Richard Laming and the coal-gas industry, with his views on the structure of matter

References

• Laming , R. 1851 . Matter and Force London 114 pp.
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• He was 80 when he died in 1879 J. Gas Lighting 1879 33 710 710
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• 1864 . Gentleman's Magazine , ii : 665 – 665 .
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• Information kindly given by the Librarian
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• St-Hilaire , Geoffroy . 1839 . Comptes rend. , 8 : 830 – 830 . ‘Il avait une haute et opulente position comme médecin’.
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• Laming , R. 1830–1 . Lancet , ii : 388 – 388 . 563; T. Clark, ibid., 474.
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• Laming , R. 1831–2 . Lancet , ii : 754 – 754 . 1832–3, i. 74
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• 1829–30 . Lancet , ii : 793 – 793 .
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• Laming , R. 1863 . Electrician , 3 : 204 – 204 . ‘… my earnest enquiry into doctrinal electricity, commencing with the winter of 1812–13 and never since suspended’.
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• Laming , R. 1838 . On the primary forces of electricity London This is a reprint of the first two papers of ref. 12.
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• L'Aming Richard De l'application des axiomes de la mécanique et du calculgéometrique aux phenomènes de l'électricité Paris1839 (sic) I have not seen this publication, which is in the catalogue of the Bibliothèque Nationale.
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• Laming , R. 1838 . Phil. Mag. , 12 : 486 – 486 . 13, 44, 333
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• St-Hilaire , Geoffroy . 1839 . Comptes rend. , 9 : 10 – 10 . The pamphlet by the unknown journalist has not been traced.
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• Laming , R. 1845 . Phil. Mag. , 27 : 420 – 420 .
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• 1846 . B.A. Report 3 – 3 . He became a life member of the Association, and his address was recorded nearly every year in the Report until his death.
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• Laming , R. Matter and Force , 52 – 52 .
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• 1858 . J. Gas Lighting , 7 : 707 – 707 .
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• Thompson gave evidence to this effect during the patent litigation reported in Thomson T. A System of Chemistry , 1st edn. iii 187 191 I hope to be able to say more about Thompson in a later paper.
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• E.P. 8878/1841 Newton's J. 1842 19 197 197
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• E.P. 9632/1843 Newton's J. 1844 24 107 107
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• E.P. 10,955/1845 Newton's J. 1846 29 181 181 The patentee was ‘James Laming, merchant, of Mark Lane’ and the patent was ‘communicated from abroad’.
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• F.P. 2168/1845 and 3332/1846
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• Possoz , L. and Boissière , A. 1848 . Comptes rend. , 26 : 203 – 203 . A paper is in preparation which will recount the history of these early attempts to utilise atmospheric nitrogen in industry.
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• E.P. 12,264/1848 Newton's J. 1849 34 342 342 F.P. 6221/1847
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• Ure , Andrew . 1853 . Dictionary of Arts, Manufactures and Mines , 4th edn. Vol. ii , 507 – 507 . London visited Laming's works at Millwall, and remarked on the ‘beauty’ and purity of the products
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• Laming , R. 1858–9 . A new view of electrical action London Nos. 1–3
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• Laming , R. 1858 . Electricity revealed to the million London
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• Laming , R. 1851 . Phil. Mag. , 1 : 517 – 517 .
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• E.P. 11,944/1847
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• E.P. 13,059/1850 Newton's J. 1850 37 328 328 See also Chem. Gaz., 1850, 8, 218, a lecture given by Laming to the Society of Arts.
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• E.P. 12,867/1849
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• 1858 . J. Gas Lighting , 7 : 513 – 544 . Most of the information about Laming's activities in the gas industry has been gleaned from this report of the legal action. In the same journal are editorial comments (pp. 501, 549, 582) and letters from Laming and Hills (pp. 584, 607; 1859, 9, 51, 57). An appeal on points of law was heard in 1859, and the verdict was again in favour of Hills. A report of the trial was printed, but I have not been able to trace a copy. Similar actions by Hills against other gas companies dragged on for many years.
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• E.P. 1482/1862 and 2217/1865 The theory written into these claims is Laming's own. It is not clear to me whether these patents would ‘work’, but they were almost certainly impracticable.
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• 1861 . The Electrician , 1 : 295 – 295 .
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• In F.P. 16,431/1853 Laming representé par son fils
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• E.P. 1367/1861
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• Venn , H.A. 1951 . Alumni Cantabrigienses Vol. iv , 84 – 84 . Cambridge
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• Laming , R. 1870 . On the origin of matter and its mental government Brighton God in second causes; a physical Principia, London, 1873; The spirituality of causation, London, 1874. The title of a chapter in the last book may fairly be taken as indicating the style of all three: ‘The infinities, volumetric and enduring, of Negative Space’.
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• William Snow Harris (1791–1867) was trained as a surgeon and, like Laming, abandoned his medical career for electrical studies, though with more success. He was knighted for his work on lightning conductors for the Navy D.N.B.
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• Harris , W. Snow . 1834 . Phil. Trans. , 124 : 213 – 213 .
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• Laming , R. 1838 . Phil. Mag. , 12 : 488 – 488 .
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• Faraday , M. 1834 . Phil. Trans. , 124 : 121 – 121 .
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• Faraday , M. 1844 . Phil. Mag. , 24 : 136 – 136 .
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• The only comment I have found was by one Henry Sloggett of Falmouth Phil. Mag. 1846 28 443 443 who appeared to be laying claim to a similar theory
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• 1852 . Athenaeum , : 795 – 795 . ‘If there is any meaning in the book … it is beyond any ordinary comprehension’
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