John Richardson, saccharometry and the pounds-per-barrel extract: The construction of a quantity

British Journal for the History of Science

Volumn 34, Issue 3, 2001, Pages 255-273

  Sumner, James ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF LEEDS   (United Kingdom)

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EID: 18844384723     PISSN: 00070874     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1017/s000708740100440x     Document Type: Article

References (84)

1. H. Collins, Changing Order: Replication and Induction in Scientific Practice, London, 1985, 5-18.
2. S. Schaffer, 'Measuring virtue: eudiometry, enlightenment and pneumatic medicine', in The Medical Enlightenment of the Eighteenth Century (ed. A. Cunningham and R. French), Cambridge, 1990, 287-8, 290.
3. G. Gooday, The Morals of Measurement: Accuracy, Irony and Trust in Late Victorian Electrical Practice, forthcoming, Chapter 2.
4. Some recent work has discussed how official bodies, in applying quantification, seek to engender trust and prevent conflict with practitioners by appealing to the 'objectivity' or 'neutrality' of the numbers produced. See in particular T. Porter, Trust in Numbers, Princeton, 1995. Richardson's case is rather different. He presented his quantity as designed primarily to benefit, and to be applied by, his fellow practitioners themselves, rather than agents of the legislature. The appeal for trust here, therefore, rested less on the quantity's abstract nature than on its broad conformability to pre-existing understandings, coupled with its practical utility.
5. P. Mathias, The Brewing Industry in England 1700-1830, Cambridge, 1959, 110, 369.
6. The cultural history of the brewing profession appears to show a distinct consciousness of, and sense of injustice against, the sharp duty increases concentrated in the period from 1690 to 1710. A pseudonymous polemic of 1760, the 'Obadiah Poundage letter', protesting the general deterioration of the brewers' condition since the 1690s, was widely drawn on or plagiarized in subsequent literature, and forms the basis of many, ostensibly neutral, accounts. H. Corran, A History of Brewing, Newton Abbot, 1975, 110-6.
7. Mathias, op. cit. (5), 346; Corran, op. cit. (6), 175-6.
8. Mathias, op. cit. (5), 346; Corran, op. cit. (6), 175-6.
9. Mathias, op. cit. (5), p. xxii; T. Gourvish and R. Wilson, The British Brewing Industry 1830-1980, Cambridge, 1994, 41.
10. Mathias, op. cit. (5), p. xxii; T. Gourvish and R. Wilson, The British Brewing Industry 1830-1980, Cambridge, 1994, 41.
11. C. Wilson, 'Water of life', in Liquid Nourishment (ed. C. Wilson), Edinburgh, 1993, 142-5.
12. For the move away from reliance on the formerly dominant Land Tax, and increased use of the Excise and other means of indirect taxation, see J. Beckett, 'Land Tax or Excise: the levying of taxation in seventeenth- and eighteenth-century England', English Historical Review (1985), 100, 285-308; J. Brewer, Sinews of Power, London, 1989, 95-101.
13. For the move away from reliance on the formerly dominant Land Tax, and increased use of the Excise and other means of indirect taxation, see J. Beckett, 'Land Tax or Excise: the levying of taxation in seventeenth- and eighteenth-century England', English Historical Review (1985), 100, 285-308; J. Brewer, Sinews of Power, London, 1989, 95-101.
14. For the history of spirits taxation see F. Tate, Alcoholometry: An Account of the British Method of Alcoholic Strength Determination, London, 1930, pp. ix-xviii.
15. For the structure and day-to-day operations of the Excise, see Brewer, op. cit. (10), 101-14; but see also W. Ashworth, '"Between the trader and the public": British alcohol standards and the proof of good governance', Technology and Culture (2001), 42, 27-50, on hostility towards the institution and the specific problems (discussed here below) faced in the spirits assessment case.
16. For the structure and day-to-day operations of the Excise, see Brewer, op. cit. (10), 101-14; but see also W. Ashworth, '"Between the trader and the public": British alcohol standards and the proof of good governance', Technology and Culture (2001), 42, 27-50, on hostility towards the institution and the specific problems (discussed here below) faced in the spirits assessment case.
17. Ashworth, op. cit. (12), 36-48. Ashworth's account is informed by Theodore Porter's (op. cit. (4)) view of how a public body - in this case the Excise - may seek to exploit the apparent objectivity and precision of quantitative measurements to achieve particular ends - in this case the gathering of a huge Excise revenue with as little trouble as possible. It was this objectivity which in 1781 was placed on trial.
18. Ashworth, op. cit. (12), 36-48. Ashworth's account is informed by Theodore Porter's (op. cit. (4)) view of how a public body - in this case the Excise - may seek to exploit the apparent objectivity and precision of quantitative measurements to achieve particular ends - in this case the gathering of a huge Excise revenue with as little trouble as possible. It was this objectivity which in 1781 was placed on trial.
19. For Martin's life, and the topography and culture of the Fleet Street instrument trade of which he formed a part, see J. Millburn, Benjamin Martin, Leyden, 1976.
20. Ashworth, op. cit. (12), 35-6.
21. One known earlier account is a description, in W. Reddington's A Practical Treatise on Brewing of 1760, of a home-made gravimetric device intended for worts. It is unlikely, however, that the later brewers who developed the saccharometric project were aware of this innovation. Mathias, op. cit. (5), 70.
22. One known earlier account is a description, in W. Reddington's A Practical Treatise on Brewing of 1760, of a home-made gravimetric device intended for worts. It is unlikely, however, that the later brewers who developed the saccharometric project were aware of this innovation. Mathias, op. cit. (5), 70.
23. Quoted in J. Baverstock, Treatises on Brewing: By the Late James Baverstock, Esq. (ed. J. H. Baverstock), London, 1824, pp. xiii-xiv.
24. Baverstock, op. cit. (17), p. xiv (original emphasis); J. Richardson, The Philosophical Principles of the Science of Brewing, York, 1788, 116-17. This text contains Richardson's Statical Estimates, unaltered from 1784, with other works. Richardson deliberately omits Benjamin Martin's name from his account; that his 'late celebrated philosopher' is indeed Martin is, however, clear from Baverstock's son's account of the episode. See J. H. Baverstock in Baverstock, op. cit. (17), 256.
25. Baverstock, op. cit. (17), p. xiv (original emphasis); J. Richardson, The Philosophical Principles of the Science of Brewing, York, 1788, 116-17. This text contains Richardson's Statical Estimates, unaltered from 1784, with other works. Richardson deliberately omits Benjamin Martin's name from his account; that his 'late celebrated philosopher' is indeed Martin is, however, clear from Baverstock's son's account of the episode. See J. H. Baverstock in Baverstock, op. cit. (17), 256.
26. Baverstock, op. cit. (17), p. xiv (original emphasis); J. Richardson, The Philosophical Principles of the Science of Brewing, York, 1788, 116-17. This text contains Richardson's Statical Estimates, unaltered from 1784, with other works. Richardson deliberately omits Benjamin Martin's name from his account; that his 'late celebrated philosopher' is indeed Martin is, however, clear from Baverstock's son's account of the episode. See J. H. Baverstock in Baverstock, op. cit. (17), 256.
27. Baverstock, op. cit. (17), 6-7.
28. Baverstock, op. cit. (17), 191. The major London breweries producing the brown beer known as porter were huge concerns in the eighteenth century, orders of magnitude greater in terms of plant and output than most provincial common breweries. We might assume that their systematic, industrialized operations and need for standardization made them natural candidates for the saccharometric approach: it should be noted, however, that Baverstock first approached Samuel Whitbread, whose brewery was the very largest of its kind, and was firmly rebuffed.
29. Baverstock, op. cit. (17), p. xx.
30. The tendency among brewers to consider Richardson's contribution as pre-eminent is exhibited in, for instance, T. Glendinning, 'A short account of the brewers' saccharometer', Journal of the Federated Institutes of Brewing (1900), 6, 358. It is evidently widely dispersed in the secondary literature and can also be found in accounts not specific to the brewery. See for example J. Yeats, The Technical History of Commerce, London, 1871, 234.
31. The tendency among brewers to consider Richardson's contribution as pre-eminent is exhibited in, for instance, T. Glendinning, 'A short account of the brewers' saccharometer', Journal of the Federated Institutes of Brewing (1900), 6, 358. It is evidently widely dispersed in the secondary literature and can also be found in accounts not specific to the brewery. See for example J. Yeats, The Technical History of Commerce, London, 1871, 234.
32. Mathias, op. cit. (5), 71-2.
33. I am grateful to an anonymous referee for raising this suggestion.
34. For rhetoric of this kind in Richardson's work, see for instance Richardson, op. cit. (18), 83-5.
35. P. Aldabella and R. Barnard, Hull and East Yorkshire Breweries, East Yorkshire Local History Society, 1997, 9, 80-1. The authors mention an advertisement for one of Richardson's early works, published in 1777 (prior to his move to Hull), which gives as contact address a coffee-house in Fleet Street. There was thus a period for which Richardson was based, or at least had regular business, in close proximity to the hub of London's philosophical instrument trade - although John Troughton did not take up premises in Fleet Street until 1782.
36. The estate-building project was imitated by other Hull brewers, with the result that the port became noticeably anomalous within Yorkshire, where individual on-site brewing remained the norm well into the nineteenth century. In the 1850s and 60s around eighty per cent of excised malt in Hull was brewed by large common breweries, as against fifty-eight per cent in York, nineteen per cent in Sheffield and twelve per cent in Leeds. See P. Clark, The English Alehouse 1200-1830, London, 1983, 265-7; K. Allison (ed.), A History of the County of York, East Riding, Oxford, 1969-, i, 'The city of Kingston upon Hull', 266, n. 84.
37. The estate-building project was imitated by other Hull brewers, with the result that the port became noticeably anomalous within Yorkshire, where individual on-site brewing remained the norm well into the nineteenth century. In the 1850s and 60s around eighty per cent of excised malt in Hull was brewed by large common breweries, as against fifty-eight per cent in York, nineteen per cent in Sheffield and twelve per cent in Leeds. See P. Clark, The English Alehouse 1200-1830, London, 1983, 265-7; K. Allison (ed.), A History of the County of York, East Riding, Oxford, 1969-, i, 'The city of Kingston upon Hull', 266, n. 84.
38. The estate-building project was imitated by other Hull brewers, with the result that the port became noticeably anomalous within Yorkshire, where individual on-site brewing remained the norm well into the nineteenth century. In the 1850s and 60s around eighty per cent of excised malt in Hull was brewed by large common breweries, as against fifty-eight per cent in York, nineteen per cent in Sheffield and twelve per cent in Leeds. See P. Clark, The English Alehouse 1200-1830, London, 1983, 265-7; K. Allison (ed.), A History of the County of York, East Riding, Oxford, 1969-, i, 'The city of Kingston upon Hull', 266, n. 84.
39. Richardson, op. cit. (18), 116.
40. Richardson, op. cit. (18), 95-102. The account is puzzling: the device under discussion is seemingly the finalized saccharometer itself, made to Richardson's own instructions, yet he also presents himself as discovering the instrument's properties for the first time in this calibration process. Perhaps the narrative is in truth based partly on his earliest experiences with the Martin hydrometer: Richardson would naturally have sought to downplay the significance of the precursor instrument.
41. Richardson, op. cit. (18), 324. The identity of this 'friend', who wrote from London and whose initials were given as 'W. D.', seems to be lost; Glendinning (op. cit. (22)) remarked on the mystery in 1900. The content of W. D.'s letter suggests him to have been a non-brewer, well versed in hydrostatic theory and skilled in the manipulation of instruments. We might reasonably speculate that he was himself an instrument-maker: however, I have not as yet uncovered any likely suspects bearing these initials (which are not, of course, necessarily genuine).
42. Richardson, op. cit. (18), 324. The identity of this 'friend', who wrote from London and whose initials were given as 'W. D.', seems to be lost; Glendinning (op. cit. (22)) remarked on the mystery in 1900. The content of W. D.'s letter suggests him to have been a non-brewer, well versed in hydrostatic theory and skilled in the manipulation of instruments. We might reasonably speculate that he was himself an instrument-maker: however, I have not as yet uncovered any likely suspects bearing these initials (which are not, of course, necessarily genuine).
43. For the Troughtons, and their place in the London instrument trade, see A. Skempton and J. Brown, John and Edward Troughton, mathematical instrument makers', Notes and Records of the Royal Society (1972-3), 27, 233-62; A. McConnell, 'From craft workshop to big business - the London scientific instrument trade's response to increasing demand, 1750-1820', London Journal (1994), 19, 36-53. Note that John Troughton did not die in 1784, the year of the publication of the Statical Estimates, as some secondary sources suggest.
44. For the Troughtons, and their place in the London instrument trade, see A. Skempton and J. Brown, John and Edward Troughton, mathematical instrument makers', Notes and Records of the Royal Society (1972-3), 27, 233-62; A. McConnell, 'From craft workshop to big business - the London scientific instrument trade's response to increasing demand, 1750-1820', London Journal (1994), 19, 36-53. Note that John Troughton did not die in 1784, the year of the publication of the Statical Estimates, as some secondary sources suggest.
45. J. Richardson, Philosophical Principles of the Science of Brewing, York, 1805, 457.
46. The Troughtons did, however, later submit an instrument (without success) in response to an 1802 call for a new device to serve as the official Excise spirit hydrometer. Tate, op. cit. (11), 8.
47. Richardson, op. cit. (18), 97.
48. Richardson, op. cit. (18), 322 n.
49. Richardson, op. cit. (18), 345.
50. A. Morrison-Low, 'Hydrometer', in Instruments of Science: An Historical Encyclopedia (ed. R. Bud and D. Warner), New York, 1998, 311-13; J. Burnett, 'William Prout and the urinometer: some interpretations', in Making Instruments Count (ed. R. Anderson, J. Bennett and W. Ryan), Aldershot, 1993, 242-54.
51. A. Morrison-Low, 'Hydrometer', in Instruments of Science: An Historical Encyclopedia (ed. R. Bud and D. Warner), New York, 1998, 311-13; J. Burnett, 'William Prout and the urinometer: some interpretations', in Making Instruments Count (ed. R. Anderson, J. Bennett and W. Ryan), Aldershot, 1993, 242-54.
52. No term other than 'hydrometer' was ever in common use to describe the British distillery instrument. A French device constructed by Gay-Lussac, which gave direct percentage readings of alcohol by volume, was dubbed the 'alcoholometer'. W. Garnett, entry for 'Hydrometer', Encyclopædia Britannica, 1910, 164.
53. Baverstock, op. cit. (17), 96.
54. Baverstock, op. cit. (17), 96.
55. Baverstock, op. cit. (17), 61-4. The Curtis museum in Baverstock's home town of Alton, Hampshire, has an Atkins hydrometer once in the possession of Baverstock and presumably used in this project. Both Atkins and Benjamin Martin also attempted conformations with other makers' instruments, evidently with a view to capturing their trade. Martin (who presumably influenced Baverstock) created a correspondence table relating his values to Clarke's, whilst Atkins sometimes sent his devices out with specially made scales which would read in the units of both Clarke and another leading hydrometrist, Dicas.
56. Baverstock, op. cit. (17), 101. Original emphasis.
57. Perhaps because the Troughtons' interests lay primarily in other directions, the reputation for the production of the most accurate saccharometers settled early in the nineteenth century on the firm of Dring and Fage, already a powerful force in hydrometry since they were now the official manufacturers of the Excise-approved Clarke device; see Tate, op. cit. (11), p. xviii. Nineteenth-century accounts typically praise Richardson's theoretical contribution whilst downplaying the contemporary value of his instrument; see for example F. Accum, A Treatise on the Art of Brewing, 2nd edn., London, 1821, 104-23; A. Morrice, A Practical Treatise on Brewing the Various Sorts of Malt-Liquor, 7th edn., London, 1827. Dring and Page themselves appear to have acted as agents for Morrice's book, which strongly advocated their device.
58. Perhaps because the Troughtons' interests lay primarily in other directions, the reputation for the production of the most accurate saccharometers settled early in the nineteenth century on the firm of Dring and Fage, already a powerful force in hydrometry since they were now the official manufacturers of the Excise-approved Clarke device; see Tate, op. cit. (11), p. xviii. Nineteenth-century accounts typically praise Richardson's theoretical contribution whilst downplaying the contemporary value of his instrument; see for example F. Accum, A Treatise on the Art of Brewing, 2nd edn., London, 1821, 104-23; A. Morrice, A Practical Treatise on Brewing the Various Sorts of Malt-Liquor, 7th edn., London, 1827. Dring and Page themselves appear to have acted as agents for Morrice's book, which strongly advocated their device.
59. Perhaps because the Troughtons' interests lay primarily in other directions, the reputation for the production of the most accurate saccharometers settled early in the nineteenth century on the firm of Dring and Fage, already a powerful force in hydrometry since they were now the official manufacturers of the Excise-approved Clarke device; see Tate, op. cit. (11), p. xviii. Nineteenth-century accounts typically praise Richardson's theoretical contribution whilst downplaying the contemporary value of his instrument; see for example F. Accum, A Treatise on the Art of Brewing, 2nd edn., London, 1821, 104-23; A. Morrice, A Practical Treatise on Brewing the Various Sorts of Malt-Liquor, 7th edn., London, 1827. Dring and Page themselves appear to have acted as agents for Morrice's book, which strongly advocated their device.
60. Baverstock, op. cit. (17), 256-7.
61. Corran states that the scale has 'not yet in 1974 become obsolete"; more recently it has lost ground to the conventional specific gravity scale. Corran, op. cit. (6), 136.
62. Richardson, op. cit. (18), 98-9.
63. Glendinning, op. cit. (22), 363.
64. Richardson, op. cit. (18), 289-90.
65. Schaffer, op. cit. (2), 288: 'Respirability elided into dephlogistication, dephlogistication into health, health into virtue'.
66. Richardson, op. cit. (18), 164-5. Original emphasis.
67. The saccharomctric project is interesting as a case where practitioners were driven to seek greater precision than the legislature had imposed. More commonly, as in the spirits case, the legislature appeals to the precision of its methods in imposing a quantificatory scheme (see notes 4 and 13 above). We might speculate that the serious difficulties which transpired in the distillery influenced Richardson against presenting his scheme directly to the Excise.
68. Richardson, op. cit. (18), 171.
69. Richardson, op. cit. (18), 158-9.
70. Richardson, op. cit. (18), 170-1. Richardson never constructed, or at least never marketed, such an instrument, although the proposition evidently provoked interest. The third and final edition of his collected work, published in 1805, contains a footnote: 'Enquiries having been addressed to me on the subject of this apparatus, I think it right to say that an atention [sic] to more material avocations has hitherto prevented my prosecuting the idea, which, however, is not entirely relinquished'. Richardson, op. cit. (32), 253.
71. Richardson, op. cit. (18), 170-1. Richardson never constructed, or at least never marketed, such an instrument, although the proposition evidently provoked interest. The third and final edition of his collected work, published in 1805, contains a footnote: 'Enquiries having been addressed to me on the subject of this apparatus, I think it right to say that an atention [sic] to more material avocations has hitherto prevented my prosecuting the idea, which, however, is not entirely relinquished'. Richardson, op. cit. (32), 253.
72. Richardson, op. cit. (18), 161.
73. Richardson, op. cit. (18), 163-4; Mathias, op. cit. (5), 414-16.
74. Richardson, op. cit. (18), 163-4; Mathias, op. cit. (5), 414-16.
75. Richardson, op. cit. (32), 249-52. Mathias perhaps overstates the case in referring to Richardson's 'proving conclusively' (op. cit. (5), 415) the superiority of pale malt over the years. The figures in the 1784 edition, and those for 1787 and 1788, do give clear support, hut after this date there is often little difference between Richardson's values for 'pale' and for 'brown and pale mixed'. Richardson's accompanying text in the 1805 edition problematizes the figures somewhat: his claim for the superiority of pale malt is unamended. The figures later produced with reference to the same point by F. C. Accum (see below), also mentioned by Mathias, arc similarly ambiguous.
76. Mathias, op. cit. (5), 72-3. See also Baverstock Jr.'s comments: J. H. Baverstock in Baverstock, op. cit. (17), 189-90.
77. Mathias, op. cit. (5), 72-3. See also Baverstock Jr.'s comments: J. H. Baverstock in Baverstock, op. cit. (17), 189-90.
78. Accum, op. cit. (43), 27.
79. Richardson, op. cit. (18), 87-9.
80. Mathias, op. cit. (5), 73; J. Nettleton, A Study of the History and Meaning of the Expression 'Original Gravity', as Applied to Beer, Worts and Distillers' Wash, London, 1881, 3-6.
81. Mathias, op. cit. (5), 73; J. Nettleton, A Study of the History and Meaning of the Expression 'Original Gravity', as Applied to Beer, Worts and Distillers' Wash, London, 1881, 3-6.
82. Richardson, op. cit. (18), 251-3. Richardson's resolution - invoking the gas present in beer as an additional principle of intoxication - presents an intriguing case which I hope to discuss further at a later date.
83. Nettleton, op. cit. (61), 7. Assessment on the basis of original gravity persisted with various minor modifications until 1993, when it was replaced by the alcohol-by-volume scale traditionally associated with the distillery. This final legislative abolition of the saccharometric scheme perhaps reflects the increasing marginalization, in Great Britain, of the brewery culture Richardson stood for, and would repay further study. For a summary account of the complex issues and interests involved, see P. Ogie, 'UK beer duty: a brief history', in Beer, Glorious Beer (ed. B. Pepper and R. Protz), London, 2000, 112-14.
84. Nettleton, op. cit. (61), 7. Assessment on the basis of original gravity persisted with various minor modifications until 1993, when it was replaced by the alcohol-by-volume scale traditionally associated with the distillery. This final legislative abolition of the saccharometric scheme perhaps reflects the increasing marginalization, in Great Britain, of the brewery culture Richardson stood for, and would repay further study. For a summary account of the complex issues and interests involved, see P. Ogie, 'UK beer duty: a brief history', in Beer, Glorious Beer (ed. B. Pepper and R. Protz), London, 2000, 112-14.