Joseph Black (1728–1799): An Early Adept in Quantification and Interpretation

Riddell H. The great chemist Joseph Black, his Belfast friends and family connections. Proceedings of the Belfast Natural History and Philosophical Society 1919/20; no. 3: 49–88

Ramsay W. The Life and Letters of Joseph Black MD. London: Constable, 1918: 3–5, 41–2, 45–6, 51f., 134–5, 143, 144

Guerlac H. Joseph Black and fixed air. A bicentenary retrospective, with some new or little known material. Isis 1957; 48: 124–51, 433–56

Robison J. Lectures in the Elements of Chemistry by Joseph Black. London: Longman and Rees; Edinburgh: William Creech, 1803: vol. 1, pp. 122 127–8, 521–31; vol. 2, pp. 53 63–4, 87–8

Whytt R. An Essay on the Virtues of Lime-Water in the Cure of Stone, With an Appendix, Containing the Case of the Honourable Robert Walpole, Esquire, Written by Himself. Edinburgh: Balfour and Neill, 1752: 77–8

Alston C. A Dissertation on Quick-Lime and Lime Water. Edinburgh, 1752: 9. Quoted by Guerlac H (op. cit. ref. 3): 145

Thomson J. An Account of the Life, Lectures, and Writings of William Cullen, MD. Edinburgh: Blackwood; London: T Cadell, 1832: vol. 1, pp. 50 51 573

Black J. Experiments upon magnesia alba, quicklime, and some other alcaline substances. In: Essays and Observations, Physical and Literary. Edinburgh: Philosophical Society of Edinburgh, 1756: vol. 2, pp. 157–225. Reprinted as Experiments upon Magnesia Alba, Quick-Lime, and other Alcaline Substances, pp. 1–113, with William Cullen's An Essay on the Cold Produced by Evaporating Fluids, pp. 115–35. Edinburgh: William Creech; London: J Murray and Wallis and Stonehouse, 1777. Citations from pp. 26, 28, 31, 55, 58, 69–70, 111–13, 115

Boyle R. New Experiments about the Relation between Air and the Flamma Vitalis of Animals, 1672. Reprinted in: Birch T , Ed. The Works of the Honourable Robert Boyle (2nd edn). London: J and F Revington, et al. 1772; vol. 3, pp. 587–8

Birch T. History of the Royal Society. London: A Millar, 1757: vol. 2, pp. 471–3

Singer C Underwood EA . A Short History of Medicine (2nd edn). Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1962: 165–6

MacBride D. Experimental Essays on the Following Subjects: I. On the Fermentation of Alimentary Mixtures. II. On the Nature and Properties of Fixed Air. III. On the Respective Powers, and Manner of Acting, of the Different Kinds of Antiseptics. IV. On the Scurvy; with a Proposal for Trying New Methods to Prevent or Cure the Same, at Sea. V. On the Dissolvent Power of Quick-Lime. London: A Millar, 1764: Essay II, pp. 27–107, pp. 52–3. The second edition, entitled Experimental Essays on Medical and Philosophical Subjects, published in Dublin by Thomas Ewing in 1767, dealt with the same five subjects: pp. 48, 75, 88–9, 97

Gough JB . Lavoisier's early career in science: an examination of some new evidence. British Journal for the History of Science 1968; 4: 52–7

Lavoisier A-L. Lettre de M. Lavoisier Joseph Black á M. Black á M. Lavoisier. Annales de Chemie 1791; 8: 225–9. The English original was published by Douglas McKie in Notes and Records of the Royal Society of London 1950; 7:9–11. In preparing Black's lectures for the press, Robison made his onslaught in an appendix to the first volume (pp. 521–31), which Black's early biographer tried to assuage (Ramsay, pp. 93–8)

Cragg RH . Thomas Charles Hope (1766–1844). Med Hist 1967; 11: 186–9

Shaw P. A New Method of Chemistry, Including the History, Theory and Practice of the Art; Translated from the Original Latin of Dr. Boerhaave's Elementa Chemiae, as Published by Himself … (2nd edn). London: Longman, 1741: vol. 1, pp. 227–9, 469

Guerlac H. Black Joseph. In: Dictionary of Scientific Biography. New York: Scribners, 1970: vol. 2, pp. 173–83

Muirhead JP . Origin and Progress of the Mechanical Inventions of James Watt. London: Murray, 1854: vol. 2, p. 264

Sakula A. Munchausen: fact and fiction. J R Coll Physicians Lond 1978; 12: 286–92

Cockburn H. Memorials of his Times (2nd edn). Edinburgh: Foulis, 1909:50–1. Cited by Sutherland J , Ed. Oxford Book of Literary Anecdotes. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1975:359,note 146

Clerke AM . Black Joseph md, 1729–1799. In: Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1967/8: vol. 2, pp. 571–4. Clerke and Guerlac (op. cit. ref. 17, p. 175) concur about Black's death on 6 December 1799. Ramsay (op. cit. ref. 2, p. 143) gives 10 November. Riddell (op. cit ref. 1) gives 26 November (citing Black's “great friend and relative Dr. Adam Ferguson”) on p. 86, and the correct date, 6 December, on the authority of an editorial note in the Matriculation Album of the University of Glasgow, on p. 83

Guerlac H. Lavoisier, Antoine-Laurent. In: Dictionary of Scientific Biography. New York: Scribners, 1970: vol. 8, pp. 66–91

Pembrey MS . Animal heat. In: Schäfer EA , Ed. Textbook of Physiology. Edinburgh and London: Pentland, 1898–1900: vol. 1, pp. 785–867

Pembrey MS . Chemistry of respiration. In: Schäfer EA , Ed. Textbook of Physiology. Edinburgh and London: Pentland, 1898–1900: vol. 1, pp. 692–784