Whilst on a visit to this country, Dr. Fulton of Yale University was attracted by a leader in the Times of 5/8/32 referring to the will of a public-spirited Alderman of Warrington - the late Mr. Arthur Bennett. As a result, Dr, Fulton visited Warrington and obtained material for a paper he read before the John Hopkins Medical History Club in Baltimore. In his researches into the history of medicine he discovered that many of the most important contributions to English medicine and science in the 18th century came from a district in Lancashire. He discovered that the English universities contributed little. Very few contributions came from London, but Edinburgh did have more to offer (in fact many of the students from Warrington Academy did choose to attend Edinburgh University). He was surprised to find that Lancashire had a group of men making substantial contributions to medicine, science, literature and art.

21 student s studied medicine at the Academy and many became distinguished practitioners in medecine and surgury. It is incredible the influence these men had worldwide on so many aspects of medicine and science.

Seven of the students of medicine are mentioned in the Dictionary of Natural Biography - 3 became fellows of the Royal College of Physicians, i.e. John Aikin, Thomas Percival and Caleb Hillies Parry (who was a celebrated Bath physician who studied the arterial pulse and angina pectoris). Another well known doctor was Thomas Robert Malthus FRS famous for his "Essay on Population" which led to the Malthusian doctrine and indirectly through Darwin and Wallace to the theory of natural selection.

WARRINGTON ACADEMY FROM THE MEDICAL REGISTER - 26/6/1778

The trustees of this academy beg leave to recommend it to public notice as affording peculiar advantages for the liberal and virtuous education of youth in general whether intended for commercial life or the learned professions.

Subjects - mathematics and natural philosophy, theoretical and experimental lectures or chemistry by Mr. J. Aikin, Surgeon. Also some lectures to be given on anatomy. Mr. Aikin proposes to give to any gentlemen, who are defined for the medical profession, a course of private instruction preparatory to the regular study of physics.

Many gentlemen of the medical profession have passed through a complete course of academic learning at Warrington previous to their commencement of the study of physics at university, e.g. Dr. Fair of Bristol, Dr. Parry of Cirencester, Dr. Percival of Manchester, Dr. Taylor of Bolton, Dr. Vize of Clonmell Ireland, Dr. White of Nottingham, Dr. Wadsworth of Sheffield.

THOMAS PERCIVAL

Thomas Percival - born in 1740. He was orphaned at the age of 3 years and brought up by his sister under influence of his grandfather. His early years were influenced by an orthordox Anglican tradition and he was educated at Warrington Grammer School where he excelled as a classical scholar. He later became a dissenter, throwing over his original intention of going to Oxford University. He became the Academy's first pupil. Quakers and Unitarians were both groups who could accept scientific education in their beliefs. He later became a physician in Manchester.

Thomas Percival was a very level-headed man who was able to settle disputes between the founders of Manchester Royal Infirmary and as a result he published two pamphlets - "Internal Regulation of Hospitals 1771" and "A Scheme of Professional Conduct Relative to Hospitals and other Medical Charities 1772".

Next he wrote "Medical Ethics 1803" and this was the first attempt to codify ethics since the days of Hippocrates. He saw that etiquette as being present as being as much in the patients' interests as in the doctors'.

Thomas Percival MD FRS & AS also made important contributions to public health and the problems of putrifaction .

In 1782 cod liver oil was first used in the treatment of chronic rheumatism in England by Robert Dailey who conveyed his findings to Thomas Percival.

Percival died in 1804 and was buried in Warrington.

JOHN AIKIN

John Aikin was born in Kibworth in 1747. When he was 10 years old his father the Rev. John Aikin was called to Warrington to become one of the founders of the new Academy. Young John was a bright child and at the age of 15 he was apprenticed to Mr. Garthshore, a surgeon and apothecary in Rutlandshire.. In 1765 he went to Edinburgh and then after a year returned to Warrington and the Academy.

In 1771 Aikin recognised the spread of infection and the connection with poor ventilation. It was discovered that inflammation and gangrene was more rife in crowded London hospitals than in private practices and country infirmaries. Aikin and Percival advocated cleanliness, fresh air, space between beds and the disposal of contaminated clothing and dressings.

At about this time Aikin was accumulating information for his celebrated book "The Management of Pregnant and Lying in Women" which was publisheed in 1773.

Later Aikin moved back to Warrington and practiced as a physician. He joined the staff at the academy as a part-time tutor where he remained until the Academy closed in 1783. He gave courses on Anatomy, Physics and Chemistry.

John Aikin felt that he owed his inspiration to Joseph Priestly when he was a Tutor at the Academy.

He was also influenced by Charles White FRS who was a leading surgeon and obstretician, and was one of the founders of the Manchester Infirmary. He had much influence on John Aikin, Percival and others. White wrote about the contagiousness of puerperal fever so it is obvious that Aikin got his inspiration and ideas for his book from White. White also wrote a book on "The Gradation of Man" which represents the beginning of the science of Anthropology.

John Aikin did write several other books on various subjects. He also advised the penal reformer John Howard on hygienic measures to lessen disease in prisons and assisted him on his book "The State of Prisons". Aikin also helped and assisted William Wilberforce in the abolition of the slave trade.

JOSEPH PRIESTLEY

Joseph Priestly taught languages and Belle Lettre, he was also a pioneer in the teaching of history. Before that time it was not considered a fully recognised subject of university study.

He came to Warrington to teach Literature but could turn his hand to anything. He taught Anatomy at the Academy and carried out experiments in electricity and chemistry. He was an outstanding figure of both theology and science in the 18th century.

In 1774 as an English clergyman who later emigrated to America, settling in Northumberland, Pennsylvania, he observed that mercuric oxide on being heated yielded a gas that vigorously supported the combustion of a candle. Priestly then found that the gas would support respiration and called it dephlogisticated air. The name Oxygen meaning "acid former" was given to the gas by a group of French chemists in 1787 in recognition of the ability of some oxides such as the oxide of sulphur to form acids.

Priestley isolated oxygen and showed it to be the component in air which made dark venous blood brighter red.

In 1777 the first clear description of colour blindness was given by a English physician - Joseph Huddard in a letter to Joseph Priestly.

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