1 00:00:01,280 --> 00:00:04,320 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff You Missed in History Class, a production 2 00:00:04,360 --> 00:00:13,760 Speaker 1: of I Heart Radio. Hello, and welcome to the podcast. 3 00:00:13,960 --> 00:00:17,599 Speaker 1: I'm Tracy V. Wilson, and I'm Holly Fry. After we 4 00:00:17,640 --> 00:00:21,200 Speaker 1: did our episode on John Cleaves Sims and his ideas 5 00:00:21,239 --> 00:00:24,360 Speaker 1: of the Earth being hollow, somebody suggested that we do 6 00:00:24,400 --> 00:00:28,360 Speaker 1: an episode on Andrew Cross. And I wrote all this down, 7 00:00:28,720 --> 00:00:32,600 Speaker 1: including the fact that he thought he invented life from crystals. 8 00:00:33,680 --> 00:00:36,800 Speaker 1: And now I'm going to totally depart from the document 9 00:00:36,840 --> 00:00:38,920 Speaker 1: that I gave Holly for our outline to come in 10 00:00:39,000 --> 00:00:43,839 Speaker 1: here because I just figured out who who suggested this. 11 00:00:44,120 --> 00:00:47,000 Speaker 1: What was originally written in this outline was that I 12 00:00:47,000 --> 00:00:50,720 Speaker 1: had gone looking in our email and our Facebook comments 13 00:00:50,760 --> 00:00:55,160 Speaker 1: and our our Twitter mentions, being like, who suggested this? 14 00:00:55,360 --> 00:00:57,240 Speaker 1: I wrote all this down and I did not write 15 00:00:57,280 --> 00:01:00,400 Speaker 1: down their name. Literally sitting in this student oh, I 16 00:01:00,520 --> 00:01:03,600 Speaker 1: was like, maybe it was a comment on our website. 17 00:01:04,760 --> 00:01:10,280 Speaker 1: It was a comment on our website from Kumari. I 18 00:01:10,319 --> 00:01:13,240 Speaker 1: hope I have said your name correctly. UM, I'm so 19 00:01:13,280 --> 00:01:15,760 Speaker 1: sorry if I did not who left the comment? How 20 00:01:15,760 --> 00:01:18,280 Speaker 1: about a podcast on Andrew Cross, who thought he created 21 00:01:18,360 --> 00:01:21,360 Speaker 1: life in eighteen thirty six with his crystals and electricity 22 00:01:21,440 --> 00:01:25,600 Speaker 1: because it's goofy. It is goofy. This was a joy 23 00:01:25,720 --> 00:01:30,400 Speaker 1: to work on UM. It also just came together with 24 00:01:30,440 --> 00:01:33,680 Speaker 1: remarkable ease, which is great because I was taken um 25 00:01:33,720 --> 00:01:35,840 Speaker 1: a long weekend and I wanted I needed to get 26 00:01:35,840 --> 00:01:38,800 Speaker 1: all my stuff done. Uh no shade at all to 27 00:01:39,080 --> 00:01:43,440 Speaker 1: Kumari if we're having left this comment on our um 28 00:01:43,440 --> 00:01:45,920 Speaker 1: on our website, but I will note we do not 29 00:01:46,040 --> 00:01:51,200 Speaker 1: get notification of comments on the website at Miston history 30 00:01:51,200 --> 00:01:54,520 Speaker 1: dot com. It is often weeks or longer before we 31 00:01:54,560 --> 00:01:57,200 Speaker 1: ever see anything on there, and we also do not 32 00:01:57,320 --> 00:02:01,520 Speaker 1: have the ability to turn the comments off because it's 33 00:02:01,560 --> 00:02:04,120 Speaker 1: like a whole company wide thing to have the comments 34 00:02:04,760 --> 00:02:07,360 Speaker 1: on there. So if you are going to leave a 35 00:02:07,360 --> 00:02:09,440 Speaker 1: comment on our website, we're probably not going to see 36 00:02:09,440 --> 00:02:11,640 Speaker 1: it in a timely manner and we may never respond 37 00:02:11,680 --> 00:02:15,200 Speaker 1: to it. But my last minute, literally sitting here in 38 00:02:15,200 --> 00:02:18,079 Speaker 1: the studio, oh maybe it was a comment on the website, 39 00:02:18,240 --> 00:02:22,840 Speaker 1: it was it was um Crosses account of what really 40 00:02:22,919 --> 00:02:25,840 Speaker 1: happened is a little bit more down to earth than 41 00:02:25,919 --> 00:02:28,840 Speaker 1: thinking that he invented life, or not invented life, but 42 00:02:28,919 --> 00:02:31,320 Speaker 1: created life with crystals and electricity. But it's still a 43 00:02:31,320 --> 00:02:34,360 Speaker 1: delightful story. It's a lot of fun to work on. 44 00:02:34,520 --> 00:02:37,440 Speaker 1: So thank you Kumari again. I hope I have said 45 00:02:37,480 --> 00:02:40,480 Speaker 1: your name right. I have a good check because I 46 00:02:40,560 --> 00:02:45,600 Speaker 1: literally made the connection just now. Yeah, thank you for 47 00:02:45,600 --> 00:02:50,160 Speaker 1: for suggesting this. So. Andrew Cross was born on June 48 00:02:50,160 --> 00:02:55,760 Speaker 1: seventeen at Fine Court in Broomfield, Somerset, England, and the 49 00:02:55,760 --> 00:02:58,120 Speaker 1: manor house at fine Court was first built in the 50 00:02:58,120 --> 00:03:00,959 Speaker 1: early seventeenth century, and then it was added onto over 51 00:03:00,960 --> 00:03:03,760 Speaker 1: the years, so by the time Cross was born it 52 00:03:03,840 --> 00:03:06,680 Speaker 1: had been his family's home for well over a hundred years. 53 00:03:07,360 --> 00:03:11,000 Speaker 1: Andrew's mother was named Susannah and his father was Richard Cross, 54 00:03:11,200 --> 00:03:14,880 Speaker 1: high Sheriff of Somerset. When Andrew was four, the family 55 00:03:14,919 --> 00:03:17,080 Speaker 1: moved to France and they stayed there for the next 56 00:03:17,200 --> 00:03:21,280 Speaker 1: four years. Andrew spoke both French and English by the 57 00:03:21,320 --> 00:03:23,800 Speaker 1: time he got back home, but after that he really 58 00:03:23,880 --> 00:03:26,480 Speaker 1: did not keep up with the French and he eventually 59 00:03:26,520 --> 00:03:30,560 Speaker 1: lost it all. Although he studied Latin and Greek in school, 60 00:03:30,680 --> 00:03:33,280 Speaker 1: he didn't really think he had much of an aptitude 61 00:03:33,320 --> 00:03:37,520 Speaker 1: for languages. However, he did invent a new language with 62 00:03:37,600 --> 00:03:40,120 Speaker 1: his younger brother, Richard, and the two of them made 63 00:03:40,160 --> 00:03:42,800 Speaker 1: up a world that was populated by beings they called 64 00:03:42,840 --> 00:03:45,640 Speaker 1: either hobble gs or hobble geese, we don't know for sure, 65 00:03:46,040 --> 00:03:48,520 Speaker 1: which they made out of fur cones. And they imagined 66 00:03:48,560 --> 00:03:52,000 Speaker 1: a whole society for the hobble geese, complete with its 67 00:03:52,000 --> 00:03:54,520 Speaker 1: own legal system and a system of government, which is 68 00:03:54,560 --> 00:03:56,680 Speaker 1: about as charming as you can get in my opinion. 69 00:03:57,840 --> 00:04:02,200 Speaker 1: In his own words, Andrew was quote a very happy boy, careless, 70 00:04:02,240 --> 00:04:05,840 Speaker 1: and extravagantly fond of fun, and both boys were somewhat 71 00:04:05,880 --> 00:04:08,760 Speaker 1: eccentric as they grew up. We're gonna get into Andrew's 72 00:04:08,760 --> 00:04:12,360 Speaker 1: eccentricities in more detail. But as for Richard, as one example, 73 00:04:12,440 --> 00:04:15,840 Speaker 1: he was really really into the metric system, so much 74 00:04:15,880 --> 00:04:19,160 Speaker 1: so that his clocks were divided into ten hours instead 75 00:04:19,160 --> 00:04:22,719 Speaker 1: of twelve. I have a number of questions about this, like, 76 00:04:22,800 --> 00:04:25,640 Speaker 1: if you're running your household on ten hour clocks, do 77 00:04:25,720 --> 00:04:27,960 Speaker 1: you just translate in your head to make sure you're 78 00:04:27,960 --> 00:04:30,680 Speaker 1: on time for your engagements or all? Are you always 79 00:04:30,800 --> 00:04:33,320 Speaker 1: not on time? We're going to have a talk about 80 00:04:33,360 --> 00:04:39,839 Speaker 1: this in our Friday episode super because your foolish co 81 00:04:39,960 --> 00:04:43,360 Speaker 1: host may have tried something similar as an adult. Oh, 82 00:04:43,400 --> 00:04:48,640 Speaker 1: I'm so excited. After the Cross Family got back from France, 83 00:04:48,880 --> 00:04:52,040 Speaker 1: Andrew was enrolled in a school in Dorchester that was 84 00:04:52,160 --> 00:04:56,440 Speaker 1: run by a reverend Mr. White, and then in when 85 00:04:56,480 --> 00:04:58,880 Speaker 1: he was nine, he moved to a school in Bristol 86 00:04:59,040 --> 00:05:02,479 Speaker 1: run by the Reverend Mr Samuel Sayer. In addition to 87 00:05:02,520 --> 00:05:06,240 Speaker 1: his work as a teacher, Sayer wrote memoirs historical and 88 00:05:06,320 --> 00:05:09,960 Speaker 1: topographical of Bristol in its neighborhood from the earliest period 89 00:05:10,000 --> 00:05:13,239 Speaker 1: down to the present time. Andrew did not really enjoy 90 00:05:13,320 --> 00:05:15,599 Speaker 1: his time at this school. He never felt like he 91 00:05:15,640 --> 00:05:17,760 Speaker 1: had enough to eat, and he thought the food that 92 00:05:17,800 --> 00:05:21,080 Speaker 1: they did have was terrible. He also didn't get along 93 00:05:21,120 --> 00:05:24,680 Speaker 1: with Sayer or some of the other teachers. Plus being 94 00:05:24,760 --> 00:05:28,760 Speaker 1: extravagantly fond of fun included getting into mischief and playing 95 00:05:28,839 --> 00:05:32,320 Speaker 1: jokes and pranks on people, like when a classmate asked 96 00:05:32,360 --> 00:05:35,840 Speaker 1: him for help translating some Latin, Andrew told him that 97 00:05:35,880 --> 00:05:38,880 Speaker 1: what he wanted translated meant the stork is safest in 98 00:05:38,920 --> 00:05:41,479 Speaker 1: the middle of the pond, when it really meant the 99 00:05:41,520 --> 00:05:45,159 Speaker 1: middle course is safest, and say you're Apparently did not 100 00:05:45,240 --> 00:05:48,719 Speaker 1: appreciate this particular brand of silliness. Some of the trouble 101 00:05:48,760 --> 00:05:51,880 Speaker 1: that Andrew got into at school was also more serious 102 00:05:51,960 --> 00:05:56,120 Speaker 1: than that. Andrew liked to make his own fireworks, and 103 00:05:56,240 --> 00:05:58,039 Speaker 1: that's what he was doing. One day, while he was 104 00:05:58,120 --> 00:06:02,400 Speaker 1: also studying his Virgil Sayer came and caught him and 105 00:06:02,440 --> 00:06:05,800 Speaker 1: took what he was working on a way in Andrew's 106 00:06:05,839 --> 00:06:08,440 Speaker 1: words quote, I watched where he put it. It was 107 00:06:08,520 --> 00:06:11,200 Speaker 1: on the window sill of a room which was always 108 00:06:11,279 --> 00:06:15,600 Speaker 1: kept locked. The window, though not glazed, had close iron 109 00:06:15,720 --> 00:06:19,320 Speaker 1: bars through which nothing could pass. The case was hopeless. 110 00:06:19,600 --> 00:06:22,720 Speaker 1: I could not recover my rocket mixture, but a happy 111 00:06:22,760 --> 00:06:25,799 Speaker 1: thought struck me. I was resolved that no one else 112 00:06:25,839 --> 00:06:29,159 Speaker 1: should enjoy the spoil, which I regarded as so valuable. 113 00:06:29,760 --> 00:06:32,600 Speaker 1: I had a burning glass in my pocket, and I 114 00:06:32,640 --> 00:06:36,760 Speaker 1: thought of Archimedes and the Roman fleet. The sun was shining, 115 00:06:36,839 --> 00:06:39,559 Speaker 1: and I soon drew a focus on the gunpowder, which 116 00:06:39,600 --> 00:06:43,520 Speaker 1: immediately blew up. It was well that the house was 117 00:06:43,560 --> 00:06:46,640 Speaker 1: not set on fire. As for me, I was reckless 118 00:06:46,640 --> 00:06:49,880 Speaker 1: of all consequences. At one point, some of the boys 119 00:06:49,920 --> 00:06:52,240 Speaker 1: at school decided to go on strike to try to 120 00:06:52,279 --> 00:06:55,919 Speaker 1: get longer holiday breaks. But beyond just refusing to go 121 00:06:56,000 --> 00:06:58,839 Speaker 1: to class, they were inspired by the British troops fighting 122 00:06:58,880 --> 00:07:02,320 Speaker 1: in the French Revolutionary Wars, so they also planned to 123 00:07:02,440 --> 00:07:06,080 Speaker 1: take over the school armed with muskets. This plan was 124 00:07:06,160 --> 00:07:09,520 Speaker 1: discovered and thwarted, thankfully before anybody carried it out, and 125 00:07:09,560 --> 00:07:13,760 Speaker 1: although the ringleaders were expelled and other participants were flogged, 126 00:07:14,360 --> 00:07:18,640 Speaker 1: Andrews somehow escaped notice. Aside from all of that, though, 127 00:07:19,120 --> 00:07:24,440 Speaker 1: Andrew's love of science, and particularly of electricity, really blossomed 128 00:07:24,440 --> 00:07:27,400 Speaker 1: while he was at Mr. Sayer's school. This might have 129 00:07:27,440 --> 00:07:29,960 Speaker 1: had roots back in his home life. His father was 130 00:07:30,000 --> 00:07:33,560 Speaker 1: actually friends with Benjamin Franklin. But while he was at 131 00:07:33,600 --> 00:07:38,080 Speaker 1: Sayer's school, Andrews saw an advertisement for a lecture series, 132 00:07:38,200 --> 00:07:41,360 Speaker 1: with the first installment being about optics and the second 133 00:07:41,400 --> 00:07:45,000 Speaker 1: about electricity. He asked for permission to go and that 134 00:07:45,080 --> 00:07:48,720 Speaker 1: was granted and things really took off from there. Soon 135 00:07:49,120 --> 00:07:52,080 Speaker 1: he and some schoolmates were shocking people with a laden 136 00:07:52,200 --> 00:07:55,280 Speaker 1: jar that they made from an apothecary's bottle. So a 137 00:07:55,360 --> 00:07:58,560 Speaker 1: laden jar is a vessel that store static electricity, in 138 00:07:58,600 --> 00:08:01,520 Speaker 1: this case probably a style uperd vile filled partway with 139 00:08:01,600 --> 00:08:04,840 Speaker 1: water with a wire through the stopper, which you charge 140 00:08:04,920 --> 00:08:09,400 Speaker 1: by touching the wire to something staticky. Before long, Andrew 141 00:08:09,480 --> 00:08:12,080 Speaker 1: was writing home to ask for money to buy various 142 00:08:12,120 --> 00:08:15,960 Speaker 1: electrical gadgetry. To be clear, this laden jar shocking would 143 00:08:15,960 --> 00:08:18,760 Speaker 1: not have been dangerous, but it would have been annoying. 144 00:08:22,160 --> 00:08:25,000 Speaker 1: Andrew's father died in eighteen hundred and he was sixteen, 145 00:08:25,480 --> 00:08:28,080 Speaker 1: and about that time he started to experience what he 146 00:08:28,240 --> 00:08:32,560 Speaker 1: described as nervous attacks, and they would recur regularly for 147 00:08:32,600 --> 00:08:35,840 Speaker 1: the rest of his life. While he had described himself 148 00:08:35,880 --> 00:08:38,840 Speaker 1: in childhood is happy and careless, he grew up to 149 00:08:38,880 --> 00:08:42,920 Speaker 1: be kind of a generally anxious person, with these attacks 150 00:08:42,960 --> 00:08:45,800 Speaker 1: coming on suddenly and lasting for as long as thirty 151 00:08:45,800 --> 00:08:49,120 Speaker 1: minutes at a time. In eighteen o two, Cross entered 152 00:08:49,160 --> 00:08:52,640 Speaker 1: Brazenose College at Oxford, which he called quote a perfect 153 00:08:52,720 --> 00:08:56,200 Speaker 1: hell on earth. Wine seemed to be the focal point 154 00:08:56,280 --> 00:08:58,959 Speaker 1: of social life at the college, and he hated wine. 155 00:08:59,240 --> 00:09:03,200 Speaker 1: He also hated his classmates, snobbery and classism, and later 156 00:09:03,240 --> 00:09:05,560 Speaker 1: on he said quote I was less liberal at this 157 00:09:05,640 --> 00:09:08,280 Speaker 1: time than at any other of my life. It took 158 00:09:08,320 --> 00:09:11,000 Speaker 1: some years to rub off the prejudices of class which 159 00:09:11,040 --> 00:09:14,400 Speaker 1: I had acquired at Oxford. Cross earned his degree in 160 00:09:14,520 --> 00:09:17,960 Speaker 1: law in eighteen oh five, and he also inherited fine 161 00:09:18,040 --> 00:09:20,960 Speaker 1: Court after his mother's death on July three of that 162 00:09:21,080 --> 00:09:25,040 Speaker 1: same year. This was one of a long series of losses. 163 00:09:25,280 --> 00:09:28,280 Speaker 1: Over a period of about five years. He lost both 164 00:09:28,320 --> 00:09:32,480 Speaker 1: of his parents, a sister, an uncle, two close friends, 165 00:09:32,840 --> 00:09:35,640 Speaker 1: and one of his household staff, who he described as 166 00:09:35,760 --> 00:09:39,960 Speaker 1: quote a most faithful and attached servant. It's not really 167 00:09:40,000 --> 00:09:43,480 Speaker 1: clear whether the grief over all of this led him 168 00:09:43,520 --> 00:09:45,840 Speaker 1: to abandon law, but he did. He gave up law 169 00:09:45,920 --> 00:09:50,240 Speaker 1: after two or three years. Instead, he established himself as 170 00:09:50,240 --> 00:09:55,640 Speaker 1: a country gentleman at fine court, becoming absorbed in studying electricity, mineralogy, 171 00:09:55,679 --> 00:09:58,960 Speaker 1: and chemistry. He also served as a magistrate, where he 172 00:09:59,040 --> 00:10:02,040 Speaker 1: developed a reputation and for being quite liberal, and he 173 00:10:02,120 --> 00:10:06,559 Speaker 1: wrote a lot of poetry. Cross became friends with George 174 00:10:06,679 --> 00:10:11,400 Speaker 1: John Singer, author of Elements of Electricity and electro Chemistry. 175 00:10:11,880 --> 00:10:15,920 Speaker 1: Like Cross, Singer was an amateur scientist whose family business 176 00:10:16,000 --> 00:10:21,200 Speaker 1: involved making artificial feathers and flowers, but he was knowledgeable 177 00:10:21,320 --> 00:10:24,640 Speaker 1: on the subject of electricity. He held public lectures and 178 00:10:24,679 --> 00:10:29,160 Speaker 1: demonstrations that were attended by people like Michael Faraday. Cross 179 00:10:29,240 --> 00:10:33,360 Speaker 1: and Singer did experiments together until Singer's death from tuberculosis 180 00:10:33,440 --> 00:10:37,120 Speaker 1: in eighteen seventeen at the age of only thirty one. 181 00:10:37,640 --> 00:10:40,800 Speaker 1: George John Singer had built a laboratory and lecture hall 182 00:10:40,840 --> 00:10:44,280 Speaker 1: at his own home. But Andrew Cross's efforts to devote 183 00:10:44,360 --> 00:10:47,480 Speaker 1: his home to research went even further. We'll talk more 184 00:10:47,520 --> 00:10:57,559 Speaker 1: about that after we pause for a sponsor break. In 185 00:10:57,679 --> 00:11:02,359 Speaker 1: eighteen oh seven, Andrew Cross became fascinated with crystal formations 186 00:11:02,400 --> 00:11:06,600 Speaker 1: and Hollwell Cavern, which is a limestone crevice in room 187 00:11:06,679 --> 00:11:09,800 Speaker 1: Field not far from where he lived. The entrance to 188 00:11:09,840 --> 00:11:14,000 Speaker 1: this cavern has since been filled in, and in Crosses 189 00:11:14,080 --> 00:11:17,200 Speaker 1: words quote, I felt convinced at an early period that 190 00:11:17,240 --> 00:11:20,880 Speaker 1: the formation and constant growth of the crystalline matter which 191 00:11:20,960 --> 00:11:24,160 Speaker 1: lined the roof of this cave was caused by some 192 00:11:24,280 --> 00:11:28,360 Speaker 1: peculiar upward attraction, and reasoning more on the subject, I 193 00:11:28,360 --> 00:11:32,559 Speaker 1: felt assured that it was electric attraction. Cross got a 194 00:11:32,600 --> 00:11:34,880 Speaker 1: tumbler of water out of the stream that ran through 195 00:11:34,880 --> 00:11:37,520 Speaker 1: the cavern, and he ran a current through it on wires, 196 00:11:38,160 --> 00:11:41,760 Speaker 1: and eventually some crystals did start to form. This was 197 00:11:41,800 --> 00:11:45,560 Speaker 1: the first of many experiments that he conducted in electro crystallization, 198 00:11:45,720 --> 00:11:50,240 Speaker 1: which is when metals are deposited onto electrodes, eventually forming crystals. 199 00:11:51,040 --> 00:11:54,400 Speaker 1: He would eventually start to experiment with electro refining, or 200 00:11:54,440 --> 00:11:57,920 Speaker 1: extracting metals from their ores with electricity, which is also 201 00:11:58,000 --> 00:12:02,280 Speaker 1: called electro winning. Electro Winning, which by the way, sounds 202 00:12:02,280 --> 00:12:05,040 Speaker 1: like a great band name, was first developed by Sir 203 00:12:05,120 --> 00:12:08,160 Speaker 1: Humphrey Davy, who came up in our John Cleves Simms 204 00:12:08,240 --> 00:12:12,000 Speaker 1: episode Everything Connects in History. Yea. Davy was one of 205 00:12:12,040 --> 00:12:15,200 Speaker 1: the people who thought John Cleve Sims did not know 206 00:12:15,280 --> 00:12:20,280 Speaker 1: what he was talking about, because he he didn't. As 207 00:12:20,320 --> 00:12:24,040 Speaker 1: Cross experimented, though, more and more of his home became 208 00:12:24,120 --> 00:12:27,440 Speaker 1: devoted to this work over the next few decades. He 209 00:12:27,520 --> 00:12:33,280 Speaker 1: installed six or seven furnaces for purifying metals. The estates, glassware, 210 00:12:33,320 --> 00:12:37,240 Speaker 1: and china became laboratory vessels, and he purified the household 211 00:12:37,320 --> 00:12:41,520 Speaker 1: silver for use in his experiments. He also strung up 212 00:12:41,559 --> 00:12:44,680 Speaker 1: about a third of a mile of copper wire from 213 00:12:44,760 --> 00:12:47,840 Speaker 1: poles and the tallest trees on the grounds, and he 214 00:12:47,920 --> 00:12:51,000 Speaker 1: connected all that to about fifty laden jars in the 215 00:12:51,120 --> 00:12:55,000 Speaker 1: organ loft of the music room. This setup became particularly 216 00:12:55,080 --> 00:12:59,440 Speaker 1: dramatic in foggy or stormy weather. Sir Richard Phillips visited 217 00:12:59,480 --> 00:13:02,800 Speaker 1: Fine Core and relate a conversation with Cross quote. He 218 00:13:02,880 --> 00:13:05,160 Speaker 1: told me that sometimes the current was so great as 219 00:13:05,160 --> 00:13:08,360 Speaker 1: to charge and discharge the great battery twenty times in 220 00:13:08,360 --> 00:13:12,080 Speaker 1: a minute, with reports as loud as a cannon, which, 221 00:13:12,160 --> 00:13:15,800 Speaker 1: being continuous, were so terrible to strangers that they always fled, 222 00:13:16,120 --> 00:13:20,640 Speaker 1: while everyone expected the destruction of himself and premises. If 223 00:13:20,640 --> 00:13:24,040 Speaker 1: the weather wasn't cooperating. Cross could also manually charge the 224 00:13:24,120 --> 00:13:27,800 Speaker 1: laden jars by turning a device with a crank. Here 225 00:13:27,880 --> 00:13:31,640 Speaker 1: is how a visitor described find court. During all this quote, 226 00:13:32,000 --> 00:13:35,960 Speaker 1: here was an immense number of jars and gallipots containing 227 00:13:36,040 --> 00:13:40,760 Speaker 1: fluids on which electricity was operating for the production of crystals. 228 00:13:40,760 --> 00:13:43,800 Speaker 1: But you were startled in the midst of your observations 229 00:13:43,840 --> 00:13:46,960 Speaker 1: by the smart crackling sound that attends the passage of 230 00:13:46,960 --> 00:13:51,280 Speaker 1: the electrical spark. You hear also the rumblings of distant thunder. 231 00:13:51,720 --> 00:13:55,480 Speaker 1: The rain is already splashing and great drops against the glass, 232 00:13:55,480 --> 00:13:58,720 Speaker 1: and the sound of the passing sparks continues to startle 233 00:13:58,760 --> 00:14:02,640 Speaker 1: your ear. Your host is in high glee, for a 234 00:14:02,720 --> 00:14:05,880 Speaker 1: battery of electricity is about to come within his reach, 235 00:14:06,280 --> 00:14:10,720 Speaker 1: a thousandfold more powerful than all those the rooms strung together. 236 00:14:11,280 --> 00:14:14,440 Speaker 1: You follow his hasty steps to the organ gallery and 237 00:14:14,559 --> 00:14:17,720 Speaker 1: curiously approached the spot. Whence the noise that has attracted 238 00:14:17,720 --> 00:14:21,280 Speaker 1: your notice you see at the window a huge brass 239 00:14:21,320 --> 00:14:25,000 Speaker 1: conductor with a discharging rod near it, passing into the floor. 240 00:14:25,480 --> 00:14:28,600 Speaker 1: And from what knob to the other sparks are leaping 241 00:14:28,680 --> 00:14:35,240 Speaker 1: with increasing rapidity and noise. Rap rap rap, bang bang bang. Nevertheless, 242 00:14:35,800 --> 00:14:39,080 Speaker 1: your host does not fear. He approaches as boldly as 243 00:14:39,120 --> 00:14:42,320 Speaker 1: if the flowing stream of fire were a harmless spark. 244 00:14:42,800 --> 00:14:46,000 Speaker 1: Here comes the big no surprise moment. Many of his 245 00:14:46,040 --> 00:14:50,040 Speaker 1: neighbors did not particularly care for all of this. Cross 246 00:14:50,160 --> 00:14:53,280 Speaker 1: was nicknamed the Wizard of Broomfield, and at one point 247 00:14:53,320 --> 00:14:55,320 Speaker 1: he was speaking in a meeting ahead of an election 248 00:14:55,760 --> 00:14:59,720 Speaker 1: and local farmers were booing him. When an outsider asked 249 00:14:59,760 --> 00:15:02,800 Speaker 1: what was wrong, someone replied, quote, why don't you know him? 250 00:15:02,880 --> 00:15:06,000 Speaker 1: That's a Cross a Broomfield, the thunder and lightning man. 251 00:15:06,320 --> 00:15:08,560 Speaker 1: You can't go near his cursed house at night without 252 00:15:08,640 --> 00:15:11,320 Speaker 1: danger of your life. Them as have been there, have 253 00:15:11,400 --> 00:15:14,960 Speaker 1: seen devils, all surrounded by lightning, dancing on the wires 254 00:15:14,960 --> 00:15:18,000 Speaker 1: that he has put up around his grounds. At the 255 00:15:18,040 --> 00:15:20,600 Speaker 1: same time, though, there were local people who thought his 256 00:15:20,680 --> 00:15:25,080 Speaker 1: experiments had curative properties, and her account of his life 257 00:15:25,120 --> 00:15:28,800 Speaker 1: and work, Cross his second wife, Cornelia, described the case 258 00:15:28,880 --> 00:15:31,600 Speaker 1: of a local man who was paralyzed on one side 259 00:15:31,600 --> 00:15:35,360 Speaker 1: of his body and also had a salivary gland issue. Quote. 260 00:15:35,760 --> 00:15:38,880 Speaker 1: After being electrified twice a week for six weeks, he 261 00:15:38,960 --> 00:15:41,360 Speaker 1: was so much better that he could walk to find 262 00:15:41,440 --> 00:15:45,200 Speaker 1: court and the complaint in the throat was entirely removed. 263 00:15:45,720 --> 00:15:50,960 Speaker 1: I'm making a grimacing face. Another gem from Cornelia about 264 00:15:50,960 --> 00:15:54,640 Speaker 1: their booming, flashing property quote, we were never troubled with 265 00:15:54,680 --> 00:15:58,119 Speaker 1: burglars at fine Court. We will get back to Cornelia 266 00:15:58,200 --> 00:16:00,600 Speaker 1: in a bit. Since they got married later on in 267 00:16:00,680 --> 00:16:05,760 Speaker 1: Andrew's life, his first wife was Marian Hamilton's, daughter of 268 00:16:05,840 --> 00:16:09,280 Speaker 1: Captain John Hamilton's. They got married in eighteen o nine, 269 00:16:09,480 --> 00:16:13,960 Speaker 1: relatively early into crosses time as a gentleman scientist. They 270 00:16:14,000 --> 00:16:16,560 Speaker 1: would go on to have seven children together over the 271 00:16:16,600 --> 00:16:19,840 Speaker 1: next ten years, although three of those children died when 272 00:16:19,880 --> 00:16:23,760 Speaker 1: they were still children. Their oldest child, John, was born 273 00:16:23,800 --> 00:16:27,200 Speaker 1: in eighteen ten. Cross seems to have been really deeply 274 00:16:27,240 --> 00:16:30,320 Speaker 1: fond of his wife and children and very traumatized by 275 00:16:30,320 --> 00:16:33,640 Speaker 1: those three deaths. At the same time, though, in terms 276 00:16:33,640 --> 00:16:36,040 Speaker 1: of family, he'd been on his own aside from a 277 00:16:36,040 --> 00:16:39,080 Speaker 1: couple of younger siblings for four years before he got married, 278 00:16:39,560 --> 00:16:42,200 Speaker 1: and he just wasn't used to having a regular home life, 279 00:16:42,360 --> 00:16:45,480 Speaker 1: and along with all of his experiments and made things 280 00:16:45,520 --> 00:16:49,800 Speaker 1: a little bit chaotic. Ada Lovelace became friends with both 281 00:16:49,880 --> 00:16:53,160 Speaker 1: Andrew and his son John. Aida and John actually had 282 00:16:53,160 --> 00:16:56,880 Speaker 1: a romantic relationship that was also tangled up with her gambling. 283 00:16:57,640 --> 00:17:00,160 Speaker 1: She summed up the atmosphere at Fine Court this way, 284 00:17:00,240 --> 00:17:03,720 Speaker 1: quote the dinner hour was an accident in the day's arrangements. 285 00:17:04,480 --> 00:17:07,840 Speaker 1: Even though they were living in a seventeenth century manor house, 286 00:17:08,040 --> 00:17:12,040 Speaker 1: which suggests a lot of wealth, the Cross family's lifestyle 287 00:17:12,280 --> 00:17:16,800 Speaker 1: wasn't particularly extravagant compared to other people in a similar situation. 288 00:17:17,600 --> 00:17:21,680 Speaker 1: They did have problems with cash flow, though, and Cross's 289 00:17:21,720 --> 00:17:25,600 Speaker 1: words quote, my family were learned and honorable men as 290 00:17:25,600 --> 00:17:27,919 Speaker 1: long as I can look back. But they had the 291 00:17:28,000 --> 00:17:31,239 Speaker 1: happy knack of turning a guinea into a shilling, and 292 00:17:31,280 --> 00:17:36,400 Speaker 1: I have inherited that faculty pretty strongly. Cornelia described him 293 00:17:36,440 --> 00:17:42,680 Speaker 1: as quote injudicious in his expenditure. Apart from his friendship 294 00:17:42,720 --> 00:17:47,360 Speaker 1: with George John Singer, Andrew Cross was intellectually actually pretty isolated. 295 00:17:47,960 --> 00:17:51,040 Speaker 1: One of his closest longtime friends was John Kenyon, who 296 00:17:51,040 --> 00:17:53,479 Speaker 1: had been one of his classmates at Mr Sayer's school, 297 00:17:54,200 --> 00:17:57,879 Speaker 1: and while Kenyan was interested in Crosses experiments, science was 298 00:17:57,960 --> 00:18:03,240 Speaker 1: really not his calling. Their overlapping interest was poetry. Kenyan 299 00:18:03,280 --> 00:18:06,080 Speaker 1: wrote poetry himself, and he was a distant cousin of 300 00:18:06,119 --> 00:18:09,520 Speaker 1: Elizabeth Barrett Browning. At one point before her marriage, he 301 00:18:09,600 --> 00:18:13,520 Speaker 1: brought Andrew Cross to visit her. He also supplemented Robert 302 00:18:13,520 --> 00:18:16,440 Speaker 1: and Elizabeth Barrett Browning's income and left the money when 303 00:18:16,440 --> 00:18:20,200 Speaker 1: he died in eighteen fifty six. So Cross did talk 304 00:18:20,240 --> 00:18:22,760 Speaker 1: about his work in public, but not really all that 305 00:18:22,840 --> 00:18:28,240 Speaker 1: often and somewhat reluctantly. On December eighteen fourteen, he gave 306 00:18:28,240 --> 00:18:31,520 Speaker 1: an address at garner In's Lecture Hall, and it is 307 00:18:31,560 --> 00:18:35,080 Speaker 1: possible that Mary Shelley, who at the time was Mary Godwin, 308 00:18:35,280 --> 00:18:39,000 Speaker 1: attended this lecture. She references it in her diary, but 309 00:18:39,119 --> 00:18:41,880 Speaker 1: her notes about it are also kind of vague. She 310 00:18:41,920 --> 00:18:45,240 Speaker 1: writes about going from place to place looking for Thomas 311 00:18:45,280 --> 00:18:48,680 Speaker 1: Jefferson Hogg, but not finding him at any of those places, 312 00:18:48,720 --> 00:18:52,880 Speaker 1: before saying quote, go to garner In's lecture on electricity, 313 00:18:52,960 --> 00:18:56,840 Speaker 1: the gases and the Phantasmagoria. Return at half past nine. 314 00:18:57,160 --> 00:19:00,280 Speaker 1: Shelly goes to sleep, so it's not a hunter sent 315 00:19:00,359 --> 00:19:03,040 Speaker 1: clear whether garner ends was one of the places she 316 00:19:03,160 --> 00:19:05,719 Speaker 1: was looking for hog and she was just noting the 317 00:19:05,720 --> 00:19:08,280 Speaker 1: topic of the lecture that night, or if she actually 318 00:19:08,440 --> 00:19:13,000 Speaker 1: attended the lecture herself. Either way, though, sometimes people point 319 00:19:13,080 --> 00:19:16,360 Speaker 1: to this diary entry as evidence that Cross was an 320 00:19:16,400 --> 00:19:20,920 Speaker 1: inspiration for Shelley's novel Frankenstein or the Modern Prometheists, which 321 00:19:20,960 --> 00:19:25,119 Speaker 1: was published four years later. In eighteen thirty six, Cross 322 00:19:25,200 --> 00:19:27,800 Speaker 1: reluctantly agreed to speak at the annual meeting of the 323 00:19:27,800 --> 00:19:31,320 Speaker 1: British Association for the Advancement of Science that was being 324 00:19:31,320 --> 00:19:34,159 Speaker 1: held in Bristol. He had intended to go to the 325 00:19:34,200 --> 00:19:37,240 Speaker 1: meeting simply as an observer, but he was persuaded to 326 00:19:37,280 --> 00:19:41,440 Speaker 1: talk about his experiments with electro crystallization. It turned out 327 00:19:41,440 --> 00:19:45,600 Speaker 1: that people were fascinated. John Dalton, who we just covered 328 00:19:45,600 --> 00:19:48,000 Speaker 1: on the show, was in attendance, and he told Cross 329 00:19:48,040 --> 00:19:51,399 Speaker 1: he had never before listened to anything so interesting, and 330 00:19:51,480 --> 00:19:55,800 Speaker 1: all this attention made Cross fairly uncomfortable, though, and his 331 00:19:55,920 --> 00:19:59,120 Speaker 1: words quote, I slipped away out of it all and 332 00:19:59,200 --> 00:20:01,840 Speaker 1: he went home before the meeting was over. It was 333 00:20:01,880 --> 00:20:05,080 Speaker 1: not long before he was getting even more attention, though, 334 00:20:05,320 --> 00:20:07,680 Speaker 1: and we'll talk more about that after a sponsor break. 335 00:20:15,280 --> 00:20:18,560 Speaker 1: After the British Association for the Advancement of Science meeting 336 00:20:18,600 --> 00:20:21,399 Speaker 1: in eighteen thirty six. A lot of the response to 337 00:20:21,440 --> 00:20:25,159 Speaker 1: Andrew Cross's work was pretty positive, but he did have 338 00:20:25,320 --> 00:20:30,000 Speaker 1: some detractors. On January thirty one of eighteen thirty seven, 339 00:20:30,280 --> 00:20:33,399 Speaker 1: he wrote a letter to a newspaper called The Atlas, 340 00:20:33,800 --> 00:20:37,240 Speaker 1: in which he responded to what he described as an 341 00:20:37,320 --> 00:20:41,080 Speaker 1: attack by a doctor Ritchie. I could not find the 342 00:20:41,119 --> 00:20:46,439 Speaker 1: text of this article, but Ritchie apparently criticized Cross for 343 00:20:46,680 --> 00:20:52,560 Speaker 1: framing his work as discoveries when other people had discovered 344 00:20:52,560 --> 00:20:56,679 Speaker 1: these things many years before. Ritchie also described Cross as 345 00:20:56,720 --> 00:21:00,399 Speaker 1: work in a way that just wasn't very accurate. Cross. 346 00:21:00,480 --> 00:21:02,679 Speaker 1: His tone is kind of along the lines of you 347 00:21:02,720 --> 00:21:05,240 Speaker 1: were there at the meeting, Dr Ritchie, and you could 348 00:21:05,280 --> 00:21:08,520 Speaker 1: have just asked me if you had questions, instead of 349 00:21:08,560 --> 00:21:12,800 Speaker 1: writing this incorrect article mischaracterizing me and my experiments, which 350 00:21:12,840 --> 00:21:16,439 Speaker 1: I do because I love them. In this response, Cross 351 00:21:16,480 --> 00:21:21,280 Speaker 1: framed his work as observations, not discoveries. His letter ended quote, 352 00:21:21,280 --> 00:21:23,800 Speaker 1: p S. I should have sent this answer long since, 353 00:21:24,080 --> 00:21:27,240 Speaker 1: but have been prevented by severe illness. I must beg 354 00:21:27,280 --> 00:21:30,960 Speaker 1: in future to decline engaging in scientific warfare with anyone 355 00:21:31,160 --> 00:21:34,520 Speaker 1: having neither inclination nor time for that kind of amusement. 356 00:21:35,320 --> 00:21:38,240 Speaker 1: But Dr Ritchie's article that he was responding to you 357 00:21:38,359 --> 00:21:41,400 Speaker 1: was just the tip of the iceberg. Not long after 358 00:21:41,440 --> 00:21:44,360 Speaker 1: he spoke at the British Association for the Advancement of Science, 359 00:21:44,560 --> 00:21:47,240 Speaker 1: Andrew Cross became famous in a way that he really 360 00:21:47,800 --> 00:21:52,199 Speaker 1: did not expect and also really did not want. He 361 00:21:52,280 --> 00:21:55,760 Speaker 1: had been experimenting with a piece of porous volcanic rock, 362 00:21:56,160 --> 00:21:59,000 Speaker 1: which he was using because of its perosity rather than 363 00:21:59,119 --> 00:22:03,000 Speaker 1: because of its compass Asian. He kept this rock electrified 364 00:22:03,040 --> 00:22:05,600 Speaker 1: with a voltaic battery, and he had placed it in 365 00:22:05,640 --> 00:22:10,040 Speaker 1: a fluid that was saturated with black flint and potassium carbonate. 366 00:22:10,560 --> 00:22:13,520 Speaker 1: In his words quote, on the fourteenth day from the 367 00:22:13,560 --> 00:22:16,679 Speaker 1: commencement of this experiment, I observed through a lens a 368 00:22:16,720 --> 00:22:21,199 Speaker 1: few small whitish excrescences or nipples, projecting from about the 369 00:22:21,240 --> 00:22:25,120 Speaker 1: middle of the electrified stone. On the eighteenth day, these 370 00:22:25,160 --> 00:22:28,880 Speaker 1: projections enlarged and struck out seven or eight filaments, each 371 00:22:28,920 --> 00:22:31,359 Speaker 1: of them longer than the hemisphere on which they grew. 372 00:22:32,359 --> 00:22:35,560 Speaker 1: On the twenty sixth day, these appearances assumed the form 373 00:22:35,920 --> 00:22:39,440 Speaker 1: of a perfect insect standing erect on a few bristles 374 00:22:39,480 --> 00:22:43,000 Speaker 1: which formed its tail. Till this period, I had no 375 00:22:43,000 --> 00:22:46,960 Speaker 1: notion that these appearances were other than an incipient mineral formation. 376 00:22:47,880 --> 00:22:51,200 Speaker 1: On the twenty day, these little creatures moved their legs. 377 00:22:51,720 --> 00:22:54,680 Speaker 1: I must now say that I was not a little astonished. 378 00:22:55,240 --> 00:22:58,040 Speaker 1: After a few days, they detached themselves from the stone 379 00:22:58,119 --> 00:23:01,760 Speaker 1: and moved about at pleasure. He went on to write, quote, 380 00:23:01,800 --> 00:23:04,280 Speaker 1: in the course of a few weeks, about a hundred 381 00:23:04,320 --> 00:23:07,800 Speaker 1: of them made their appearance on the stone. I examined 382 00:23:07,840 --> 00:23:10,800 Speaker 1: them with a microscope and observed the smaller ones appeared 383 00:23:10,840 --> 00:23:14,439 Speaker 1: to have only six legs, the larger ones eight. Cross 384 00:23:14,480 --> 00:23:18,080 Speaker 1: thought the most likely explanation for this startling occurrence was 385 00:23:18,119 --> 00:23:21,359 Speaker 1: that airborne mites had deposited their eggs on his equipment, 386 00:23:21,560 --> 00:23:25,000 Speaker 1: which was exposed to the air, but that didn't explain 387 00:23:25,040 --> 00:23:27,800 Speaker 1: why the mtes seemed able to survive in an environment 388 00:23:27,920 --> 00:23:31,600 Speaker 1: that should have killed them. Later on, he also acknowledged 389 00:23:31,720 --> 00:23:34,520 Speaker 1: that the early stage of these creatures formation was nearly 390 00:23:34,560 --> 00:23:38,560 Speaker 1: indistinguishable from the early stages of crystal formation, so he 391 00:23:38,640 --> 00:23:41,959 Speaker 1: might have just been mistaken. Beyond that, he said quote, 392 00:23:42,000 --> 00:23:44,480 Speaker 1: I have never ventured an opinion on the cause of 393 00:23:44,520 --> 00:23:47,439 Speaker 1: their birth, and for a very good reason I was 394 00:23:47,520 --> 00:23:50,600 Speaker 1: unable to form one. He talked over what he had 395 00:23:50,600 --> 00:23:53,760 Speaker 1: seen with some other scientists and he sent some samples 396 00:23:53,800 --> 00:23:58,480 Speaker 1: to Richard Owen. Owen was a biologist, comparative annomist, and 397 00:23:58,520 --> 00:24:01,359 Speaker 1: a paleontologist. He's act lee the person who coined the 398 00:24:01,480 --> 00:24:06,640 Speaker 1: term dinosaria. He also very vocally criticized Charles Darwin's work 399 00:24:06,680 --> 00:24:11,359 Speaker 1: on evolution. Owen said that these were cheese mites, which 400 00:24:11,359 --> 00:24:15,640 Speaker 1: are arachnids from the genus a Carus. Cross called them 401 00:24:15,760 --> 00:24:20,880 Speaker 1: a Carus calvanicus. Cross never intended to publicize this find anywhere, 402 00:24:21,000 --> 00:24:23,639 Speaker 1: but at some point he either mentioned it to or 403 00:24:23,760 --> 00:24:27,520 Speaker 1: was overheard by William Bragg of the Somerset County Gazette. 404 00:24:28,040 --> 00:24:31,520 Speaker 1: Bragg published an article on December thirty one, eight thirty six, 405 00:24:31,560 --> 00:24:37,000 Speaker 1: titled Extraordinary Experiment. Although Bragg's article did not make this claim, 406 00:24:37,200 --> 00:24:41,359 Speaker 1: soon papers all over Britain and Ireland were printing sensationalized 407 00:24:41,400 --> 00:24:45,280 Speaker 1: reports that Andrew Cross of Somerset had used electricity to 408 00:24:45,359 --> 00:24:51,359 Speaker 1: create life. So to be clear, Andrew Cross did make 409 00:24:51,520 --> 00:24:55,560 Speaker 1: some far fetched claims during his lifetime, like he told 410 00:24:55,560 --> 00:24:58,240 Speaker 1: a story about being bitten by a cat that died 411 00:24:58,320 --> 00:25:03,320 Speaker 1: that day of hydrophoe b A, which is rabies. About 412 00:25:03,359 --> 00:25:06,920 Speaker 1: three months later, Cross had a worrying combination of symptoms. 413 00:25:06,960 --> 00:25:09,920 Speaker 1: He was thirsty, but his throat spasmed when he tried 414 00:25:09,960 --> 00:25:12,920 Speaker 1: to drink water, and he had a pain that started 415 00:25:12,920 --> 00:25:15,320 Speaker 1: in his hand and worked its way up to his 416 00:25:15,400 --> 00:25:19,000 Speaker 1: elbow and shoulder. Convinced that he was going to die 417 00:25:19,000 --> 00:25:23,880 Speaker 1: of hydrophobia, he went shooting and intentionally exerted himself, and 418 00:25:23,920 --> 00:25:27,320 Speaker 1: thanks to his physical exertion and mental focus, he was 419 00:25:27,359 --> 00:25:30,879 Speaker 1: better in three days. He wrote quote. I mentioned the 420 00:25:30,920 --> 00:25:34,200 Speaker 1: circumstance to Dr King Lake, and he said he certainly 421 00:25:34,240 --> 00:25:37,880 Speaker 1: considered that I had had an attack of hydrophobia, which 422 00:25:37,880 --> 00:25:41,199 Speaker 1: would possibly have proved fatal had I not struggled against 423 00:25:41,200 --> 00:25:45,280 Speaker 1: it by a strong effort of mind. You cannot cure 424 00:25:45,440 --> 00:25:50,000 Speaker 1: rabies with exercise and positive thinking, which just never occur 425 00:25:50,080 --> 00:25:51,879 Speaker 1: to me to be like, I think I might have rabies. 426 00:25:51,960 --> 00:25:54,280 Speaker 1: You know what I should do? Go shooting. That's going 427 00:25:54,359 --> 00:25:59,480 Speaker 1: to help um. As an anxious person, I can totally 428 00:25:59,520 --> 00:26:01,920 Speaker 1: see my elf being like, oh no, this thing is 429 00:26:01,960 --> 00:26:06,840 Speaker 1: happening to me. Uh. We we don't really know if 430 00:26:06,960 --> 00:26:09,600 Speaker 1: Dr King Lake really did think that he had somehow 431 00:26:09,640 --> 00:26:13,679 Speaker 1: staved off an attack of rabies, or if if King 432 00:26:13,760 --> 00:26:17,880 Speaker 1: Lake was humoring him, that's right, dear, you cured yourself. 433 00:26:20,160 --> 00:26:22,240 Speaker 1: But even though he had this whole story about the 434 00:26:22,280 --> 00:26:28,119 Speaker 1: cat and the rabies, um, he did not say that 435 00:26:28,240 --> 00:26:33,359 Speaker 1: he had used electricity to create life. He steadfastly maintained 436 00:26:33,400 --> 00:26:36,080 Speaker 1: that not only had he never made that claim, he 437 00:26:36,119 --> 00:26:39,960 Speaker 1: had never said anything that a reasonable person could interpret 438 00:26:40,119 --> 00:26:43,879 Speaker 1: that way. He really didn't know for sure why mits 439 00:26:43,960 --> 00:26:46,919 Speaker 1: had hatched in his experiment. I mean, he had that 440 00:26:47,000 --> 00:26:49,360 Speaker 1: kind of best guest of like maybe some mights put 441 00:26:49,400 --> 00:26:52,720 Speaker 1: their eggs on there, but he definitely did not think 442 00:26:52,720 --> 00:26:57,359 Speaker 1: he had created them or given life to them with electricity. 443 00:26:57,480 --> 00:27:00,240 Speaker 1: For the next few years, though, Cross faced on going 444 00:27:00,280 --> 00:27:04,720 Speaker 1: accusations of blasphemy and atheism. Because of this misreporting of 445 00:27:04,760 --> 00:27:08,320 Speaker 1: his work and the rumors that followed. People called him 446 00:27:08,359 --> 00:27:11,760 Speaker 1: a Frankenstein and a disturber of the piece of families. 447 00:27:12,640 --> 00:27:16,560 Speaker 1: Cornelia Cross later wrote quote, after disavowing all intention to 448 00:27:16,640 --> 00:27:20,440 Speaker 1: raise any questions connected with either natural or revealed religion, 449 00:27:20,920 --> 00:27:22,960 Speaker 1: he went on to observe that he was sorry to 450 00:27:23,000 --> 00:27:25,560 Speaker 1: see that the faith of his neighbors could be overset 451 00:27:25,800 --> 00:27:29,080 Speaker 1: by the claw of a mite. Other people tried to 452 00:27:29,119 --> 00:27:33,680 Speaker 1: replicate cross as results, but only one, William Henry Weeks 453 00:27:33,680 --> 00:27:37,960 Speaker 1: of Sandwich, had any success, and that happened in eighteen forty. 454 00:27:38,200 --> 00:27:41,760 Speaker 1: Weeks had placed his experiment under a bell jar in 455 00:27:41,960 --> 00:27:45,439 Speaker 1: Mercury to seal it off from the external air, and 456 00:27:45,480 --> 00:27:51,440 Speaker 1: he said that quote five perfect insects formed on novembert one, 457 00:27:51,680 --> 00:27:54,560 Speaker 1: after more than a year of the experiment running. So 458 00:27:54,600 --> 00:27:56,720 Speaker 1: we had started the experiment in eighteen forty and then 459 00:27:56,760 --> 00:28:01,000 Speaker 1: reported this eighteen forty one. He named the might a 460 00:28:01,119 --> 00:28:06,400 Speaker 1: Carus CROSSII after Andrew Cross. Cross and Weeks were both 461 00:28:06,440 --> 00:28:08,879 Speaker 1: threatened with violence, and they were not the only people 462 00:28:08,960 --> 00:28:12,760 Speaker 1: caught up in this media storm. Another was Michael Faraday, 463 00:28:12,840 --> 00:28:16,840 Speaker 1: who was falsely reported as having confirmed Cross's experiment in 464 00:28:16,920 --> 00:28:20,399 Speaker 1: February of eighteen thirty seven. Not only had he not 465 00:28:20,520 --> 00:28:23,920 Speaker 1: done this, he also had not tried to. As all 466 00:28:23,960 --> 00:28:27,520 Speaker 1: of this was happening, several members of Cross's family were 467 00:28:27,680 --> 00:28:32,080 Speaker 1: seriously ill. His wife Mary Anne died in eighteen forty six, 468 00:28:32,119 --> 00:28:36,480 Speaker 1: and his brother Richard died just four days later. Andrew 469 00:28:36,600 --> 00:28:39,840 Speaker 1: was absolutely bereft, and he went to London, where he 470 00:28:39,920 --> 00:28:42,880 Speaker 1: spent most of the next four years. As the house 471 00:28:42,920 --> 00:28:46,440 Speaker 1: and grounds of Fine Court fell into disrepair. While he 472 00:28:46,520 --> 00:28:50,320 Speaker 1: was in London, he met Cornelia Augusta Hewitt Berkeley, who 473 00:28:50,400 --> 00:28:53,479 Speaker 1: was a fan of his work. In her words, quote 474 00:28:53,480 --> 00:28:56,400 Speaker 1: when young, I had always been intensely interested in Mr 475 00:28:56,480 --> 00:29:00,520 Speaker 1: Cross's experiments in electrical science. I had cut out scraps 476 00:29:00,560 --> 00:29:03,920 Speaker 1: from the newspapers that made mention of his discoveries, so 477 00:29:03,960 --> 00:29:06,240 Speaker 1: that it was with no common feelings that I looked 478 00:29:06,280 --> 00:29:10,520 Speaker 1: upon the man whose power, in wielding that mysterious agent electricity, 479 00:29:10,720 --> 00:29:14,640 Speaker 1: had so excited my imagination. She goes on to say 480 00:29:14,680 --> 00:29:16,960 Speaker 1: that she was disappointed that at their first meeting he 481 00:29:17,000 --> 00:29:21,720 Speaker 1: didn't talk about electricity. Perhaps he was hungry. I love that. 482 00:29:23,160 --> 00:29:26,680 Speaker 1: Andrew and Cornelia got married in eighteen fifty he was 483 00:29:26,760 --> 00:29:30,160 Speaker 1: sixty six and she was twenty three. They went back 484 00:29:30,160 --> 00:29:32,240 Speaker 1: to find Court, where they had a son in eighteen 485 00:29:32,280 --> 00:29:36,400 Speaker 1: fifty two, followed by two more children, bringing his total 486 00:29:36,440 --> 00:29:40,720 Speaker 1: surviving children to ten. Cornelia helped Andrew with his experiments 487 00:29:40,720 --> 00:29:44,840 Speaker 1: and observation. He tried to use electricity to purify seawater 488 00:29:45,040 --> 00:29:48,960 Speaker 1: and restore spoiled foods to wholesomeness, and make a hangover 489 00:29:49,040 --> 00:29:52,960 Speaker 1: cure by electrifying wine and beer. When he published his work, 490 00:29:53,000 --> 00:29:55,720 Speaker 1: he did so through the Electrical Society, which took a 491 00:29:55,800 --> 00:29:59,560 Speaker 1: more populist egalitarian approach than many of the more formal 492 00:29:59,600 --> 00:30:03,760 Speaker 1: acade amic societies. In eighteen fifty one, the Crosses went 493 00:30:03,800 --> 00:30:08,400 Speaker 1: to the Great Exhibition in London at Joseph Paxson's Crystal Palace, 494 00:30:08,480 --> 00:30:11,880 Speaker 1: which we've covered previously on the show. They also went 495 00:30:11,960 --> 00:30:14,720 Speaker 1: on a tour of England, coming back to find Court 496 00:30:14,760 --> 00:30:19,600 Speaker 1: in eighteen fifty five. On May eighteen fifty five, Andrew 497 00:30:19,640 --> 00:30:23,240 Speaker 1: Cross had what he called a paralytic seizure. It was 498 00:30:23,320 --> 00:30:26,680 Speaker 1: probably a stroke that paralyzed part of his body. He 499 00:30:26,760 --> 00:30:29,040 Speaker 1: died on July six, in the same room where he 500 00:30:29,080 --> 00:30:32,240 Speaker 1: had been born. On his deathbed, he changed his will 501 00:30:32,600 --> 00:30:35,080 Speaker 1: to leave his property to his wife rather than his 502 00:30:35,120 --> 00:30:38,200 Speaker 1: oldest son, John, but she then gave the estate to 503 00:30:38,320 --> 00:30:41,680 Speaker 1: John and his family. Andrew Cross is buried in the 504 00:30:41,760 --> 00:30:44,280 Speaker 1: churchyard at the Church of Saint Mary and All Saints 505 00:30:44,320 --> 00:30:48,800 Speaker 1: in Broomfield. Cornelia had an obelisk erected in his memory there. 506 00:30:49,360 --> 00:30:54,080 Speaker 1: In eighteen fifty seven, Cornelia published Memorials Scientific and Literary 507 00:30:54,160 --> 00:30:58,200 Speaker 1: of Andrew Cross the Electrician, which discussed her late husband's 508 00:30:58,240 --> 00:31:02,480 Speaker 1: life and work, including men of his poems and correspondence 509 00:31:02,520 --> 00:31:05,520 Speaker 1: and a complete account of the experiment with the mites. 510 00:31:06,360 --> 00:31:09,560 Speaker 1: In two she published Red Letter Days of My Life, 511 00:31:09,600 --> 00:31:13,280 Speaker 1: which included her recollections about the scientists and writers and 512 00:31:13,320 --> 00:31:16,080 Speaker 1: thinkers that she could come to know during their marriage. 513 00:31:16,680 --> 00:31:18,880 Speaker 1: Most of the manor house at Fine Court is no 514 00:31:18,960 --> 00:31:21,880 Speaker 1: longer standing. It was largely destroyed in a fire in 515 00:31:21,960 --> 00:31:26,120 Speaker 1: eight but the library and music room are still there, 516 00:31:26,200 --> 00:31:29,400 Speaker 1: as well as a gardener's cottage and a church. Some 517 00:31:29,520 --> 00:31:32,040 Speaker 1: of the structure still standing on the property are used 518 00:31:32,040 --> 00:31:36,360 Speaker 1: as office space, including for organizations like Somerset Wildlife Trust, 519 00:31:36,840 --> 00:31:40,080 Speaker 1: and visitors can stay at the gardener's cottage. It is 520 00:31:40,120 --> 00:31:43,440 Speaker 1: primarily a nature preserve with walking trails in a tea 521 00:31:43,520 --> 00:31:46,920 Speaker 1: room with a tea room currently only take out due 522 00:31:46,920 --> 00:31:51,840 Speaker 1: to the COVID nineteen pandemic. We have made some references 523 00:31:51,880 --> 00:31:54,880 Speaker 1: to Andrew Cross's poetry, and I thought we would end 524 00:31:54,960 --> 00:31:57,360 Speaker 1: on one of his poems. This is called the Three 525 00:31:57,440 --> 00:32:02,520 Speaker 1: Trenches three thirdling trenches round my heart. I throw to 526 00:32:02,680 --> 00:32:06,600 Speaker 1: keep at bay each intermeddling foe within the first the 527 00:32:06,640 --> 00:32:10,880 Speaker 1: world may enter free, whatever their sect, opinion, or degree, 528 00:32:11,640 --> 00:32:15,680 Speaker 1: safe or the next. I greet a fair array, serenely smiling, 529 00:32:15,720 --> 00:32:19,880 Speaker 1: as a summer's day to pass. The third alas how 530 00:32:20,000 --> 00:32:24,640 Speaker 1: few contrive and of those dearest few, how few survive. 531 00:32:26,440 --> 00:32:30,680 Speaker 1: That is Andrew Cross. This is one of those topics 532 00:32:30,720 --> 00:32:33,520 Speaker 1: that if I had a do over in a time machine, 533 00:32:34,040 --> 00:32:37,680 Speaker 1: I would have saved this for like a tour show, 534 00:32:37,720 --> 00:32:41,360 Speaker 1: because it's so fun. It's very very fun. Uh do 535 00:32:41,400 --> 00:32:45,360 Speaker 1: you have fun email? I do? Is it fun? It 536 00:32:45,480 --> 00:32:49,440 Speaker 1: is fun? Fun? Is it fun? This is from Jennifer. 537 00:32:50,320 --> 00:32:53,400 Speaker 1: Jennifer says, Hi, Holly and Tracy. I got so excited 538 00:32:53,440 --> 00:32:56,960 Speaker 1: while I was listening to the recent scurvy episode. I 539 00:32:57,000 --> 00:32:59,440 Speaker 1: went down a history rabbit hole a few months ago. 540 00:33:00,080 --> 00:33:02,040 Speaker 1: Didn't know how to write in about it. It's a 541 00:33:02,080 --> 00:33:04,760 Speaker 1: long story, but I was watching a cooking show and 542 00:33:04,800 --> 00:33:08,800 Speaker 1: the recipe called for black currents. I was intrigued because 543 00:33:08,800 --> 00:33:11,280 Speaker 1: they looked delicious and I had never heard of them before. 544 00:33:11,800 --> 00:33:13,680 Speaker 1: It turns out, in the early nineteen hundreds of the 545 00:33:13,760 --> 00:33:18,040 Speaker 1: US banned the cultivation, sale, and transportation of currents. They 546 00:33:18,040 --> 00:33:20,960 Speaker 1: can carry a fungus that is destructive to the white pine, 547 00:33:21,560 --> 00:33:25,400 Speaker 1: so currents were banned to safeguard the timber industry. That 548 00:33:25,560 --> 00:33:30,280 Speaker 1: basically eliminated currents from the American diet. Another interesting fact, 549 00:33:30,440 --> 00:33:33,200 Speaker 1: during the Blackades in World War two, currents were one 550 00:33:33,240 --> 00:33:36,360 Speaker 1: of the only vitamin C rich fruits that could be 551 00:33:36,400 --> 00:33:40,960 Speaker 1: grown locally in Britain. Churchill encouraged people to cultivate black 552 00:33:41,000 --> 00:33:44,280 Speaker 1: currents and it kept the population from getting scurvy. Current 553 00:33:44,320 --> 00:33:48,040 Speaker 1: flavored soda and candy are still popular in the UK today. 554 00:33:48,120 --> 00:33:50,120 Speaker 1: I love the show. It was my first podcast ever 555 00:33:50,160 --> 00:33:52,680 Speaker 1: and it opened me up to the podcast world. My 556 00:33:52,760 --> 00:33:56,560 Speaker 1: love of history has grown so much because of you guys. 557 00:33:56,600 --> 00:34:01,040 Speaker 1: Thanks for reading. Thank you for sending this Ale Jennifer. 558 00:34:01,080 --> 00:34:03,360 Speaker 1: I got it this morning and I was like, why 559 00:34:03,440 --> 00:34:06,680 Speaker 1: have I had no confusion about what currents are, even 560 00:34:06,720 --> 00:34:09,640 Speaker 1: though I don't know that I have ever actually eaten them. 561 00:34:09,680 --> 00:34:12,759 Speaker 1: And the answer quickly came into my mind that in 562 00:34:12,880 --> 00:34:16,360 Speaker 1: Anne of Green Gables, and is supposed to give Diana 563 00:34:16,400 --> 00:34:21,320 Speaker 1: Berry raspberry cordial, but instead she accidentally gives Diana Berry 564 00:34:21,480 --> 00:34:25,360 Speaker 1: Marilla's black current line, and then Diana gets very drunk, 565 00:34:25,760 --> 00:34:28,360 Speaker 1: and it is a big source of the tension in 566 00:34:28,480 --> 00:34:34,480 Speaker 1: that part of the book. And so I think sometime 567 00:34:34,600 --> 00:34:37,160 Speaker 1: in my childhood I was like, what is what is 568 00:34:37,200 --> 00:34:39,880 Speaker 1: black current line? And I found out that they're like 569 00:34:40,000 --> 00:34:44,360 Speaker 1: little they're like a little berry. Um. I looked into 570 00:34:44,440 --> 00:34:45,759 Speaker 1: it because I was like, wow, I did not know 571 00:34:45,800 --> 00:34:48,160 Speaker 1: all of this about their being banned in the US. 572 00:34:48,320 --> 00:34:50,239 Speaker 1: I just sort of assumed that they were something that 573 00:34:50,280 --> 00:34:52,440 Speaker 1: didn't grow locally. That's not true at all, Like they 574 00:34:52,440 --> 00:34:55,120 Speaker 1: were grown a whole lot in New York and New 575 00:34:55,160 --> 00:35:00,000 Speaker 1: England until this whole problem with the with the fungus 576 00:35:00,440 --> 00:35:04,680 Speaker 1: which is actually a rust and the band, like the 577 00:35:04,760 --> 00:35:08,200 Speaker 1: federal band was rolled back before I was born, but 578 00:35:08,239 --> 00:35:11,040 Speaker 1: there were still a lot of state level bands. It 579 00:35:11,160 --> 00:35:14,960 Speaker 1: is still not a commonly grown crop in the US 580 00:35:15,000 --> 00:35:18,960 Speaker 1: at all, Like more than of the current crop in 581 00:35:19,000 --> 00:35:22,360 Speaker 1: the world is grown in Europe. So um, that was 582 00:35:22,400 --> 00:35:25,520 Speaker 1: an interesting tidbit for me to start my morning off with. 583 00:35:25,800 --> 00:35:29,320 Speaker 1: So thank you so much Jennifer for sending this email. 584 00:35:30,080 --> 00:35:31,640 Speaker 1: If you would like to write to us about this 585 00:35:31,760 --> 00:35:34,239 Speaker 1: or any other podcast, we're at History Podcast that I 586 00:35:34,320 --> 00:35:36,399 Speaker 1: Heart radio dot com, and then we are all over 587 00:35:36,520 --> 00:35:39,440 Speaker 1: social media at Missed in History. That's where you'll find 588 00:35:39,440 --> 00:35:43,560 Speaker 1: our Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram. And you can subscribe 589 00:35:43,560 --> 00:35:46,160 Speaker 1: to our show on Apple podcast, the I Heart Radio app, 590 00:35:46,320 --> 00:35:53,799 Speaker 1: and anywhere else you get your podcasts. Stuff you Missed 591 00:35:53,800 --> 00:35:56,280 Speaker 1: in History Class is a production of I heart Radio. 592 00:35:56,600 --> 00:35:59,160 Speaker 1: For more podcasts from I heart Radio, visit the i 593 00:35:59,239 --> 00:36:02,440 Speaker 1: heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to 594 00:36:02,480 --> 00:36:03,960 Speaker 1: your favorite shows. M