The Pneumatic Institution (also referred to as Pneumatic Institute) was a medical research facility in

Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...

, England, in 1799–1802. It was established by physician and science writer

Thomas Beddoes Thomas Beddoes (13 April 176024 December 1808) was an English physician and scientific writer. He was born in Shifnal, Shropshire and died in Bristol fifteen years after opening his medical practice there. He was a reforming practitioner and t ...

to study the medical effects of gases, known as

factitious airs Factitious airs was a term used for synthetic gases which emerged around 1670 when Robert Boyle coined the term upon isolating what is now understood to be hydrogen. ''Factitious'' means "artificial, not natural", so the term means "man-made gases ...

, that had recently been discovered.

Humphry Davy Sir Humphry Davy, 1st Baronet, (17 December 177829 May 1829) was a British chemist and inventor who invented the Davy lamp and a very early form of arc lamp. He is also remembered for isolating, by using electricity, several elements for t ...

headed the Institution's laboratory, examining the effects of

laughing gas Nitrous oxide (dinitrogen oxide or dinitrogen monoxide), commonly known as laughing gas, nitrous, or nos, is a chemical compound, an oxide of nitrogen with the formula . At room temperature, it is a colourless non-flammable gas, and has ...

on himself and others, and James Watt designed much of the lab's equipment.

History

Preliminaries

After Lavoisier had established the role of

oxygen Oxygen is the chemical element with the symbol O and atomic number 8. It is a member of the chalcogen group in the periodic table, a highly reactive nonmetal, and an oxidizing agent that readily forms oxides with most elements as ...

in animal respiration, members of the

Lunar Society The Lunar Society of Birmingham was a British dinner club and informal learned society of prominent figures in the Midlands Enlightenment, including industrialists, natural philosophers and intellectuals, who met regularly between 1765 and 1813 ...

, such as

Joseph Priestley Joseph Priestley (; 24 March 1733 – 6 February 1804) was an English chemist, natural philosopher, separatist theologian, grammarian, multi-subject educator, and liberal political theorist. He published over 150 works, and conducted exp ...

(who had co-discovered oxygen), originated pneumatic chemistry, which eventually led to the establishment of the Pneumatic Institution.

Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire Georgiana Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire (née Spencer; ; 7 June 1757 – 30 March 1806), was an English aristocrat, socialite, political organiser, author, and activist. Born into the Spencer family, married into the Cavendish family, she wa ...

, who was unusually educated about Chemistry, visited Thomas Beddoes in his laboratory in Hope Square, Bristol, in December 1793. He had set it up earlier that year to study possible medical uses of the recently discovered gases. During her second, extended, visit, "the idea of replacing the existing outpatient facility with a hospital—a Medical Pneumatic Institution—was first formulated." In 1794, she tried to persuade

Sir Joseph Banks Sir Joseph Banks, 1st Baronet, (19 June 1820) was an English naturalist, botanist, and patron of the natural sciences. Banks made his name on the 1766 natural-history expedition to Newfoundland and Labrador. He took part in Captain James C ...

, who was

President of the Royal Society The president of the Royal Society (PRS) is the elected Head of the Royal Society of London who presides over meetings of the society's council. After informal meetings at Gresham College, the Royal Society was officially founded on 28 November ...

of London at the time, to lend support to Beddoes' efforts. Banks refused, citing scientific objections in addition to his political concerns about Beddoes' sympathising with the

French revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in coup of 18 Brumaire, November 1799. Many of its ...

. Even a supporting request from Watt did not change Banks' mind.

Establishment

Beddoes had moved from Oxford in 1793 and established himself as a physician. He moved near to the Hotwells area of Bristol where many sufferers from tuberculosis were gathered in the hope of a cure. By 1794 Beddoes had arranged for the manufacture of suitable apparatus by the firm of

Boulton and Watt Boulton & Watt was an early British engineering and manufacturing firm in the business of designing and making marine and stationary steam engines. Founded in the English West Midlands around Birmingham in 1775 as a partnership between the Eng ...

and the first of the "pneumatic patients" was a Mr Knight of

Painswick Painswick is a town and civil parish in the Stroud District in Gloucestershire, England. Originally the town grew from the wool trade, but it is now best known for its parish church's yew trees and the local Rococo Garden. The village is mainly ...

, whom Beddoes treated with "unrespirable airs" for a deep-seated ulcer of the pelvis. By 5 March 1795 Beddoes was reporting successful treatment of paralytic patients and ordering an apparatus and oxygen for a Mr Gladwell in Clifton. Between 1792 and 1798, Beddoes had collected and published many "case histories" sent to him by other sympathetic physicians, from many parts of the country, and principally concerning the inhalation of

and

hydrogen Hydrogen is the chemical element with the symbol H and atomic number 1. Hydrogen is the lightest element. At standard conditions hydrogen is a gas of diatomic molecules having the formula . It is colorless, odorless, tasteless, non-toxic ...

. In November 1798, Beddoes rented two buildings at 6 and 7

Dowry Square Dowry Square is in the Hotwells area of Bristol. It was laid out in 1727 by George Tully and building continued until 1750. The houses are three-storeyed with attics, simply detailed and with channelled pilasters to the party walls. In 1799 Dr ...

, in Hotwells, and in March 1799 the laboratory was moved into the smaller one and the ''Institution'' was publicly announced. Beddoes anticipated that scientific investigations and medical treatment would be carried out side by side.

Humphry Davy's experiments

In March 1798, the curiosity of Humphry Davy was aroused by dramatic statements made in Samuel Latham Mitchell's ''Remarks on the gaseous oxyd of nitrogen and its effects (1795)'' that nitrous oxide had disastrous effects whether inhaled or in contact with the skin, that it was indeed the very "principle of contagion". Davy joined the ''Pneumatic Institution'' in 1798 as the laboratory operator, largely through the recommendation of Davies Giddy, and it was here that he undertook experiments that included himself inhaling

nitrous oxide Nitrous oxide (dinitrogen oxide or dinitrogen monoxide), commonly known as laughing gas, nitrous, or nos, is a chemical compound, an oxide of nitrogen with the formula . At room temperature, it is a colourless non-flammable gas, and has ...

, which he called ''

'' for its effects. Davy was to describe his work at the Institution in his ''Researches, chemical and philosophical, chiefly concerning nitrous oxide, or dephlogisticated nitrous air, and its respiration'' (London, Murray, 1800). This and other gases were administered, without charge, to willing subjects, particularly those with diseases considered to be incurable at the time. Although the initial aim had been to treat patients with tuberculosis, most of the patients treated suffered from some form of paralysis.

James Watt's involvement

James Watt supported the ''Institution'' because conventional methods had failed to help against his son's

pulmonary tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, in ...

(known as ''consumption'' at the time), which had previously claimed his daughter Jessie. In the last days of Jessie Watt's illness, on the advice of Erasmus Darwin, Beddoes had been called in to administer his new respiratory treatment and, although lacking suitable apparatus, had arranged for the girl to breathe "fixt air" (

carbon dioxide Carbon dioxide ( chemical formula ) is a chemical compound made up of molecules that each have one carbon atom covalently double bonded to two oxygen atoms. It is found in the gas state at room temperature. In the air, carbon dioxide is trans ...

). The treatment, not surprisingly, had no beneficial effect and Watt's daughter died. Watt designed many of the apparatuses and techniques necessary to produce and administer various gases.

Disestablishment and legacy

The ''Pneumatic Institution'' was converted into a normal hospital when

typhus Typhus, also known as typhus fever, is a group of infectious diseases that include epidemic typhus, scrub typhus, and murine typhus. Common symptoms include fever, headache, and a rash. Typically these begin one to two weeks after exposure. ...

broke out in Bristol in 1800. Davy left in 1801 to join Sir Joseph at the Royal Institution. The Bristol ''Pneumatic Institution'' closed down in 1802. Many of the techniques and tools developed by Watt for the ''Pneumatic Institution'' are still used in modern medicine.