Series AUS - William Austin Manuscript - Heavy Inflammable Air

Identity area

Reference code

GB 235 AUS

Title

William Austin Manuscript - Heavy Inflammable Air

Date(s)

  • 1789 (Creation)

Level of description

Series

Extent and medium

1 folder

Context area

Name of creator

(1754-1793)

Biographical history

Born Gloucestershire 1754; died London 1793
William Austin was a polymath. He initially studied botany at Oxford, graduating in 1776, and then medicine gaining his MD in 1783. However he also studied, and sometimes lectured in Hebrew, Arabic, Mathematics and Chemistry being elected professor in1785. In 1786 he moved from Oxford to London, building a lucrative medical practice while continuing his chemical studies. He was elected a fellow of the Royal College of Physicians, published papers for the Royal Society on ‘Heavy inflammable air’ and theorised (incorrectly) on the origin of kidney stones and hardening of the arteries.
Source: DNB
D.W.

Archival history

Manuscript appears to be part of a paper Austin presented to the Royal Society of London in 1789.

Immediate source of acquisition or transfer

Unknown how it came to be at RBGE. Has been suggested that it may have been sent to Daniel Rutherford?

Content and structure area

Scope and content

Paper on 'Experiments on the Analysis of Heavy Inflammable Air' (1789) published in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London in 1780 - (right click, open link in new tab) https://archive.org/details/jstor-106830 - there is a copy of the paper in the packet alongside the handwritten manuscript, possibly written by Austin himself. Manuscript is incomplete, 8 pages along, finishing on page 56 of the article. There is also a copy of Austin's entry in the Dictionary of National Biography in the packet.

Appraisal, destruction and scheduling

Accruals

System of arrangement

Conditions of access and use area

Conditions governing access

open

Conditions governing reproduction

Language of material

Script of material

Language and script notes

Physical characteristics and technical requirements

8 handwritten single sided pages, each 130x210mm

Finding aids

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Existence and location of originals

Existence and location of copies

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Description control area

Description identifier

GB 235 AUS

Institution identifier

GB 235

Rules and/or conventions used

Status

Level of detail

Minimal

Dates of creation revision deletion

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Physical storage

  • Box: GD Box A