1 00:00:01,320 --> 00:00:04,240 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff You Missed in History Class, a production 2 00:00:04,400 --> 00:00:14,920 Speaker 1: of iHeartRadio. Hello and welcome to the podcast. I'm Tracy B. 3 00:00:15,080 --> 00:00:18,720 Speaker 2: Wilson and I'm Holly Frye. Three of my four most 4 00:00:18,760 --> 00:00:23,480 Speaker 2: recent episodes have been about someone named Elizabeth, including today. 5 00:00:24,800 --> 00:00:27,840 Speaker 2: I did not do that on purpose. It was just 6 00:00:27,880 --> 00:00:31,240 Speaker 2: a coincidence. But if you've been looking at your app 7 00:00:31,880 --> 00:00:34,240 Speaker 2: and kind of you've done a double take, like, didn't 8 00:00:34,280 --> 00:00:37,600 Speaker 2: they just do this? They just had Elizabeth. It's a 9 00:00:37,600 --> 00:00:40,720 Speaker 2: different Elizabeth. There are just a lot of Elizabeths. I guess. 10 00:00:40,880 --> 00:00:43,640 Speaker 1: Welcome to the Stuff you missed in History Class, Festival 11 00:00:43,680 --> 00:00:47,559 Speaker 1: of Elizabeths. Festival of Elizabeths. 12 00:00:48,000 --> 00:00:51,320 Speaker 2: I just finished reading the last couple of books in 13 00:00:51,360 --> 00:00:56,040 Speaker 2: the Edinburgh Knights series by TL Huchu. These books are 14 00:00:56,080 --> 00:00:59,640 Speaker 2: set in Scotland in a post catastrophe world that is 15 00:00:59,680 --> 00:01:02,800 Speaker 2: full of ghosts and magic and the occult. And then 16 00:01:02,840 --> 00:01:06,000 Speaker 2: there are also a lot of references to real historical 17 00:01:06,040 --> 00:01:10,640 Speaker 2: figures underpinning this fictional world. And in the fourth book 18 00:01:10,680 --> 00:01:14,760 Speaker 2: of this series, Elizabeth Fulham gets mentioned as the author 19 00:01:14,920 --> 00:01:20,160 Speaker 2: of Catalysts and Accelerants, A Guide to Refining Practical Magic, 20 00:01:21,520 --> 00:01:25,320 Speaker 2: And I thought, was that a real person and googled 21 00:01:25,400 --> 00:01:28,920 Speaker 2: and it was that is not a real book, though 22 00:01:29,360 --> 00:01:33,440 Speaker 2: Elizabeth Fulham's seventeen ninety four book was on chemistry and 23 00:01:33,520 --> 00:01:35,440 Speaker 2: it was ahead of its time. And I'm also just 24 00:01:35,600 --> 00:01:39,840 Speaker 2: really fascinated by her, even though we really don't know 25 00:01:40,000 --> 00:01:45,759 Speaker 2: much about her. So most sources describe Elizabeth Fulham as Scottish, 26 00:01:46,240 --> 00:01:48,800 Speaker 2: and that is because she was married to Thomas Fulham, 27 00:01:48,880 --> 00:01:52,320 Speaker 2: who graduated from the University of Edinburgh with a medical 28 00:01:52,360 --> 00:01:56,000 Speaker 2: degree in seventeen eighty four. So there's an assumption in 29 00:01:56,080 --> 00:02:00,200 Speaker 2: play that they met in Edinburgh or maybe somewhere nearby. 30 00:02:00,880 --> 00:02:03,640 Speaker 2: We don't actually know exactly where Thomas was from either. 31 00:02:04,000 --> 00:02:07,480 Speaker 2: People often came to Edinburgh to study medicine from other 32 00:02:07,560 --> 00:02:10,359 Speaker 2: parts of the British and Irish Isles and even other 33 00:02:10,400 --> 00:02:14,120 Speaker 2: parts of the world. According to the Oxford Dictionary of 34 00:02:14,240 --> 00:02:20,200 Speaker 2: National Biography, he was from Ireland. In terms of Elizabeth's biography, 35 00:02:20,800 --> 00:02:24,440 Speaker 2: that's basically it. We don't know when she was born 36 00:02:24,680 --> 00:02:26,960 Speaker 2: or who her parents were. We don't know what her 37 00:02:27,040 --> 00:02:30,240 Speaker 2: name was before she got married, or what her childhood 38 00:02:30,280 --> 00:02:33,080 Speaker 2: was like, or how long she lived. There are even 39 00:02:33,080 --> 00:02:36,679 Speaker 2: some doubts about whether her name was Elizabeth. She published 40 00:02:36,680 --> 00:02:39,440 Speaker 2: her work under the name Missus Fulham, and that is 41 00:02:39,480 --> 00:02:43,360 Speaker 2: how eighteenth and nineteenth century writers referred to her. So 42 00:02:43,480 --> 00:02:48,239 Speaker 2: if you're thinking, aren't there birth certificates or marriage certificates 43 00:02:48,320 --> 00:02:52,040 Speaker 2: something that we could use to confirm some of these 44 00:02:52,480 --> 00:02:57,600 Speaker 2: very basic details. In Britain and Ireland, clergy kept records 45 00:02:57,639 --> 00:03:01,919 Speaker 2: of baptisms, burials and marriages going back to the sixteenth century, 46 00:03:02,200 --> 00:03:06,040 Speaker 2: but there wasn't a legal framework for civil registrations of 47 00:03:06,080 --> 00:03:09,440 Speaker 2: these kinds of events until eighteen thirty six for England 48 00:03:09,480 --> 00:03:13,680 Speaker 2: and Wales, eighteen fifty four for Scotland and eighteen sixty 49 00:03:13,680 --> 00:03:17,400 Speaker 2: four for Ireland. So it is possible that their church 50 00:03:17,440 --> 00:03:22,000 Speaker 2: records related to the lives of Elizabeth and Thomas Fulhane somewhere, 51 00:03:22,080 --> 00:03:25,320 Speaker 2: but if they do exist, no one has found them yet. 52 00:03:26,200 --> 00:03:29,280 Speaker 2: In seventeen seventy nine, while he was in medical school, 53 00:03:29,560 --> 00:03:33,040 Speaker 2: Thomas Fulham took a chemistry class that was taught by 54 00:03:33,080 --> 00:03:37,280 Speaker 2: Scottish chemist and physician Joseph Black. In addition to being 55 00:03:37,320 --> 00:03:40,600 Speaker 2: a highly respected chemist, Black had a reputation for being 56 00:03:40,640 --> 00:03:44,760 Speaker 2: both inspired and inspiring as a teacher and attracting students 57 00:03:44,760 --> 00:03:49,400 Speaker 2: from outside of Scotland to study chemistry with him. Chemistry 58 00:03:49,520 --> 00:03:51,760 Speaker 2: was part of the medical curriculum, but a lot of 59 00:03:51,760 --> 00:03:55,480 Speaker 2: medical students also took more chemistry than they needed because 60 00:03:55,480 --> 00:03:59,280 Speaker 2: they wanted to keep learning from him. That included Thomas Fulham, 61 00:03:59,320 --> 00:04:02,760 Speaker 2: who continued to be connected to Black's chemistry classes until 62 00:04:02,800 --> 00:04:07,320 Speaker 2: seventeen ninety That was not just after he finished his 63 00:04:07,480 --> 00:04:10,600 Speaker 2: chemistry requirement for his medical degree, it was years after 64 00:04:10,640 --> 00:04:14,760 Speaker 2: he finished that medical degree. These two men were also correspondents, 65 00:04:14,880 --> 00:04:18,080 Speaker 2: and Black credited Thomas Fulham with developing a method to 66 00:04:18,160 --> 00:04:22,919 Speaker 2: manufacture white lead. Black's lectures were also popular with the 67 00:04:22,960 --> 00:04:26,520 Speaker 2: general public, and a significant number of people paid three 68 00:04:26,560 --> 00:04:30,880 Speaker 2: guineas to take his general chemistry course. Women could not 69 00:04:31,200 --> 00:04:34,880 Speaker 2: formally enroll at the University of Edinburgh until eighteen ninety two, 70 00:04:35,440 --> 00:04:38,080 Speaker 2: but there were some women who attended lectures that were 71 00:04:38,120 --> 00:04:41,279 Speaker 2: open to the public before that point, and we don't 72 00:04:41,640 --> 00:04:45,120 Speaker 2: really know if Elizabeth Fulham did that, there would have 73 00:04:45,160 --> 00:04:48,280 Speaker 2: been few, if any women in the audience. Quite as 74 00:04:48,320 --> 00:04:52,000 Speaker 2: early as her lifetime. She may have pursued an interest 75 00:04:52,040 --> 00:04:55,120 Speaker 2: in chemistry on her own, maybe with her husband's help 76 00:04:55,480 --> 00:04:58,719 Speaker 2: to get access to books and materials from the university. 77 00:04:59,800 --> 00:05:03,760 Speaker 2: It it is likely that she became interested in developing 78 00:05:03,839 --> 00:05:07,960 Speaker 2: techniques for dying cloth. In seventeen eighty, when her husband 79 00:05:08,000 --> 00:05:13,600 Speaker 2: started taking this chemistry class. One of Black's regular demonstrations 80 00:05:13,640 --> 00:05:17,760 Speaker 2: involved dissolving metals in an acid solution and then precipitating 81 00:05:17,800 --> 00:05:22,000 Speaker 2: metal chlorides out of that solution. Elizabeth wondered if it 82 00:05:22,080 --> 00:05:27,080 Speaker 2: was possible to do something similar to precipitate metals onto textiles, 83 00:05:27,520 --> 00:05:31,159 Speaker 2: creating fabrics that were basically dyed with silver and gold. 84 00:05:31,839 --> 00:05:35,000 Speaker 2: And she mentioned this idea to her husband and some 85 00:05:35,080 --> 00:05:38,679 Speaker 2: of their friends, and they all dismissed her. She thought 86 00:05:38,800 --> 00:05:41,520 Speaker 2: she could really figure this out, though, which is so admirable. 87 00:05:42,160 --> 00:05:45,039 Speaker 2: In her words, quote, I imagined in the beginning that 88 00:05:45,080 --> 00:05:49,280 Speaker 2: a few experiments would determine the problem, but experience soon 89 00:05:49,360 --> 00:05:52,800 Speaker 2: convinced me that a very great number, indeed, were necessary 90 00:05:53,160 --> 00:05:56,240 Speaker 2: before such an art could be brought to any tolerable 91 00:05:56,279 --> 00:06:00,360 Speaker 2: degree of perfection. She went on to do experiments for 92 00:06:00,440 --> 00:06:06,400 Speaker 2: fourteen years, carefully recording her methods and results with various textiles, metals, 93 00:06:06,440 --> 00:06:10,039 Speaker 2: and chemicals. We'll talk more about the methods in just 94 00:06:10,080 --> 00:06:13,000 Speaker 2: a bit, but she was eventually able to make small 95 00:06:13,080 --> 00:06:16,560 Speaker 2: bits of gold and silver cloth. She didn't really think 96 00:06:16,600 --> 00:06:20,120 Speaker 2: these were worth public attention, but she kept trying until 97 00:06:20,120 --> 00:06:23,800 Speaker 2: her only limit was her budget. She could basically make 98 00:06:23,839 --> 00:06:26,400 Speaker 2: a piece of gold cloth that was large enough to 99 00:06:26,600 --> 00:06:29,080 Speaker 2: use up the components she could afford to buy for 100 00:06:29,160 --> 00:06:33,400 Speaker 2: that experiment. She described one particularly good piece as measuring 101 00:06:33,440 --> 00:06:38,120 Speaker 2: about a yard long and almost flawless. She mostly worked 102 00:06:38,120 --> 00:06:41,520 Speaker 2: with silk, but she experimented with other fabrics as well. 103 00:06:42,320 --> 00:06:45,440 Speaker 2: Some of her experiments apparently turned out just sort of 104 00:06:45,480 --> 00:06:49,280 Speaker 2: stained and sad looking, but she also produced pieces of 105 00:06:49,279 --> 00:06:52,359 Speaker 2: cloth in a whole array of other colors, some of 106 00:06:52,400 --> 00:06:55,960 Speaker 2: which were flecked with silver or gold. She said that 107 00:06:56,000 --> 00:06:58,120 Speaker 2: she had once seen a piece of fabric made for 108 00:06:58,200 --> 00:07:01,520 Speaker 2: the late King of Spain which was purple with gold 109 00:07:01,600 --> 00:07:04,960 Speaker 2: wire running through it. It is possible that she saw 110 00:07:04,960 --> 00:07:07,359 Speaker 2: this on a trip with her husband. We know that 111 00:07:07,640 --> 00:07:10,800 Speaker 2: he traveled to Spain in seventeen eighty nine, and she 112 00:07:11,400 --> 00:07:13,520 Speaker 2: tried to get a similar effect on a piece of 113 00:07:13,560 --> 00:07:18,200 Speaker 2: white silk and succeeded quote, having produced a beautiful purple 114 00:07:18,280 --> 00:07:23,320 Speaker 2: color with gold beaming through it. Fulham also found another 115 00:07:23,480 --> 00:07:25,880 Speaker 2: use for her techniques, which was more like a paint. 116 00:07:26,480 --> 00:07:29,680 Speaker 2: In her words, quote, I have applied it to some maps, 117 00:07:29,880 --> 00:07:32,960 Speaker 2: the rivers of which I represented in silver, and the 118 00:07:33,000 --> 00:07:36,440 Speaker 2: cities in gold. The rivers appearing as it were in 119 00:07:36,560 --> 00:07:40,040 Speaker 2: silver streams, have a most pleasing effect on the site 120 00:07:40,480 --> 00:07:43,600 Speaker 2: and relieve the eye of that painful search for the 121 00:07:43,680 --> 00:07:47,840 Speaker 2: course and origin of rivers, the minutest branches of which 122 00:07:47,880 --> 00:07:52,520 Speaker 2: can be splendidly represented in this way. In October of 123 00:07:52,560 --> 00:07:57,320 Speaker 2: seventeen ninety three, Fulham met quote an illustrious friend of science, 124 00:07:57,880 --> 00:08:02,160 Speaker 2: and that was most likely English chemist Joseph Priestley. He 125 00:08:02,360 --> 00:08:04,400 Speaker 2: approved of her work and he offered to have it 126 00:08:04,480 --> 00:08:08,520 Speaker 2: presented to the Royal Society. Priestley was a fellow of 127 00:08:08,520 --> 00:08:12,480 Speaker 2: the Society at that point. Fulham didn't say exactly why, 128 00:08:12,520 --> 00:08:15,640 Speaker 2: but she decided to go a different route and publish 129 00:08:15,720 --> 00:08:19,280 Speaker 2: her book herself. Now it is possible that the reason 130 00:08:19,320 --> 00:08:22,800 Speaker 2: for that traces back to Priestley, who was persecuted for 131 00:08:22,880 --> 00:08:26,440 Speaker 2: his dissenting religious views and branded as seditious for his 132 00:08:26,520 --> 00:08:31,400 Speaker 2: support of the American and French revolutions. Priestley fled to 133 00:08:31,480 --> 00:08:35,040 Speaker 2: the United States in seventeen ninety four, and that was 134 00:08:35,080 --> 00:08:39,160 Speaker 2: the same year that Fulham's an essay on Combustion with 135 00:08:39,240 --> 00:08:41,560 Speaker 2: a view to a New Art of Dying and Painting, 136 00:08:41,960 --> 00:08:47,640 Speaker 2: wherein The Flegistic and Antiflegistic Hypotheses are Proved erroneous one 137 00:08:47,640 --> 00:08:50,560 Speaker 2: whole title, and it was printed by J. Cooper in 138 00:08:50,720 --> 00:08:55,439 Speaker 2: Bow Street, London. In the eighteenth century, booksellers filled the 139 00:08:55,520 --> 00:09:00,720 Speaker 2: role of publishers, and Fulham's bookseller was Joseph Johnson. Johnson 140 00:09:00,760 --> 00:09:03,960 Speaker 2: was Priestley's publisher as well, and he was also known 141 00:09:04,000 --> 00:09:07,040 Speaker 2: for publishing works that were considered to be radical at 142 00:09:07,080 --> 00:09:10,760 Speaker 2: the time. That included the work of religious dissenters and 143 00:09:10,960 --> 00:09:17,520 Speaker 2: feminist philosopher Mary Wollstonecraft. Regarding that plegistic and anti flogistic 144 00:09:17,679 --> 00:09:22,280 Speaker 2: hypotheses situation referenced in that title. In the eighteenth century, 145 00:09:22,400 --> 00:09:26,520 Speaker 2: one theory was that all combustible materials contained a substance 146 00:09:26,640 --> 00:09:30,120 Speaker 2: known as flogiston, which was released in the act of burning. 147 00:09:30,960 --> 00:09:32,720 Speaker 2: The ash or other residue that was. 148 00:09:32,760 --> 00:09:37,640 Speaker 1: Left behind was the deflogisticated substance. I love that word. 149 00:09:38,040 --> 00:09:41,120 Speaker 1: This basic idea was first proposed by Johann Becker in 150 00:09:41,200 --> 00:09:44,240 Speaker 1: sixteen sixty seven, and then it was further developed by 151 00:09:44,280 --> 00:09:48,000 Speaker 1: George ernst Stall, who coined the term flogiston in the 152 00:09:48,000 --> 00:09:52,440 Speaker 1: early eighteenth century. By the time Fulham wrote her book, 153 00:09:52,679 --> 00:09:58,439 Speaker 1: this theory had supporters and opponents. Supporters included Joseph Priestley, 154 00:09:58,520 --> 00:10:03,000 Speaker 1: who called oxygen deflegisticated air when he isolated it in 155 00:10:03,080 --> 00:10:08,760 Speaker 1: seventeen seventy four. Challengers to this hypothesis included Antoine Laurent 156 00:10:08,840 --> 00:10:12,439 Speaker 1: de Lavoisier, who we've covered on the show before and 157 00:10:12,480 --> 00:10:16,440 Speaker 1: who was building on Priestley's work. In seventeen seventy seven, 158 00:10:16,520 --> 00:10:20,720 Speaker 1: Lavoisier proposed a theory of combustion that described air as 159 00:10:20,760 --> 00:10:23,840 Speaker 1: a mix of gases, with one of those gases, which 160 00:10:23,880 --> 00:10:29,120 Speaker 1: he called oxygen, being required for combustion. And we're going 161 00:10:29,200 --> 00:10:31,880 Speaker 1: to get into how all of this connects to Fullhame's 162 00:10:31,920 --> 00:10:44,240 Speaker 1: book after we pause for a sponsor break. To get 163 00:10:44,280 --> 00:10:48,559 Speaker 1: to the details of Elizabeth Fulhams's book, she had doubts 164 00:10:48,640 --> 00:10:51,720 Speaker 1: about whether the techniques that she had developed for dyeing 165 00:10:51,880 --> 00:10:55,360 Speaker 1: cloth with metals could be established as an art or 166 00:10:55,480 --> 00:10:59,240 Speaker 1: an industry. She was working without a patron or other 167 00:10:59,320 --> 00:11:03,000 Speaker 1: financial bats, so her experiments were limited to what she 168 00:11:03,120 --> 00:11:06,720 Speaker 1: and her husband could afford. That meant she didn't have 169 00:11:06,760 --> 00:11:10,640 Speaker 1: access to anything like a fully equipped lab. She was 170 00:11:10,679 --> 00:11:14,400 Speaker 1: doing experiments at home with a few glass vessels and 171 00:11:14,520 --> 00:11:19,240 Speaker 1: a nuth apparatus, A Newth Apparatus is a set of 172 00:11:19,280 --> 00:11:24,319 Speaker 1: interconnecting glass chambers developed by John rvyn Nuth for carbonating water. 173 00:11:24,880 --> 00:11:27,280 Speaker 1: We've actually talked about it before in our episode on 174 00:11:27,360 --> 00:11:32,320 Speaker 1: Johann Schweppa and carbonated beverages. This apparatus could also be 175 00:11:32,400 --> 00:11:36,120 Speaker 1: used for other purposes. Surgeon Robert Liston, who we have 176 00:11:36,160 --> 00:11:38,720 Speaker 1: also covered on the show Near and Dear to My Heart, 177 00:11:39,080 --> 00:11:43,960 Speaker 1: adapted one to administer anesthesia to his patients. Fulham used 178 00:11:43,960 --> 00:11:48,559 Speaker 1: a Newth apparatus for various experiments involving gases, placing pieces 179 00:11:48,600 --> 00:11:52,000 Speaker 1: of cloth in one of the chambers, depending on exactly 180 00:11:52,040 --> 00:11:55,360 Speaker 1: what she was trying to expose it to you. Fulham 181 00:11:55,520 --> 00:11:58,000 Speaker 1: also wrote that she did not have the means to 182 00:11:58,280 --> 00:12:02,080 Speaker 1: patent her techniques, and even if she did have the means, 183 00:12:02,520 --> 00:12:06,160 Speaker 1: she thought such an application would be in vain quote 184 00:12:06,240 --> 00:12:09,840 Speaker 1: if we may judge the future by the past. She 185 00:12:09,960 --> 00:12:13,920 Speaker 1: also thought the experiments themselves were not unworthy of the 186 00:12:13,960 --> 00:12:18,280 Speaker 1: attention of other chemists, since, in her words quote, they 187 00:12:18,600 --> 00:12:22,400 Speaker 1: seemed to throw some light on the theory of combustion. So, 188 00:12:22,480 --> 00:12:24,520 Speaker 1: even though she didn't feel like she could patent what 189 00:12:24,559 --> 00:12:28,160 Speaker 1: she was doing, she wrote this book. She also seems 190 00:12:28,200 --> 00:12:30,520 Speaker 1: to have thought that if she didn't write the book, 191 00:12:30,880 --> 00:12:33,440 Speaker 1: someone else might try to pass off the ideas that 192 00:12:33,559 --> 00:12:37,560 Speaker 1: she had developed in her experiments as their own. As 193 00:12:37,559 --> 00:12:40,520 Speaker 1: she wrote in the preface, quote, I published this essay 194 00:12:40,559 --> 00:12:44,040 Speaker 1: in its present, imperfect state in order to prevent the 195 00:12:44,120 --> 00:12:48,280 Speaker 1: foracious attempts of the prowling plagiary and the insidious pretender 196 00:12:48,320 --> 00:12:52,600 Speaker 1: to chemistry from arrogating to themselves and assuming my invention 197 00:12:53,120 --> 00:12:56,880 Speaker 1: in plundering silence. For there are those who, if they 198 00:12:56,960 --> 00:13:01,680 Speaker 1: can not by chemical never fail by strategy and mechanical means, 199 00:13:01,720 --> 00:13:06,479 Speaker 1: to deprive industry of the fruit and fame of her labors. 200 00:13:07,440 --> 00:13:10,800 Speaker 2: She also had some thoughts about the way she was 201 00:13:11,000 --> 00:13:14,960 Speaker 2: likely to be received and treated as a woman publishing 202 00:13:15,080 --> 00:13:20,160 Speaker 2: scientific work. These thoughts are honestly one of my favorite 203 00:13:20,160 --> 00:13:23,199 Speaker 2: parts of this whole book. We are going to read 204 00:13:23,240 --> 00:13:26,880 Speaker 2: a chunk of them. In her words, quote, it may 205 00:13:26,960 --> 00:13:31,319 Speaker 2: appear presuming to some that I should engage in pursuits 206 00:13:31,320 --> 00:13:35,959 Speaker 2: of this nature, But averse from indolence and having much leisure, 207 00:13:36,200 --> 00:13:39,680 Speaker 2: my mind led me to this mode of amusement, which 208 00:13:39,679 --> 00:13:44,520 Speaker 2: I found entertaining, and will I hope be thought inoffensive 209 00:13:44,720 --> 00:13:50,439 Speaker 2: by the liberal and the learned. But censure is perhaps inevitable, 210 00:13:50,559 --> 00:13:54,880 Speaker 2: for some are so ignorant that they grow sullen and silent, 211 00:13:55,040 --> 00:13:59,000 Speaker 2: and are chilled with horror at the sight of anything 212 00:13:59,080 --> 00:14:02,720 Speaker 2: that bears the semblance of learning, in whatever shape it 213 00:14:02,760 --> 00:14:06,560 Speaker 2: may appear. And should the specter appear in the shape 214 00:14:06,600 --> 00:14:12,720 Speaker 2: of a woman, the pangs which they suffer are truly dismal. Oh, 215 00:14:12,760 --> 00:14:15,880 Speaker 2: it's so good, she went on to say, quote there 216 00:14:15,880 --> 00:14:18,680 Speaker 2: are others who suffer the same nature in a still 217 00:14:18,760 --> 00:14:23,239 Speaker 2: higher degree, but by virtue of an old inspiring tripod 218 00:14:23,440 --> 00:14:27,400 Speaker 2: on which ignorance, servility, or chance has placed them, assume 219 00:14:27,440 --> 00:14:32,240 Speaker 2: a dictatorship in science, and fancying their rights and prerogatives invaded, 220 00:14:32,800 --> 00:14:36,400 Speaker 2: swell with rage, and are suddenly seized with a violent 221 00:14:36,520 --> 00:14:46,200 Speaker 2: and irresistible desire of revenge, manifesting itself by innuendos, nods, whispers, sneers, grins, grimace, 222 00:14:46,680 --> 00:14:52,000 Speaker 2: satanic smiles, and witticisms uttered, sometimes in the acute and 223 00:14:52,120 --> 00:14:56,840 Speaker 2: sometimes in the nasal, obtuse twang with an affected auteur, 224 00:14:57,040 --> 00:15:01,960 Speaker 2: and contempt of the specter, shrugs, a variety of other contortions, 225 00:15:02,080 --> 00:15:06,600 Speaker 2: attending she did not dance around what she thought of 226 00:15:06,680 --> 00:15:10,000 Speaker 2: people who got so wadded up at the idea of 227 00:15:10,080 --> 00:15:11,400 Speaker 2: women doing science. 228 00:15:12,040 --> 00:15:12,400 Speaker 1: Quote. 229 00:15:12,600 --> 00:15:17,320 Speaker 2: Sometimes the goblin, which thus agitates them, lurks latent, and 230 00:15:17,400 --> 00:15:23,000 Speaker 2: nothing is perceived but hollow murmurs, portending storms. Sometimes the 231 00:15:23,120 --> 00:15:28,760 Speaker 2: lurking fiend darts with sidelong fury at the devoted object, which, 232 00:15:28,880 --> 00:15:33,800 Speaker 2: if unarmed, falls victim to the grisly monster. But happily 233 00:15:33,920 --> 00:15:39,560 Speaker 2: for humankind, the magic tripod drags none into its dizzy vortex, 234 00:15:40,040 --> 00:15:44,920 Speaker 2: but those who are radically stupid and malicious, who are 235 00:15:44,960 --> 00:15:49,640 Speaker 2: beasts of prey destined to hunt down unprotected genius, to 236 00:15:49,840 --> 00:15:53,800 Speaker 2: stain the page of biography, or to rot unnoted in 237 00:15:53,840 --> 00:15:58,640 Speaker 2: the grave of oblivion. Fulhame's preface is followed by an 238 00:15:58,680 --> 00:16:02,240 Speaker 2: introduction in which she gives an overview of the evolving 239 00:16:02,400 --> 00:16:06,920 Speaker 2: understanding of combustion, including the arguments for and against the 240 00:16:06,920 --> 00:16:12,800 Speaker 2: phlogiston theory. She references multiple seventeenth and eighteenth century scientists, 241 00:16:12,880 --> 00:16:16,120 Speaker 2: making it clear that she was well read and familiar 242 00:16:16,160 --> 00:16:19,760 Speaker 2: with the scientific literature and theories of the day. She 243 00:16:19,920 --> 00:16:24,360 Speaker 2: concludes that neither side in the flogiston debate was fully correct. 244 00:16:24,760 --> 00:16:29,000 Speaker 2: She found Lavoisier's concept of combustion superior to the idea 245 00:16:29,000 --> 00:16:33,080 Speaker 2: of flogiston, but she also thought his hypothesis didn't fully 246 00:16:33,120 --> 00:16:37,280 Speaker 2: account for everything, including what was going on when bodies 247 00:16:37,360 --> 00:16:42,560 Speaker 2: became heavier during combustion. After this introduction, the book doesn't 248 00:16:42,640 --> 00:16:47,680 Speaker 2: just list out all of her years of experiments using metals, chemicals, 249 00:16:47,680 --> 00:16:51,480 Speaker 2: and cloth. She thought that would be tedious to read, 250 00:16:51,920 --> 00:16:55,240 Speaker 2: and beyond that, she wanted to arrange the experiments in 251 00:16:55,280 --> 00:16:58,800 Speaker 2: a way that allowed them to mutually illustrate each other. 252 00:16:59,000 --> 00:17:02,160 Speaker 2: So she covered a one hundred and twenty seven experiments, 253 00:17:02,800 --> 00:17:05,600 Speaker 2: which was a fraction of the number that she actually 254 00:17:05,640 --> 00:17:09,679 Speaker 2: carried out. She grouped them so that their successes and 255 00:17:09,760 --> 00:17:14,639 Speaker 2: failures could illustrate a general principle or provide data about 256 00:17:14,640 --> 00:17:18,080 Speaker 2: how their methods could be improved. There are chapters on 257 00:17:18,160 --> 00:17:24,760 Speaker 2: the reductions of metals by hydrogen, gas, phosphorus, sulfur, charcoal, light, acids, 258 00:17:24,760 --> 00:17:30,000 Speaker 2: et cetera, and chapters on the oxygenation of different combustible bodies. 259 00:17:30,960 --> 00:17:35,199 Speaker 2: She wrote about her experiments in plain, accessible language, using 260 00:17:35,400 --> 00:17:37,439 Speaker 2: what was called the French nomenclature. 261 00:17:38,119 --> 00:17:41,000 Speaker 1: That was what was outlined in the seventeen eighty seven 262 00:17:41,080 --> 00:17:45,680 Speaker 1: publication Metau de Nomenclature Chimique, which was written by chemists 263 00:17:45,880 --> 00:17:51,480 Speaker 1: Bertol Furcois, Guiton de Morveaux, and Lavoisier. She also included 264 00:17:51,560 --> 00:17:54,480 Speaker 1: a two page glossary to help anyone who was still 265 00:17:54,600 --> 00:17:58,320 Speaker 1: using the older terminology, and spelled out her reasons for 266 00:17:58,440 --> 00:18:01,400 Speaker 1: using different terms than the French standard. In a couple 267 00:18:01,440 --> 00:18:06,400 Speaker 1: of places where she did so, she detailed her materials, methods, 268 00:18:06,440 --> 00:18:09,879 Speaker 1: and results, including all those different colors of cloth that 269 00:18:09,920 --> 00:18:13,639 Speaker 1: we mentioned earlier. As an example, here is one of 270 00:18:13,640 --> 00:18:17,440 Speaker 1: her experiments with gold quote. In order to determine whether 271 00:18:17,480 --> 00:18:20,760 Speaker 1: a solution of gold in ether or one in water 272 00:18:20,960 --> 00:18:24,199 Speaker 1: were best adapted to the object of these experiments, I 273 00:18:24,440 --> 00:18:29,280 Speaker 1: evaporated to dryness a solution of gold in nitromuriatic acid 274 00:18:29,680 --> 00:18:33,240 Speaker 1: and dissolved the salt in distilled water. In this solution 275 00:18:33,480 --> 00:18:36,320 Speaker 1: I immersed a piece of silk, which, after it was 276 00:18:36,400 --> 00:18:40,240 Speaker 1: dried in the air, was suspended in a glass cylinder 277 00:18:40,400 --> 00:18:43,119 Speaker 1: like the former piece and exposed to the action of 278 00:18:43,240 --> 00:18:48,040 Speaker 1: hydrogen gas about two months. The silk, after some time 279 00:18:48,200 --> 00:18:51,760 Speaker 1: assumed a purple color, and five or six specs of 280 00:18:51,800 --> 00:18:54,920 Speaker 1: reduced gold the size of pin heads and one much 281 00:18:55,000 --> 00:18:59,600 Speaker 1: larger were observed. Examining the silk in the sunbeams. I 282 00:18:59,640 --> 00:19:03,479 Speaker 1: pursue the whole of it spangled with minute particles of 283 00:19:03,560 --> 00:19:08,440 Speaker 1: reduced gold. As Fulhane discussed the results of the experiments 284 00:19:08,480 --> 00:19:11,359 Speaker 1: in her book, she made some observations that were really 285 00:19:11,680 --> 00:19:14,639 Speaker 1: quite ahead of her time. One was that some of 286 00:19:14,680 --> 00:19:18,280 Speaker 1: the chemical reactions she was working with, specifically the reduction 287 00:19:18,359 --> 00:19:22,119 Speaker 1: of metals, happened only in the presence of water, and 288 00:19:22,200 --> 00:19:25,000 Speaker 1: some substances seemed to burn better when they were damp. 289 00:19:25,880 --> 00:19:30,120 Speaker 1: In some cases, chemical reactions happened at room temperature if 290 00:19:30,160 --> 00:19:33,400 Speaker 1: there was water present, and without the water she would 291 00:19:33,400 --> 00:19:37,359 Speaker 1: have needed a smelter. It was obvious to her that 292 00:19:37,520 --> 00:19:42,280 Speaker 1: water was facilitating these reactions and that it wasn't consumed 293 00:19:42,480 --> 00:19:46,440 Speaker 1: by those reactions. She speculated that the water was being 294 00:19:46,520 --> 00:19:51,480 Speaker 1: broken down into its components, with those components facilitating combustion, 295 00:19:52,080 --> 00:19:56,280 Speaker 1: and then being reunited into water when the reaction was over. 296 00:19:57,119 --> 00:19:59,880 Speaker 1: In this way, she said, quote, as fast as these 297 00:20:00,080 --> 00:20:04,640 Speaker 1: are consumed in the various processes of combustion, equal quantities 298 00:20:04,680 --> 00:20:09,040 Speaker 1: are formed and rise regenerated, like the phoenix from her ashes. 299 00:20:10,080 --> 00:20:14,359 Speaker 1: She didn't have the details exactly right, and observing this 300 00:20:14,400 --> 00:20:18,440 Speaker 1: phenomenon also led her to the incorrect conclusion that all 301 00:20:18,520 --> 00:20:23,080 Speaker 1: such reactions required the presence of water, But what she 302 00:20:23,240 --> 00:20:27,280 Speaker 1: was describing was catalysis. That's a chemical process in which 303 00:20:27,320 --> 00:20:32,080 Speaker 1: one substance facilitates a chemical reaction without being consumed in 304 00:20:32,119 --> 00:20:37,080 Speaker 1: that reaction. The discovery of catalysis is usually attributed to 305 00:20:37,240 --> 00:20:41,800 Speaker 1: Janzjaka Berselius, who coined the term decades later in eighteen 306 00:20:41,880 --> 00:20:45,879 Speaker 1: thirty six. Fullham was not the first person ever to 307 00:20:46,000 --> 00:20:49,480 Speaker 1: observe and describe this kind of reaction, but she was 308 00:20:49,560 --> 00:20:52,200 Speaker 1: the first person known to have framed it as part 309 00:20:52,240 --> 00:20:54,920 Speaker 1: of a whole class of reactions that were all similar 310 00:20:54,960 --> 00:20:59,280 Speaker 1: to one another. Catalysts are a truly enormous part of 311 00:20:59,320 --> 00:21:02,920 Speaker 1: the chemical inns today, used in the production of everything 312 00:21:03,080 --> 00:21:06,800 Speaker 1: from foods to medicines to plastics, and in both the 313 00:21:06,840 --> 00:21:10,679 Speaker 1: refining of petroleum and the limiting of emissions from gasoline 314 00:21:10,680 --> 00:21:15,359 Speaker 1: powered vehicles. Those are just examples, not an exhaustive list 315 00:21:15,640 --> 00:21:18,560 Speaker 1: of everything catalysts are used for. Dear me no. 316 00:21:20,240 --> 00:21:27,000 Speaker 2: She also experimented with photosensitivity. She described impregnating silk fibers 317 00:21:27,040 --> 00:21:30,240 Speaker 2: with myrate of silver, which took on a bluish black 318 00:21:30,320 --> 00:21:34,320 Speaker 2: color when exposed to the sun, or immersing a piece 319 00:21:34,359 --> 00:21:37,520 Speaker 2: of silk in silver nitrate and exposing it to the sun, 320 00:21:37,560 --> 00:21:40,639 Speaker 2: where it almost immediately took on a reddish color that 321 00:21:40,840 --> 00:21:44,760 Speaker 2: darkened until it was almost black. Silk treated the same 322 00:21:44,800 --> 00:21:47,200 Speaker 2: way but kept in the dark did not go through 323 00:21:47,240 --> 00:21:51,240 Speaker 2: such a color change. She also described similar results with 324 00:21:51,359 --> 00:21:55,240 Speaker 2: gold chloride and speculated that the reaction could be used 325 00:21:55,280 --> 00:21:59,919 Speaker 2: to write letters or words. Various historians of photography have 326 00:22:00,160 --> 00:22:03,879 Speaker 2: described what she was doing as a photographic process and 327 00:22:03,960 --> 00:22:06,960 Speaker 2: as an early example of the kinds of experiments that 328 00:22:07,000 --> 00:22:10,320 Speaker 2: would eventually lead to degeratypes and photographs. 329 00:22:11,160 --> 00:22:14,640 Speaker 1: We will talk about how Fulham's work was received after 330 00:22:14,680 --> 00:22:16,159 Speaker 1: we paused for a sponsor break. 331 00:22:26,040 --> 00:22:29,440 Speaker 2: So we started off this episode by talking about how 332 00:22:29,480 --> 00:22:33,919 Speaker 2: today we know almost nothing about Elizabeth Fulham, so it 333 00:22:34,040 --> 00:22:38,000 Speaker 2: might seem like logically her work must have gone unnoticed 334 00:22:38,040 --> 00:22:41,480 Speaker 2: when she published it in seventeen ninety four, but it 335 00:22:41,600 --> 00:22:45,840 Speaker 2: did not. They got some attention both within and outside 336 00:22:45,880 --> 00:22:47,160 Speaker 2: the scientific community. 337 00:22:48,119 --> 00:22:51,480 Speaker 1: The Gentleman's Magazine was first published in London in seventeen 338 00:22:51,520 --> 00:22:54,600 Speaker 1: thirty one, and it remained in print for nearly two centuries. 339 00:22:55,200 --> 00:22:57,480 Speaker 1: It was a popular periodical, and it was also the 340 00:22:57,480 --> 00:23:01,480 Speaker 1: first to use the word magazine meaning stoorhouse to describe 341 00:23:01,520 --> 00:23:05,680 Speaker 1: a published collection of essays and articles and similar texts. 342 00:23:06,440 --> 00:23:10,560 Speaker 1: In June of seventeen ninety five, The Gentleman's magazine published 343 00:23:10,600 --> 00:23:15,120 Speaker 1: an anonymous review of Fulham's book. It began quote an 344 00:23:15,240 --> 00:23:19,040 Speaker 1: essay on combustion by a lady. Thought we could proceed 345 00:23:19,080 --> 00:23:21,600 Speaker 1: from no other pen than that of miss Williams or 346 00:23:21,640 --> 00:23:27,040 Speaker 1: missus Wolstoncraft, and must be a political disquisition disguised. We 347 00:23:27,040 --> 00:23:31,080 Speaker 1: were agreeably disappointed to find that it relates entirely to 348 00:23:31,200 --> 00:23:34,720 Speaker 1: a method of making cloths of gold, silver and other 349 00:23:34,800 --> 00:23:39,600 Speaker 1: metals by a chemical process. So in that passage, Wolstoncraft 350 00:23:39,680 --> 00:23:45,080 Speaker 1: is obviously Mary Wollstoncraft. Miss Williams was probably Helen Maria Williams, 351 00:23:45,119 --> 00:23:48,159 Speaker 1: who was an English writer and social critic who was 352 00:23:48,240 --> 00:23:52,400 Speaker 1: connected to Joseph Priestley and to Wolstoncraft, among other eighteenth 353 00:23:52,400 --> 00:23:57,879 Speaker 1: century figures. Apart from what this anonymous writer is implying 354 00:23:58,119 --> 00:24:01,600 Speaker 1: about women and feminists in this piece, it suggests that 355 00:24:01,640 --> 00:24:05,800 Speaker 1: Fulham's book was widely read enough to catch an editor's 356 00:24:05,840 --> 00:24:11,040 Speaker 1: attention and be worth writing about in a popular magazine. 357 00:24:11,080 --> 00:24:15,679 Speaker 1: In seventeen ninety six, English physician and chemist Thomas Beddows 358 00:24:15,720 --> 00:24:19,400 Speaker 1: wrote about Fulham's book in the Monthly Review he said 359 00:24:19,400 --> 00:24:22,760 Speaker 1: it would be better titled Experiments on the reduction of 360 00:24:22,800 --> 00:24:26,760 Speaker 1: Metals in the ordinary temperature of the atmosphere. But he 361 00:24:26,880 --> 00:24:29,639 Speaker 1: described her discovery of the need for water to be 362 00:24:29,720 --> 00:24:33,720 Speaker 1: present in certain reactions as singular, and the overall work 363 00:24:33,800 --> 00:24:39,480 Speaker 1: is ingenious and quote entitled to respectful consideration, He wrote, 364 00:24:39,520 --> 00:24:44,040 Speaker 1: quote We applaud this lady's persevering ingenuity, We admire her 365 00:24:44,080 --> 00:24:48,800 Speaker 1: dexterity in carrying on her researches almost without apparatus, and 366 00:24:48,880 --> 00:24:52,600 Speaker 1: we sincerely sympathize with her on account of that disabling 367 00:24:52,640 --> 00:24:57,800 Speaker 1: and discouraging narrowness of circumstances of which she so feelingly complains. 368 00:24:58,640 --> 00:25:01,760 Speaker 1: May she soon meet with a being such as she 369 00:25:01,840 --> 00:25:04,720 Speaker 1: has heard of on the record of fame, but never 370 00:25:04,840 --> 00:25:09,200 Speaker 1: seen one viz. A liberal patron or else experienced such 371 00:25:09,200 --> 00:25:12,919 Speaker 1: a change in circumstances as shall allow full scope to 372 00:25:12,960 --> 00:25:18,080 Speaker 1: her abilities. In seventeen ninety eight, Benjamin Thompson, who later 373 00:25:18,119 --> 00:25:22,920 Speaker 1: became Count Rumford, published an essay called an Inquiry concerning 374 00:25:23,000 --> 00:25:27,119 Speaker 1: the Chemical Properties that have been Attributed to Light, that 375 00:25:27,160 --> 00:25:30,720 Speaker 1: was in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. 376 00:25:31,640 --> 00:25:34,480 Speaker 1: In this he describes the results of an experiment with 377 00:25:34,600 --> 00:25:39,040 Speaker 1: gold as agreeing perfectly with similar experiments by the quote 378 00:25:39,280 --> 00:25:44,119 Speaker 1: ingenious and lively Missus Fulham. In a footnote in this paper, 379 00:25:44,160 --> 00:25:46,480 Speaker 1: he went on to say, quote it was on reading 380 00:25:46,600 --> 00:25:50,760 Speaker 1: her book that I was induced to engage in these investigations, 381 00:25:51,160 --> 00:25:53,879 Speaker 1: and it was by her experiments that most of the 382 00:25:53,920 --> 00:25:59,200 Speaker 1: foregoing experiments were suggested. Thompson was a British physicist born 383 00:25:59,320 --> 00:26:02,680 Speaker 1: in the colony of Massachusetts, and the year after publishing 384 00:26:02,760 --> 00:26:06,840 Speaker 1: this essay, he and Joseph Banks established the Royal Institution 385 00:26:07,040 --> 00:26:11,440 Speaker 1: of Great Britain. Other eighteenth century scientists cited her work 386 00:26:11,480 --> 00:26:15,520 Speaker 1: as well. It was reviewed favorably in the French Annalve's 387 00:26:15,560 --> 00:26:18,159 Speaker 1: De Chimi, and a German version of her book was 388 00:26:18,200 --> 00:26:22,960 Speaker 1: published in Gottingen in seventeen ninety eight, but not everybody's 389 00:26:23,000 --> 00:26:27,800 Speaker 1: response was positive. While Joseph Priestley had apparently encouraged Fulham 390 00:26:27,880 --> 00:26:31,239 Speaker 1: to publish her work, he later published a point by 391 00:26:31,320 --> 00:26:35,359 Speaker 1: point rebuttal of her conclusions, saying her description of what 392 00:26:35,440 --> 00:26:39,720 Speaker 1: we now known as catalysis was quote as fanciful and 393 00:26:39,880 --> 00:26:45,160 Speaker 1: fabulous as the story of the phoenix itself. Irish chemist 394 00:26:45,200 --> 00:26:49,520 Speaker 1: William Higgins sounded sort of petulant When he discussed Fulham's 395 00:26:49,520 --> 00:26:53,920 Speaker 1: work in seventeen ninety nine, he did call it in genius, 396 00:26:54,400 --> 00:26:57,080 Speaker 1: and he said he read it with great pleasure. But 397 00:26:57,280 --> 00:27:01,760 Speaker 1: in between those two more positive passages, he said, quote, 398 00:27:01,800 --> 00:27:05,399 Speaker 1: had this fair author read my book, and indeed I 399 00:27:05,440 --> 00:27:09,280 Speaker 1: suppose she did not, having quoted every other treatise upon 400 00:27:09,320 --> 00:27:13,040 Speaker 1: the subject, no doubt she would have been candid enough 401 00:27:13,040 --> 00:27:16,919 Speaker 1: to do me the justice of accepting me from the 402 00:27:16,960 --> 00:27:20,520 Speaker 1: rest of my cooperators in science when she told them 403 00:27:20,880 --> 00:27:25,679 Speaker 1: they aired for having overlooked this modification of their doctrine, 404 00:27:25,800 --> 00:27:29,200 Speaker 1: and also when she adduced it as an original idea 405 00:27:29,400 --> 00:27:34,000 Speaker 1: of her own. He implied that he had had this 406 00:27:34,240 --> 00:27:38,600 Speaker 1: same discovery regarding the presence of water in chemical reactions 407 00:27:38,680 --> 00:27:43,960 Speaker 1: first before she did, although his observations were focused only 408 00:27:44,040 --> 00:27:47,280 Speaker 1: on the rusting of iron, while she was looking at 409 00:27:47,400 --> 00:27:52,360 Speaker 1: chemical reactions more broadly. The scientific societies of Europe were 410 00:27:52,400 --> 00:27:55,439 Speaker 1: not open to women at this point, but Fulham was 411 00:27:55,560 --> 00:28:00,760 Speaker 1: named a corresponding member of the Philadelphia Chemical Society. Philadelphia 412 00:28:00,880 --> 00:28:04,359 Speaker 1: chemist Thomas Peter Smith wrote a sketch of the Revolutions 413 00:28:04,400 --> 00:28:08,040 Speaker 1: in Chemistry in seventeen ninety eight, and in it he said, quote, 414 00:28:08,359 --> 00:28:10,840 Speaker 1: I shall now present you with the last and most 415 00:28:10,880 --> 00:28:15,760 Speaker 1: pleasing revolution that has occurred in chemistry. Hitherto we have 416 00:28:15,840 --> 00:28:19,760 Speaker 1: beheld this science entirely in the hands of men. We 417 00:28:19,840 --> 00:28:23,160 Speaker 1: are now about to behold women assert their just Though 418 00:28:23,240 --> 00:28:27,320 Speaker 1: two long neglected claims of being participators in the pleasures 419 00:28:27,359 --> 00:28:32,040 Speaker 1: arising from a knowledge of chemistry already have Madame Dossier 420 00:28:32,280 --> 00:28:36,360 Speaker 1: and Missus mcaulay established their rights to criticism and history, 421 00:28:37,000 --> 00:28:40,480 Speaker 1: Missus Fulham has now laid such bold claims to chemistry 422 00:28:40,880 --> 00:28:43,760 Speaker 1: that we can no longer deny the sex the privilege 423 00:28:44,000 --> 00:28:48,280 Speaker 1: of participating in this science. Also, what may we not 424 00:28:48,440 --> 00:28:52,080 Speaker 1: expect from such an accession of talents? How swiftly will 425 00:28:52,120 --> 00:28:56,520 Speaker 1: the horizon of knowledge recede before our united labors? And 426 00:28:56,640 --> 00:29:00,760 Speaker 1: what unbounded pleasure may we not anticipate in treading the 427 00:29:00,800 --> 00:29:05,920 Speaker 1: paths of science with such companions. If you don't recognize 428 00:29:05,960 --> 00:29:09,440 Speaker 1: the names that he dropped in there, Madame Dossier is 429 00:29:09,640 --> 00:29:14,240 Speaker 1: An Dossier, a translator, commentator and scholar from France who 430 00:29:14,240 --> 00:29:17,960 Speaker 1: had died in seventeen twenty. Catherine Macaulay was the first 431 00:29:18,120 --> 00:29:22,000 Speaker 1: english woman to become a published historian. She died in 432 00:29:22,040 --> 00:29:26,680 Speaker 1: seventeen ninety one. An American edition of Fulham's book was 433 00:29:26,720 --> 00:29:31,640 Speaker 1: published in Philadelphia in eighteen ten, and that characterized it 434 00:29:31,680 --> 00:29:35,760 Speaker 1: as little known in North America. This edition began with 435 00:29:35,840 --> 00:29:40,040 Speaker 1: an anonymously written advertisement which characterized the book's pages as 436 00:29:40,120 --> 00:29:44,840 Speaker 1: quote assuredly deserving of more attention than they have hitherto received. 437 00:29:45,640 --> 00:29:47,959 Speaker 1: From there it read quote Whether it be that the 438 00:29:48,000 --> 00:29:51,160 Speaker 1: pride of science revolted at the idea of being taught 439 00:29:51,200 --> 00:29:55,080 Speaker 1: by a female, I know not, but assuredly the accomplished 440 00:29:55,120 --> 00:29:58,840 Speaker 1: author of this essay has sufficiently evinced the adequacy of 441 00:29:58,840 --> 00:30:02,720 Speaker 1: her requirements in the propagation of opinions subversive of a 442 00:30:02,800 --> 00:30:06,520 Speaker 1: part of the highly esteemed edifice raised by the efforts 443 00:30:06,560 --> 00:30:10,400 Speaker 1: of Lavoisier and others. That the work has hitherto remained 444 00:30:10,480 --> 00:30:13,640 Speaker 1: unknown in this favored land, where freedom of inquiry is 445 00:30:13,680 --> 00:30:18,040 Speaker 1: so sedulously cherished, is matter of surprise, especially when it 446 00:30:18,120 --> 00:30:21,000 Speaker 1: is known that, many years passed, the author was elected 447 00:30:21,040 --> 00:30:25,800 Speaker 1: an honorary member of the then existing Chemical Society of Philadelphia, 448 00:30:26,080 --> 00:30:30,400 Speaker 1: a distinction founded on the merit of this work. Later, 449 00:30:30,560 --> 00:30:34,840 Speaker 1: this anonymous editor continued, quote, I cannot doubt the justice 450 00:30:34,960 --> 00:30:39,120 Speaker 1: of the opinions deduced by missus Fulham from her numerous 451 00:30:39,240 --> 00:30:43,080 Speaker 1: and well conducted experiments. And although it may be grating 452 00:30:43,200 --> 00:30:47,360 Speaker 1: too many to suppose a female capable of successfully opposing 453 00:30:47,440 --> 00:30:51,120 Speaker 1: the opinions of some of our fathers in science, yet 454 00:30:51,240 --> 00:30:55,280 Speaker 1: reflection will serve to satisfy the mind devoted to truth 455 00:30:55,680 --> 00:30:59,200 Speaker 1: that she has certainly thrown a stumbling block of no 456 00:30:59,400 --> 00:31:02,200 Speaker 1: small mass magnitude in the way of sentiments we have 457 00:31:02,280 --> 00:31:07,160 Speaker 1: been taught to consider as sacred. Scientists and researchers on 458 00:31:07,240 --> 00:31:10,960 Speaker 1: both sides of the Atlantic continued to refer to Fulham's 459 00:31:11,040 --> 00:31:15,080 Speaker 1: work for decades. English polymath John Herschel is one of 460 00:31:15,120 --> 00:31:18,960 Speaker 1: the people credited with coining the term photography, and he 461 00:31:19,160 --> 00:31:22,200 Speaker 1: cited Fulham in his first paper on the subject, which 462 00:31:22,240 --> 00:31:26,280 Speaker 1: was published in March of eighteen thirty nine. Chemist George 463 00:31:26,280 --> 00:31:30,400 Speaker 1: Thomas Fisher Junior noted her gold chloride experiments in the 464 00:31:30,440 --> 00:31:34,640 Speaker 1: introduction to his manipulations in the Scientific Arts, Part three 465 00:31:34,880 --> 00:31:39,680 Speaker 1: Photogenic Manipulation, whose introduction walks through the History of Photography, 466 00:31:40,120 --> 00:31:43,480 Speaker 1: that was published in eighteen forty three. It is not 467 00:31:43,640 --> 00:31:46,960 Speaker 1: clear whether Fulham had a direct influence on the development 468 00:31:46,960 --> 00:31:49,959 Speaker 1: of photography, but it is clear that people knew about 469 00:31:50,000 --> 00:31:52,600 Speaker 1: and were talking about her work in the early years 470 00:31:52,640 --> 00:31:53,880 Speaker 1: of photography's evolution. 471 00:31:54,920 --> 00:31:58,880 Speaker 2: Over the nineteenth century, Fulhame's work went from being actively 472 00:31:59,000 --> 00:32:02,920 Speaker 2: discussed in the fields of chemistry and photography to being 473 00:32:03,080 --> 00:32:06,080 Speaker 2: more of a footnote in textbooks and in works about 474 00:32:06,080 --> 00:32:10,360 Speaker 2: the history of those fields, and then those references also 475 00:32:10,600 --> 00:32:14,040 Speaker 2: largely stopped until her work was rediscovered in the mid 476 00:32:14,080 --> 00:32:18,480 Speaker 2: twentieth century. It is much easier to access her work 477 00:32:18,520 --> 00:32:21,760 Speaker 2: today than it was in the nineteen sixties, though at 478 00:32:21,760 --> 00:32:25,080 Speaker 2: that time there were a few copies in archives and 479 00:32:25,200 --> 00:32:30,960 Speaker 2: special collections in various libraries, which was where people rediscovered it. Today, though, 480 00:32:31,400 --> 00:32:35,160 Speaker 2: all three versions of her book are available as scans online, 481 00:32:35,320 --> 00:32:38,320 Speaker 2: either as text or as scans of the actual pages. 482 00:32:38,640 --> 00:32:42,240 Speaker 2: That includes the original London printing, the German translation, and 483 00:32:42,440 --> 00:32:48,320 Speaker 2: the eighteen ten American edition. And that is Elizabeth Fulham 484 00:32:48,400 --> 00:32:50,640 Speaker 2: and I kind of love her, even though we know 485 00:32:50,960 --> 00:32:52,320 Speaker 2: almost nothing. 486 00:32:53,120 --> 00:32:55,520 Speaker 1: I'm excited to talk about her on Friday, me too. 487 00:32:55,960 --> 00:32:58,720 Speaker 1: Do you have listener mail? In the meantime, I do 488 00:32:58,920 --> 00:33:02,000 Speaker 1: have listener mail. This listener mail is from David, and 489 00:33:02,120 --> 00:33:06,640 Speaker 1: David wrote, just listened to your behind the scenes coffee 490 00:33:06,640 --> 00:33:10,080 Speaker 1: episode where you shifted into typology and the long s 491 00:33:11,200 --> 00:33:13,920 Speaker 1: or and then David actually put the long s in 492 00:33:14,000 --> 00:33:14,600 Speaker 1: the email. 493 00:33:14,760 --> 00:33:16,920 Speaker 2: It's the one that looks kind of like an f 494 00:33:17,800 --> 00:33:22,040 Speaker 2: I recently ran across this exercise in reading a story 495 00:33:22,080 --> 00:33:27,160 Speaker 2: where the text regresses back through the centuries of English script. 496 00:33:26,800 --> 00:33:27,880 Speaker 1: And thought you'd enjoy it. 497 00:33:29,480 --> 00:33:31,760 Speaker 2: I admit I hit a wall when the text reached 498 00:33:31,800 --> 00:33:34,560 Speaker 2: the twelve hundreds, but learned a lot of new script 499 00:33:34,600 --> 00:33:37,400 Speaker 2: along the way. There's a nice description of the different 500 00:33:37,440 --> 00:33:40,120 Speaker 2: eras at the end. I have to admit that my 501 00:33:40,320 --> 00:33:44,320 Speaker 2: ner fourteen year old went straight to mind you moose 502 00:33:44,360 --> 00:33:48,640 Speaker 2: bites can be pretty nasty, that being from the very 503 00:33:48,760 --> 00:33:52,560 Speaker 2: comical credits to the movie Monty Python in the Holy Grail. 504 00:33:53,320 --> 00:33:56,800 Speaker 2: Enjoy and so this links to a piece called how 505 00:33:56,840 --> 00:34:00,320 Speaker 2: Far Back in Time can You Understand English? At dead 506 00:34:00,600 --> 00:34:04,120 Speaker 2: languagessociety dot com that languages is plural. 507 00:34:05,440 --> 00:34:08,719 Speaker 1: I also laughed at your description. Suspicion of shrimp and 508 00:34:08,760 --> 00:34:11,200 Speaker 1: grits in New England reminded me of the time my 509 00:34:11,280 --> 00:34:14,319 Speaker 1: brother caused a minor event at the airport when he 510 00:34:14,400 --> 00:34:18,080 Speaker 1: tried to fly home from his visit here with white lily, 511 00:34:18,160 --> 00:34:22,160 Speaker 1: flower and grits in his luggage. Truly enjoy the show. 512 00:34:22,640 --> 00:34:27,160 Speaker 1: David was writing from South Carolina. That being why someone 513 00:34:27,280 --> 00:34:30,960 Speaker 1: was returning his home with white lily flower and grits 514 00:34:31,680 --> 00:34:32,680 Speaker 1: ps pet taxes. 515 00:34:32,760 --> 00:34:35,920 Speaker 2: Is katiecat kk taking over my chair helping with the 516 00:34:35,960 --> 00:34:39,640 Speaker 2: taxes than her normal repose of snoozing after belly scritches. 517 00:34:40,440 --> 00:34:44,840 Speaker 2: A very cute kitty cat. Thank you so much, David 518 00:34:44,880 --> 00:34:49,440 Speaker 2: for this email I saw. I think the author's thread 519 00:34:49,520 --> 00:34:52,640 Speaker 2: on Blue Sky, which was similar, like each piece of 520 00:34:52,680 --> 00:34:55,560 Speaker 2: it was a different mess, and so you can sort 521 00:34:55,560 --> 00:34:59,399 Speaker 2: of step your way back to read what it would 522 00:34:59,440 --> 00:35:02,279 Speaker 2: be like earlier and earlier in English. And I think 523 00:35:02,320 --> 00:35:05,319 Speaker 2: I also got to not being able to understand it 524 00:35:05,360 --> 00:35:08,879 Speaker 2: anymore at about the twelve hundreds. So if folks want 525 00:35:08,920 --> 00:35:11,040 Speaker 2: to look for that again, it is called how Far 526 00:35:11,120 --> 00:35:14,120 Speaker 2: Back in Time can You Understand English? At Dead Languages 527 00:35:14,200 --> 00:35:18,520 Speaker 2: Society dot com. It is a fun little exercise both 528 00:35:18,600 --> 00:35:21,920 Speaker 2: to just see how far back do I understand this, 529 00:35:22,120 --> 00:35:27,120 Speaker 2: and also to see how much English has evolved over 530 00:35:27,160 --> 00:35:33,759 Speaker 2: the last approximately thousand dish and something years. We've had 531 00:35:33,800 --> 00:35:37,440 Speaker 2: a whole episode of the show about that fact a 532 00:35:37,520 --> 00:35:40,120 Speaker 2: long time ago, about the history of the English language. 533 00:35:41,320 --> 00:35:43,320 Speaker 1: So thank you again, David. 534 00:35:43,520 --> 00:35:45,200 Speaker 2: If you would like to send us a note, we're 535 00:35:45,200 --> 00:35:48,960 Speaker 2: at history podcasts at iHeartRadio dot com. You can see 536 00:35:49,000 --> 00:35:52,160 Speaker 2: our show notes on our website, which is at missinhistory 537 00:35:52,160 --> 00:35:56,000 Speaker 2: dot com, and you can subscribe to our show on 538 00:35:56,040 --> 00:35:58,359 Speaker 2: the iHeartRadio app and anywhere else you'd like to get 539 00:35:58,400 --> 00:36:06,279 Speaker 2: your podcasts. Stuff you Missed in History Class is a 540 00:36:06,280 --> 00:36:10,680 Speaker 2: production of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the 541 00:36:10,719 --> 00:36:14,200 Speaker 2: iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your 542 00:36:14,239 --> 00:36:14,960 Speaker 2: favorite shows.