.Google Scholar

(f) Klickstein, H. S., Chymia, 1948, i, 37.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

4 Encyclopaedia Britannica, 9th edition, 1878, viii, 200.Google Scholar

5 A.Kent, Proc.chem.soc.Lond.,1959 110.

6 Idem, Glasgow University Gazette, 1956, no. 25, p. 10, ‘The Shuttle Street Laboratories’.

7 Publisher's announcements in A History of Chemistry endpapers.

8 Glasgow Herald, 5 November 1830, 21 February 1831.

9 Vol. I on p. 66 has ‘perfecly’; on p. 96 has ‘Herodus’ for Herodotus; on p. 115 has Mortucla' for Montucla; etc.

10 The Clerk, Rivington, R. T., in a letter 24 03 1954.Google Scholar

11 MissDunlop, J. E., B.Sc. Thesis, 1954.Google Scholar

12 Bone, J. A., B.Sc. Thesis, 1954.Google Scholar

13 Sprengel, K. P. J., Histoire de la Médicine (trans. Jourdan, ), Paris, 1815.Google Scholar

14 Sprengel was already incorrect. Cf. Lane-Poole, S., The Mohammedan Dynasties, London, 1894.Google Scholar

15 Donnelly, N. S., B.Sc. Thesis, 1956.Google Scholar

16 Wilson, J. A., B.Sc. Thesis, 1960.Google Scholar