Shropshire Routes to Roots

3. Publication

Henry Hickman lived during a time of great change in medicine. In the latter part of the eighteenth century the practice of "Pneumatic medicine" had begun at Clifton in Bristol. Around 1800 a young scientist, Humphry Davy,who later went on to invent the Davy lamp which saved the lives of hundreds of miners, found that by breathing in nitrous oxide (laughing gas) the pain of tooth ache was lessened. Davy later became the President of Royal Society and published work on the effects of inhalation by gases. He was also a friend and frequent visitor to Thomas Andrew Knight of Downton Castle. Knight was known to Hickman and lived only a few miles from his birthplace.

Thomas Andrew Knight Larger image, in a new window [16kb] [Reproduced with kind permission of Secret Shropshire ]

In 1824 Hickman wrote to Knight,a well known horticulturalist and botanist, sending him details of his experiments. Unfortunately Knight does not appear to have done anything with Hickman's letter and it is very doubtful that he sent it on to Davy as Hickman clearly hoped. Frustrated and disappointed Hickman had his work privately printed in 1824 while living in Shifnal. The pamphlet was entitled "A letter on Suspended Animation".

It is clear that Hickman hoped that this would come to the notice of the scientific world. He sincerely believed that it would be beneficial to have his ideas discussed by the leading scientists of the day. Unfortunately this did not occur and the Royal Society remained ignorant of his discoveries.

Title page for Hickman's pamphlet Larger image, in a new window [60kb] [Reproduced with kind permission of "The Wellcome Trustees]

Shrewsbury Chronicle 3.6.1825 Larger image and transcript, in a new window [Reproduced with kind permission of Shropshire Newspapers]

In desperation he sent a letter, setting out his experiments, to the Shrewsbury Chronicle on June 3rd 1825. There does not seem to have been any response to his article in the paper, but in 1826 the Lancet, the most prestigious and widely circulated medical journal of the day, published an article deriding his work.

Not finding support among the scientific community in Britain Hickman travelled to France. Paris was a centre for medical and scientific thought at the time, and he hoped for some recognition there. He wrote to Charles X of France and waited, hoping for an opportunity to speak before the Academie Royale de Medecine. However no invitation was forthcoming and after two months he returned to England. However his account was passed onto a M.Geradin who referred it to a sub committee.
On his return to England he set up a practice in Tenbury Wells, where he remained until his premature death at the age of thirty.

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