Stephen Hales (17 September 16774 January 1761) was an
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
clergyman who made major contributions to a range of scientific fields including
botany
Botany, also called , plant biology or phytology, is the science of plant life and a branch of biology. A botanist, plant scientist or phytologist is a scientist who specialises in this field. The term "botany" comes from the Ancient Greek w ...
,
pneumatic chemistry
In the history of science, pneumatic chemistry is an area of scientific research of the seventeenth, eighteenth, and early nineteenth centuries. Important goals of this work were the understanding of the physical properties of gases and how the ...
and
physiology
Physiology (; ) is the scientific study of functions and mechanisms in a living system. As a sub-discipline of biology, physiology focuses on how organisms, organ systems, individual organs, cells, and biomolecules carry out the chemical ...
. He was the first person to measure
blood pressure. He also invented several devices, including a
ventilator
A ventilator is a piece of medical technology that provides mechanical ventilation by moving breathable air into and out of the lungs, to deliver breaths to a patient who is physically unable to breathe, or breathing insufficiently. Ventilators ...
, a
pneumatic trough
A pneumatic trough is a piece of laboratory apparatus used for collecting gases, such as hydrogen, oxygen and nitrogen.It is mainly made of glass or various fibres and are of various sizes.It was invented by Stephen Hales.
Description
Four it ...
and a surgical
forceps
Forceps (plural forceps or considered a plural noun without a singular, often a pair of forceps; the Latin plural ''forcipes'' is no longer recorded in most dictionaries) are a handheld, hinged instrument used for grasping and holding objects. Fo ...
for the removal of
bladder stone
A bladder stone is a stone found in the urinary bladder.
Signs and symptoms
Bladder stones are small mineral deposits that can form in the bladder. In most cases bladder stones develop when the urine becomes very concentrated or when one is ...
s. In addition to these achievements, he was a
philanthropist
Philanthropy is a form of altruism that consists of "private initiatives, for the Public good (economics), public good, focusing on quality of life". Philanthropy contrasts with business initiatives, which are private initiatives for private goo ...
and wrote a popular tract on
alcoholic intemperance.
Life
Stephen Hales was born in
Bekesbourne
Bekesbourne is a village near Canterbury in Kent, South East England.
The village is centred ESE of the city's cathedral and its centre stretches less than 1 km from its railway station to the A2 road to the south.
Amenities
The parish ch ...
,
Kent
Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...
,
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
. He was the sixth son of Thomas Hales, heir to
Baronetcy
A baronet ( or ; abbreviated Bart or Bt) or the female equivalent, a baronetess (, , or ; abbreviation Btss), is the holder of a baronetcy, a hereditary title awarded by the British Crown. The title of baronet is mentioned as early as the 14th ...
of
Beakesbourne
Bekesbourne is a village near Canterbury in Kent, South East England.
The village is centred ESE of the city's cathedral and its centre stretches less than 1 km from its railway station to the A2 road to the south.
Amenities
The parish ch ...
and
Brymore, and his wife, Mary (née Wood), and was one of twelve or possibly thirteen children.
[Archibald Edmund Clark-Kennedy. Stephen Hales, D.D., F.R.S.: an eighteenth century biography. Cambridge University Press, 1929.] Thomas Hales (died 1692) predeceased his father,
Sir Robert Hales; therefore Sir Robert's grandson,
Sir Thomas Hales, 2nd Baronet
Sir Thomas Hales, 2nd Baronet (24 February 1665/66 – 7 January 1748), of Bekesbourne and Brymore in Kent, was an English politician who sat in the English and British House of Commons between 1701 and 1747.
Hales was the eldest son of Thomas Ha ...
(Stephen Hales' brother)
succeeded to the baronetcy in December 1693.
Hales was educated in
Kensington
Kensington is a district in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in the West End of London, West of Central London.
The district's commercial heart is Kensington High Street, running on an east–west axis. The north-east is taken up b ...
and then at
Orpington
Orpington is a town and area in south east London, England, within the London Borough of Bromley. It is 13.4 miles (21.6 km) south east of Charing Cross.
On the south-eastern edge of the Greater London Built-up Area, it is south of St Ma ...
before attending
Corpus Christi College, Cambridge (or St Benedict's as it was then known) in 1696.
Although he was an
ordinand
Ordination is the process by which individuals are consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized (usually by the denominational hierarchy composed of other clergy) to perform vari ...
studying divinity, Hales would have received his degree in the
Classics
Classics or classical studies is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, classics traditionally refers to the study of Classical Greek and Roman literature and their related original languages, Ancient Greek and Latin. Classics ...
,
mathematics
Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. These topics are represented in modern mathematics ...
,
natural sciences
Natural science is one of the branches of science concerned with the description, understanding and prediction of natural phenomena, based on empirical evidence from observation and experimentation. Mechanisms such as peer review and repeatab ...
and
philosophy
Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. Some ...
while in Cambridge. Hales was admitted as a Fellow of Corpus Christi in 1703, the same year as he obtained the degree of
Master of Arts
A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Tho ...
, and was
ordained
Ordination is the process by which individuals are consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized (usually by the denominational hierarchy composed of other clergy) to perform va ...
as
Deacon
A deacon is a member of the diaconate, an office in Christian churches that is generally associated with service of some kind, but which varies among theological and denominational traditions. Major Christian churches, such as the Catholic Churc ...
at
Bugden, Cambridgeshire. He continued his theological and other studies in Cambridge, where he became friends with
William Stukeley who was studying medicine. He attended chemistry lectures by
Giovanni Francisco Vigani
Giovanni Francisco Vigani (c. 1650–1712), known also as John Francis, was an Italian chemist who became the first BP Professor of Organic Chemistry, professor of chemistry in the University of Cambridge.
Life
Vigani was born at Verona about the ...
while at Cambridge.
[Dawson, P. M. The Biography of Stephen Hales, D.D., F.R.S. The Johns Hopkins Hospital Bulletin, 1904; 15 (159): 1–19.] His interest in
biology
Biology is the scientific study of life. It is a natural science with a broad scope but has several unifying themes that tie it together as a single, coherent field. For instance, all organisms are made up of cells that process hereditary i ...
,
botany
Botany, also called , plant biology or phytology, is the science of plant life and a branch of biology. A botanist, plant scientist or phytologist is a scientist who specialises in this field. The term "botany" comes from the Ancient Greek w ...
and
physiology
Physiology (; ) is the scientific study of functions and mechanisms in a living system. As a sub-discipline of biology, physiology focuses on how organisms, organ systems, individual organs, cells, and biomolecules carry out the chemical ...
is presumed to date from that time.
In 1709 he was ordained Priest at
Fulham
Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea. The area faces Wandsworth ...
and on 10 August 1709 he was appointed
Perpetual curate
Perpetual curate was a class of resident parish priest or incumbent curate within the United Church of England and Ireland (name of the combined Anglican churches of England and Ireland from 1800 to 1871). The term is found in common use mainly du ...
of the
parish
A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one or m ...
of
Teddington, Middlesex
Teddington is a suburb in south-west London in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. In 2021, Teddington was named as the best place to live in London by ''The Sunday Times''. Historically in Middlesex, Teddington is situated on a long m ...
and left Cambridge, although he retained his Fellowship until 1718. He became a
Bachelor of Divinity in 1711. Hales remained in Teddington for the rest of his life, except for occasional visits to his other parishes. He was an assiduous minister – in addition to parish duties he enlarged and repaired the church and commissioned a new water supply for the village – and well regarded although there is some evidence that his experimental work on animal physiology was viewed with misgivings.
Thomas Twining included a verse in his poem The Boat on Hales:
:Green Teddington's serene retreat
:For Philosophic studies meet,
:Where the good Pastor Stephen Hales
:Weighed moisture in a pair of scales,
:To lingering death put Mares and Dogs,
:And stripped the Skins from living Frogs,
:Nature, he loved, her Works intent
:To search or sometimes to torment.
In 1718, the poet
Alexander Pope
Alexander Pope (21 May 1688 O.S. – 30 May 1744) was an English poet, translator, and satirist of the Enlightenment era who is considered one of the most prominent English poets of the early 18th century. An exponent of Augustan literature, ...
, a renowned dog lover, also criticized Hales's work. In conversation with his friend,
Joseph Spence, Pope reportedly said of Hales: "He commits most of these barbarities with the thought of its being of use to man. But how do we know that we have a right to kill creatures that we are so little above as dogs, for our curiosity, or even for some use to us?". Pope, however was also a close friend of Hales
and considered him the model of the man who loves his God.
[In the Epistle to a Lady, 1. 198: Works of Pope (Twickenham edn.) iii (2)]
In 1718 Hales was elected a fellow of the
Royal Society
The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...
and in the same year became rector of
Porlock
Porlock is a coastal village in Somerset, England, west of Minehead. At the 2011 census, the village had a population of 1,440.
In 2017, Porlock had the highest percentage of elderly population in Britain, with over 40% being of pensionable ag ...
,
Somerset
( en, All The People of Somerset)
, locator_map =
, coordinates =
, region = South West England
, established_date = Ancient
, established_by =
, preceded_by =
, origin =
, lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset
, lord_ ...
, a post he held alongside the curacy of Teddington.
In 1720 he married Mary Newce, but she died the following year, probably in childbirth;
there were no children and he never remarried. In 1723 he was installed as rector of
Farringdon, Hampshire
Farringdon is a village in the East Hampshire district of Hampshire in England. The village is 2.8 miles (4.5 km) south of Alton, on the A32 road, close to a source of the River Wey.
The village has two parts, the larger being Upper Farr ...
(which he held alongside Teddington by employing a curate in Farringdon). Hales spent his summers there and became a friend of
Gilbert White
Gilbert White FRS (18 July 1720 – 26 June 1793) was a " parson-naturalist", a pioneering English naturalist, ecologist, and ornithologist. He is best known for his ''Natural History and Antiquities of Selborne''.
Life
White was born on ...
, the
naturalist, whose family lived nearby.
Hales's fame as a scientist grew from 1718 onwards, and by the mid part of the 18th century he had achieved an international reputation.
He was one of the eight Foreign Members of the
Royal Academy of Sciences,
Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
and was elected a member of the
Academy of Sciences of Bologna. He received the
Copley Medal
The Copley Medal is an award given by the Royal Society, for "outstanding achievements in research in any branch of science". It alternates between the physical sciences or mathematics and the biological sciences. Given every year, the medal is t ...
in 1739 and also became a public figure as a result of his campaigns against the
gin trade and his involvement in the
Georgia Trust.
He was made a
Doctor of Divinity by
Oxford University
Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...
in 1733.
In his later years he received frequent visits from
Frederick, Prince of Wales
Frederick, Prince of Wales, (Frederick Louis, ; 31 January 170731 March 1751), was the eldest son and heir apparent of King George II of Great Britain. He grew estranged from his parents, King George and Queen Caroline. Frederick was the fath ...
and his wife,
Princess Augusta of Saxe-Gotha, both of whom were interested in gardening and botany. He gave Princess Augusta advice on the development of
Kew Gardens
Kew Gardens is a botanical garden, botanic garden in southwest London that houses the "largest and most diverse botany, botanical and mycology, mycological collections in the world". Founded in 1840, from the exotic garden at Kew Park, its li ...
,
and in 1751 he was appointed
Clerk of the Closet
The College of Chaplains of the Ecclesiastical Household of the Sovereign of the United Kingdom is under the Clerk of the Closet, an office dating from 1437. It is normally held by a diocesan bishop, who may, however, remain in office after leav ...
to the
Princess Dowager, following the death of Prince Frederick, a post he held until his death.
At the age of seventy Hales was chosen by the president and fellows of the
Royal College of Physicians
The Royal College of Physicians (RCP) is a British professional membership body dedicated to improving the practice of medicine, chiefly through the accreditation of physicians by examination. Founded by royal charter from King Henry VIII in 1 ...
to preach the annual Crounian Sermon in the church of
St Mary-le-Bow. He selected his favorite topic – "The Wisdom and Goodness of God in the formation of Man".
Hales died in his 84th year at Teddington on 4 January 1761 after a short illness.
At his own request he was buried under the tower of the church where he had worked for so many years. A monument to Hales was raised by Princess Augusta in the south transept of
Westminster Abbey
Westminster Abbey, formally titled the Collegiate Church of Saint Peter at Westminster, is an historic, mainly Gothic church in the City of Westminster, London, England, just to the west of the Palace of Westminster. It is one of the United ...
after his death.
Work
Hales is best known for his ''Statical Essays''. The first volume, ''Vegetable Staticks'' (1727), contains an account of experiments in
plant physiology and chemistry; it was translated into French by
Buffon in 1735. The second volume, ''Haemastaticks'' (1733), describes experiments on
animal physiology
Physiology (; ) is the scientific study of functions and mechanisms in a living system. As a sub-discipline of biology, physiology focuses on how organisms, organ systems, individual organs, cells, and biomolecules carry out the chemical ...
including the measurement of the "force of the blood", i.e.
blood pressure.
Plant physiology and the chemistry of air
In ''Vegetable Staticks'', Hales studied
transpiration
Transpiration is the process of water movement through a plant and its evaporation from aerial parts, such as leaves, stems and flowers. Water is necessary for plants but only a small amount of water taken up by the roots is used for growth ...
– the loss of water from the leaves of plants. He estimated the surface area of the
leaves
A leaf (plural, : leaves) is any of the principal appendages of a vascular plant plant stem, stem, usually borne laterally aboveground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", wh ...
of the plant and the length and surface area of the
root
In vascular plants, the roots are the organs of a plant that are modified to provide anchorage for the plant and take in water and nutrients into the plant body, which allows plants to grow taller and faster. They are most often below the sur ...
s. This allowed Hales to compare the calculated influx of water into the plant with the amount of water leaving the plant by transpiration through the leaves. He also measured 'the force of the sap' or
root pressure
Root pressure is the transverse osmotic pressure within the cells of a root system that causes sap to rise through a plant stem to the leaves.
Root pressure occurs in the xylem of some vascular plants when the soil moisture level is high either ...
.
Hales commented that "plants very probably draw through their leaves some part of their nourishment from the air". In Vegetable Staticks Hales prefigured the
cohesion theory of water movement in plants, although his ideas were not understood at the time, so he did not influence the debate on water transport in plants in the 19th century.
[Floto F. Stephen Hales and the cohesion theory. Trends Plant Sci. 1999;4(6):209.] He also speculated that plants might use light as a source of energy for growth (i.e.
photosynthesis
Photosynthesis is a process used by plants and other organisms to convert light energy into chemical energy that, through cellular respiration, can later be released to fuel the organism's activities. Some of this chemical energy is stored i ...
), based on
Isaac Newton
Sir Isaac Newton (25 December 1642 – 20 March 1726/27) was an English mathematician, physicist, astronomer, alchemist, theologian, and author (described in his time as a "natural philosopher"), widely recognised as one of the grea ...
's suggestion that "gross bodies and light" might be interconvertible.
[ quoting ''Opticks'']
In ''Vegetable Staticks'' Hales also described experiments that showed that "... air freely enters plants, not only with the principal fund of nourishment by the roots, but also thro' the surface of their trunks and leaves". While Hales' work on the chemistry of air appears primitive by modern standards, its importance was acknowledged by
Antoine Lavoisier
Antoine-Laurent de Lavoisier ( , ; ; 26 August 17438 May 1794), When reduced without charcoal, it gave off an air which supported respiration and combustion in an enhanced way. He concluded that this was just a pure form of common air and th ...
, the discoverer of
oxygen
Oxygen is the chemical element with the symbol O and atomic number 8. It is a member of the chalcogen group in the periodic table, a highly reactive nonmetal, and an oxidizing agent that readily forms oxides with most elements as wel ...
.
Hales' invention of the
pneumatic trough
A pneumatic trough is a piece of laboratory apparatus used for collecting gases, such as hydrogen, oxygen and nitrogen.It is mainly made of glass or various fibres and are of various sizes.It was invented by Stephen Hales.
Description
Four it ...
to collect gases over water is also considered a major technical advance. Modified forms of the pneumatic trough were later used by
William Brownrigg
William Brownrigg ( – 6 January 1800) was a British doctor and scientist, who practised at Whitehaven in Cumberland. While there, Brownrigg carried out experiments that earned him the Copley Medal in 1766 for his work on carbonic acid gas. He ...
,
Henry Cavendish
Henry Cavendish ( ; 10 October 1731 – 24 February 1810) was an English natural philosopher and scientist who was an important experimental and theoretical chemist and physicist. He is noted for his discovery of hydrogen, which he termed "infl ...
and
Joseph Priestley
Joseph Priestley (; 24 March 1733 – 6 February 1804) was an English chemist, natural philosopher, separatist theologian, grammarian, multi-subject educator, and liberal political theorist. He published over 150 works, and conducted exp ...
in their research.
Animal physiology
Hales began his work on animal physiology with William Stuckeley while in Cambridge,
although much of it was published only after ''Vegetable Staticks'' appeared. Hales and Stuckeley performed a wide range of studies including making casts of the
trachea
The trachea, also known as the windpipe, is a Cartilage, cartilaginous tube that connects the larynx to the bronchi of the lungs, allowing the passage of air, and so is present in almost all air-breathing animals with lungs. The trachea extends ...
and
bronchial trees of dogs using molten lead and measuring the water lost due to breathing. Most famously, Hales made measurements of blood pressure in several animal species by inserting fine tubes into
arteries
An artery (plural arteries) () is a blood vessel in humans and most animals that takes blood away from the heart to one or more parts of the body (tissues, lungs, brain etc.). Most arteries carry oxygenated blood; the two exceptions are the pu ...
and measuring the height to which the column of blood rose. Hales also described the effects of hemorrhage and hemorrhagic shock by progressive
exsanguination
Exsanguination is death caused by loss of blood. Depending upon the health of the individual, people usually die from losing half to two-thirds of their blood; a loss of roughly one-third of the blood volume is considered very serious. Even a sin ...
of animals and accompanying measurement of blood pressure.
In a horse he observed that as death approached "the Mare fell into cold and clammy sweats". In addition, Hales took wax casts of the ventricle of the heart and estimated how much blood was pumped by the heart; correctly described the roles of the
mitral valve
The mitral valve (), also known as the bicuspid valve or left atrioventricular valve, is one of the four heart valves. It has two cusps or flaps and lies between the left atrium and the left ventricle of the heart. The heart valves are all one-w ...
and
aortic valve
The aortic valve is a valve in the heart of humans and most other animals, located between the left ventricle and the aorta. It is one of the four valves of the heart and one of the two semilunar valves, the other being the pulmonary valve. Th ...
during
systole
Systole ( ) is the part of the cardiac cycle during which some chambers of the heart contract after refilling with blood. The term originates, via New Latin, from Ancient Greek (''sustolē''), from (''sustéllein'' 'to contract'; from ''sun ...
and
diastole
Diastole ( ) is the relaxed phase of the cardiac cycle when the chambers of the heart are re-filling with blood. The contrasting phase is systole when the heart chambers are contracting. Atrial diastole is the relaxing of the atria, and ventric ...
; explained the pulsations of arteries in terms of their elasticity and attributed the resistance to blood flow to friction due to the passage of blood through small blood vessels.
Hales also described a diverse range of work in ''Haemastaticks'' including his attempts to find substances that could be used to dissolve
bladder stones or
calculi. This aim was unsuccessful but as part of this work he developed a double lumen
bladder
The urinary bladder, or simply bladder, is a hollow organ in humans and other vertebrates that stores urine from the kidneys before disposal by urination. In humans the bladder is a distensible organ that sits on the pelvic floor. Urine enters ...
catheter
In medicine, a catheter (/ˈkæθətər/) is a thin tube made from medical grade materials serving a broad range of functions. Catheters are medical devices that can be inserted in the body to treat diseases or perform a surgical procedure. Cath ...
and devised special
forceps
Forceps (plural forceps or considered a plural noun without a singular, often a pair of forceps; the Latin plural ''forcipes'' is no longer recorded in most dictionaries) are a handheld, hinged instrument used for grasping and holding objects. Fo ...
to enable the removal of urinary stones.
Hales's work on the growth pattern of long
bone
A bone is a Stiffness, rigid Organ (biology), organ that constitutes part of the skeleton in most vertebrate animals. Bones protect the various other organs of the body, produce red blood cell, red and white blood cells, store minerals, provid ...
s, demonstrating
epiphyseal growth; his demonstration of
spinal reflexes in the
frog
A frog is any member of a diverse and largely Carnivore, carnivorous group of short-bodied, tailless amphibians composing the order (biology), order Anura (ανοὐρά, literally ''without tail'' in Ancient Greek). The oldest fossil "proto-f ...
and his suggestion that
electricity
Electricity is the set of physical phenomena associated with the presence and motion of matter that has a property of electric charge. Electricity is related to magnetism, both being part of the phenomenon of electromagnetism, as described ...
played a role in allowing
nerve
A nerve is an enclosed, cable-like bundle of nerve fibers (called axons) in the peripheral nervous system.
A nerve transmits electrical impulses. It is the basic unit of the peripheral nervous system. A nerve provides a common pathway for the e ...
s to control
muscle
Skeletal muscles (commonly referred to as muscles) are organs of the vertebrate muscular system and typically are attached by tendons to bones of a skeleton. The muscle cells of skeletal muscles are much longer than in the other types of muscl ...
function are also noteworthy.
Inventions and other work
Bad air was thought to be a cause of ill-health and death in the 18th century. Death and disease were common in overcrowded ships and prisons. Hales was one of several people in the early 18th century (other notable inventors being
John Theophilus Desaguliers
John Theophilus Desaguliers FRS (12 March 1683 – 29 February 1744) was a British natural philosopher, clergyman, engineer and freemason who was elected to the Royal Society in 1714 as experimental assistant to Isaac Newton. He had studied at ...
,
Mårten Triewald
Mårten Triewald FRS (18 November 1691 – 8 August 1747), sometimes referred to as Mårten Triewald the Younger, was a Swedish merchant, engineer and amateur physicist.
Mårten Triewald was the son of Mårten Triewald the Elder, a farrier ...
and
Samuel Sutton) who developed forms of
ventilator
A ventilator is a piece of medical technology that provides mechanical ventilation by moving breathable air into and out of the lungs, to deliver breaths to a patient who is physically unable to breathe, or breathing insufficiently. Ventilators ...
s to improve air quality.
Hales' ventilators were large
bellows
A bellows or pair of bellows is a device constructed to furnish a strong blast of air. The simplest type consists of a flexible bag comprising a pair of rigid boards with handles joined by flexible leather sides enclosing an approximately airtigh ...
, usually worked by hand, although larger versions were powered by
windmill
A windmill is a structure that converts wind power into rotational energy using vanes called windmill sail, sails or blades, specifically to mill (grinding), mill grain (gristmills), but the term is also extended to windpumps, wind turbines, and ...
s.
They were widely installed in ships, prisons and mines and were successful in reducing disease,
and aerating the lower decks of Royal Navy vessels to combat
dry rot
Dry rot is wood decay caused by one of several species of fungi that digest parts of the wood which give the wood strength and stiffness. It was previously used to describe any decay of cured wood in ships and buildings by a fungus which resul ...
in the hulls. Hales' ventilators were also used in preserving foods and drying grain.
Hales also experimented with ways of distilling fresh water from sea water; preserving water and meat on sea-voyages; measuring depths at sea; measuring high temperatures; and wrote on a range of subjects including
earthquakes
An earthquake (also known as a quake, tremor or temblor) is the shaking of the surface of the Earth resulting from a sudden release of energy in the Earth's lithosphere that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes can range in intensity, from ...
; methods of preventing the spread of fires; and comparative
mortality rate
Mortality rate, or death rate, is a measure of the number of deaths (in general, or due to a specific cause) in a particular population, scaled to the size of that population, per unit of time. Mortality rate is typically expressed in units of de ...
s in relationship to rural and urban parishes.
Philanthropy
After the death of his wife, Hales became increasingly involved in philanthropic causes. In 1722 he became a
corresponding member of the
Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge
The Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge (SPCK) is a UK-based Christian charity. Founded in 1698 by Thomas Bray, it has worked for over 300 years to increase awareness of the Christian faith in the UK and across the world.
The SPCK is th ...
, founded by
Thomas Bray
Thomas Bray (1656 or 165815 February 1730) was an English clergyman and abolitionist who helped formally establish the Church of England in Maryland, as well as the Society for the Propagation of Christian Knowledge and Society for the Propagat ...
. In 1723 Bray became ill and appointed trustees, including Hales, to administer a bequest from Abel Tassin, Sieur d’Allone for 'The Conversion of Negroes Slaves in the West Indies'.
Subsequently, Hales was also appointed a
trustee
Trustee (or the holding of a trusteeship) is a legal term which, in its broadest sense, is a synonym for anyone in a position of trust and so can refer to any individual who holds property, authority, or a position of trust or responsibility to t ...
for Bray's legacy for establishing
parochial Parochial is an adjective which may refer to:
* Parishes, in religion
** Parish churches, also called parochial churches
* Parochial schools, primary or secondary schools affiliated to a religious organisation
* Parochialism
Parochialism is the ...
libraries in the American colonies. These charities became incorporated into a scheme led by
James Oglethorpe
James Edward Oglethorpe (22 December 1696 – 30 June 1785) was a British soldier, Member of Parliament, and philanthropist, as well as the founder of the colony of Georgia in what was then British America. As a social reformer, he hoped to re ...
to establish a charitable colony for the poor, 'honest industrious debtors' and persecuted (
Protestant
Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...
) foreigners. Hales may well have felt a personal commitment to this scheme since his brothers had been imprisoned for debt following the failure of the
South Sea Company
The South Sea Company (officially The Governor and Company of the merchants of Great Britain, trading to the South Seas and other parts of America, and for the encouragement of the Fishery) was a British joint-stock company founded in Ja ...
and one, William, died of
Gaol Fever
Typhus, also known as typhus fever, is a group of infectious diseases that include epidemic typhus, scrub typhus, and murine typhus. Common symptoms include fever, headache, and a rash. Typically these begin one to two weeks after exposure. ...
in
Newgate Prison
Newgate Prison was a prison at the corner of Newgate Street and Old Bailey Street just inside the City of London, England, originally at the site of Newgate, a gate in the Roman London Wall. Built in the 12th century and demolished in 1904, t ...
.
In 1732
King George II granted a
Charter
A charter is the grant of authority or rights, stating that the granter formally recognizes the prerogative of the recipient to exercise the rights specified. It is implicit that the granter retains superiority (or sovereignty), and that the rec ...
for the foundation of the
colony of Georgia
In modern parlance, a colony is a territory subject to a form of foreign rule. Though dominated by the foreign colonizers, colonies remain separate from the administration of the original country of the colonizers, the '' metropolitan state'' ...
and Hales was one of the twenty one members of the Board of Trustees.
The colony of Georgia was notable for its prohibition of slavery and rum.
As a result of his involvement with the
Board of Trustees of Georgia, Hales learnt of the problems resulting from overcrowding of ships and this spurred him to invent a ship ventilator and undertake experiments to
distil fresh water from sea water and to use
salt
Salt is a mineral composed primarily of sodium chloride (NaCl), a chemical compound belonging to the larger class of salts; salt in the form of a natural crystalline mineral is known as rock salt or halite. Salt is present in vast quantitie ...
to preserve meat on board ship.
Hales was one of the co-founders of the
(later the
Royal Society of Arts) conceived by
William Shipley
William Shipley (baptised: 2 June 1715 – 28 December 1803) was an English drawing master, social reformer and inventor who, in 1754, founded an arts society in London that became The Royal Society of Arts, or Royal Society for the Encourage ...
. Hales was also active in the movement to promote the
Gin Act 1736
The Spirit Duties Act 1735 (commonly known as the Gin Act of 1736) was an Act of Parliament, Act of the Parliament of Great Britain establishing a retail tax on gin and annual licenses for gin sellers. Designed to curb gin consumption, the law wa ...
. He wrote a number of anonymous tracts against the consumption of
gin and
distilled spirits
Liquor (or a spirit) is an alcoholic drink produced by distillation of grains, fruits, vegetables, or sugar, that have already gone through alcoholic fermentation. Other terms for liquor include: spirit drink, distilled beverage or hard l ...
, most notably 'A Friendly Admonition to the Drinker of Brandy and other Distilled Spirituous Liquors'. and also lobbied Parliament. Hales was not opposed to all alcoholic beverages
but felt strongly that spirits, and gin in particular, were as he termed it 'The Bane of the Nation'.
Testimony
From the
Nobel Prize in Medicine
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine is awarded yearly by the Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska Institute for outstanding discoveries in physiology or medicine. The Nobel Prize is not a single prize, but five separate prizes that, according ...
acceptance speech given by
Werner Forssmann
Werner Theodor Otto Forßmann (Forssmann in English; ; 29 August 1904 – 1 June 1979) was a German researcher and physician from Germany who shared the 1956 Nobel Prize in Medicine (with Andre Frederic Cournand and Dickinson W. Richards) for ...
in 1956:
The genus of trees ''
Halesia
''Halesia'', also known as silverbell or snowdrop tree, is a small genus of four or five species of deciduous large shrubs or small trees in the family Styracaceae.
Range
They are native to eastern Asia (southeast China) and eastern North ...
'' was named after him by
John Ellis in 1759.
The
American Society of Plant Biologists
American(s) may refer to:
* American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America"
** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America
** American ancestry, pe ...
awards the Stephen Hales Prize
Awards and Funding – Awards – American Society of Plant Biologists
My.aspb.org. Retrieved on 15 June 2012. annually to a scientist for work in plant biology.
Publications
*
*
See also
* Pneumatic chemistry
In the history of science, pneumatic chemistry is an area of scientific research of the seventeenth, eighteenth, and early nineteenth centuries. Important goals of this work were the understanding of the physical properties of gases and how the ...
* Physiology
Physiology (; ) is the scientific study of functions and mechanisms in a living system. As a sub-discipline of biology, physiology focuses on how organisms, organ systems, individual organs, cells, and biomolecules carry out the chemical ...
* Botany
Botany, also called , plant biology or phytology, is the science of plant life and a branch of biology. A botanist, plant scientist or phytologist is a scientist who specialises in this field. The term "botany" comes from the Ancient Greek w ...
* History of botany
The history of botany examines the human effort to understand life on Earth by tracing the historical development of the discipline of botany—that part of natural science dealing with organisms traditionally treated as plants.
Rudimentary b ...
References
Further reading
Hales, Stephen
(1727) ''Vegetable Staticks'', London: W. and J. Innys – from the Missouri Botanical Garden's library
Hales, Stephen
(1738). "Philosophical experiments: containing useful, and necessary instructions for such as undertake long voyages at sea. Shewing how sea-water may be made fresh and wholsome: and how fresh water may be preserv'd sweet. How biscuit, corn, &c. may be secured from the weevel, meggots, and other insects. And flesh preserv'd in hot climates, by salting animals whole. To which is added, an account of several experiments and observations on chalybeate or steel-waters ... which were read before the Royal-society, at several of their meetings", London: W. Innys and R. Manby
*
— details on Hales's life and work
* For a calendar of manuscript correspondence and writing of Stephen Hales see: D.G.C. Allan and R.E. Schofield, ''Stephen Hales. Scientist and philanthropist'' (London: Scolar Press, 1980), p. 178, and for his published writing see ibid p. 191
* For Hales's work as parish priest of Teddington see: David G.C. Allan, ''Science, Philanthropy and Religion in 18th century Teddington: Stephen Hales DD, FRS, (1677–1761)'' (Twickenham: Borough of Twickenham Local History Society, 2004). This work contains reconstructions of the enlargement of St Mary's Church, Hale's copyhold parsonage house and a map of his drainage scheme (Map by Ken Howe).
* For a general assessment see: David G.C. Allan, Hales, Stephen (1677–1761) in ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
The ''Dictionary of National Biography'' (''DNB'') is a standard work of reference on notable figures from British history, published since 1885. The updated ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (''ODNB'') was published on 23 September ...
''.
* For the 2009 celebration of his life and work see The William Shipley
William Shipley (baptised: 2 June 1715 – 28 December 1803) was an English drawing master, social reformer and inventor who, in 1754, founded an arts society in London that became The Royal Society of Arts, or Royal Society for the Encourage ...
Group fo
''RSA History Newsletter''
no. 22 (Nov 2009)
* For Hales's association with the Society of Arts see David G.C. Allan, 'Founder of the Society of Arts' group article in ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online supplement, 2008)''
*
*
External links
*
* Stephen Hales (1727
''Vegetable staticks''
– digital facsimile from the Linda Hall Library
The Linda Hall Library is a privately endowed American library of science, engineering and technology located in Kansas City, Missouri, sitting "majestically on a urban arboretum." It is the "largest independently funded public library of scien ...
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hales, Stephen
1677 births
1761 deaths
Doctors of Divinity
English physiologists
English biologists
18th-century British botanists
18th-century English chemists
18th-century British inventors
People from Bekesbourne
Fellows of the Royal Society
Members of the French Academy of Sciences
Recipients of the Copley Medal
Enlightenment scientists
Alumni of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge
Fellows of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge