Stuff You Missed in History Class Elizabeth Fulhame’s Colorful Chemistry
Mar 25, 2026
A mysterious 18th century chemist and her ahead-of-her-time 1794 book get spotlighted. The episode traces her textile and precious-metal dye experiments and her lively role in the combustion debate between phlogiston and oxygen. It highlights an early description of catalysis and surprising links to proto-photography. The story also follows contemporary reception, translations, and later rediscovery.
36:19
Fourteen Years To Make Gold Cloth
- Elizabeth Fulhame spent 14 years experimenting at home to plate metals onto textiles and produced near-flawless gold cloth about a yard long.
- She worked mostly with silk, limited by budget and household glassware, using a Nuth apparatus and careful repeat trials.
Priestley Encouraged Her But She Self Published
- In October 1793 Fulhame met Joseph Priestley who offered to present her work to the Royal Society, but she self-published in 1794 instead.
- Her bookseller Joseph Johnson published the essay, linking her to radical intellectual networks of the era.
Preface That Calls Out Scientific Sexism
- Fulhame anticipated gendered backlash and wrote a sharp preface defending women in science and warning against critics who'd sneer at a 'specter' of female learning.
- She satirized male scientific authority using vivid metaphors like a 'magic tripod' and 'goblin' critics.
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Intro
00:00 • 3min
Who Was Elizabeth Fulhame and Why Study Her
02:37 • 2min
Connections to Joseph Black and Edinburgh
04:42 • 1min
How Fulhame Began Experimenting with Metal-Dyed Textiles
05:51 • 4min
Publishing Choices and the 1794 Essay
10:21 • 57sec
Phlogiston, Lavoisier, and the Combustion Debate
11:17 • 2min
Ad break
12:59 • 3min
Fulhame's Experimental Setup and Limitations
16:08 • 2min
Preface: Fulhame's Defense of Women in Science
17:58 • 4min
Structure of the Essay and Key Experiments
21:30 • 2min
Gold and Silver Reduction Experiments
23:43 • 1min
Early Description of Catalysis
24:44 • 2min
Photosensitivity and Proto-Photography Observations
26:50 • 57sec
Ad break
27:47 • 4min
Notable Endorsements and Citations
31:33 • 4min
Fulhame's International Reach and Honors
35:16 • 3min
American Edition and Gendered Reception
38:32 • 2min
Legacy: Photography and 19th-Century References
40:20 • 1min
Rediscovery and Modern Accessibility
41:23 • 4min
Outro
45:23 • 3min
#92337
A sketch of the revolutions in chemistry
Thomas P. Smith
Thomas P. Smith's 'A Sketch of the Revolutions in Chemistry' (1798) offers a contemporary overview of shifting theories and notable contributions in late 18th-century chemistry.
The work comments on the evolving debate between phlogiston theories and Antoine Lavoisier's oxygen-based explanations, and it recognizes contributions from lesser-known figures including Elizabeth Fulhame.
Smith used the book to celebrate scientific progress and to argue that women were beginning to assert their place in chemical inquiry.
The pamphlet reflects the transatlantic scientific discourse of the era and was part of efforts in the United States to synthesize European chemical developments for American readers.
It was cited in the episode as evidence of Fulhame's contemporary reception.
#92156
An Inquiry Concerning the Chemical Properties That Have Been Attributed to Light
Benjamin Thompson (Count Rumford)
In 'An Inquiry Concerning the Chemical Properties That Have Been Attributed to Light', Benjamin Thompson (Count Rumford) investigates reported chemical effects of light through experiments and critical analysis.
Published in the Philosophical Transactions in 1798, the essay reports experiments on the interaction of light with chemical substances and references Elizabeth Fulhame's experiments with gold as influential.
Rumford's paper aimed to test and clarify earlier observations about photochemical phenomena, situating them within rigorous experimental practice.
The work contributed to the period's broader efforts to understand the roles of heat, light, and chemical reactivity in natural philosophy.
The episode cites Rumford's acknowledgment of Fulhame as evidence that her work reached prominent scientists.
#76597
An Essay on Combustion
With a View to a New Art of Dying in Painting, Wherein the Phlogistic and Anti-Phlogistic Hypotheses are Proved Erroneous
Elizabeth Fulhame (published as Mrs. Fulhame)
Elizabeth Fulhame's 1794 'An Essay on Combustion' reports over a hundred experiments on metal reduction, combustion, and dyeing textiles with metals, arguing against prevailing phlogiston explanations.
Working with limited apparatus, she detailed methods and observations, notably proposing that water can facilitate reactions without being consumed—an early framing of catalytic behavior.
The book includes experiments on gold and silver impregnation of fabrics and observations on light-sensitive silver salts that foreshadow photographic techniques.
It was noticed in its day by several chemists, translated and reprinted, and later cited in 19th-century photographic literature, though Fulhame herself became obscure until mid-20th-century rediscoveries.
The work blends practical craft (dyeing and decorative uses) with theoretical commentary on combustion theories of the era.
Elizabeth Fulhame’s biography is largely a mystery, but in 1794 she wrote a book on chemistry that was way ahead of its time.
Research:
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- Shah, Irfan. “Rivers of Silver, Cities of Gold.” History Today. Volume 69 Issue 11 November 2019. https://www.historytoday.com/archive/history-matters/rivers-silver-cities-gold
- Lewes, Darby. “Fulhame, Elizabeth.” The Encyclopedia of Romantic Literature. Wiley Online Library. 4/12/2012. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/9781118300916.wberlf007
- Booth, Catherine. “Elizabeth Fulhame: Chemist.” Minerva Scientifica. https://minervascientifica.co.uk/elizabeth-fulhame/
- Mills, Virginia. “Worthy of Public Attention.” Royal Society. 7/4/2025. https://royalsociety.org/blog/2025/07/worthy-of-public-attention/
- Jarvis, Claire. “Elizabeth Fulhame, a forgotten chemistry pioneer.” Physics Today. 6/17/2020. https://physicstoday.aip.org/news/elizabeth-fulhame-a-forgotten-chemistry-pioneer
- Brazil, Rachel. “Elizabeth Fulhame, the 18th century chemistry pioneer who faded from history.” Chemistry World. 6/6/2022. https://www.chemistryworld.com/opinion/elizabeth-fulhame-the-18th-century-chemistry-pioneer-who-faded-from-history/4015638.article
- Smith, Thomas P. “A Sketch of the Revolutions in Chemistry.” Philadelphia : Printed by Samuel H. Smith. 1798. https://archive.org/details/b32885726/
- Linker, Jessica C. “The Pride of Science: Women and the Politics of Inclusion in 19th-Century Pennsylvania.” Pennsylvania Legacies , Vol. 15, No. 1 (Spring 2015). Via JSTOR. https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.5215/pennlega.15.1.0006
- Pancaldi, Giuliano. “On Hybrid Objects and their Trajectories: Beddoes, Davy and the Battery.” Notes and Records of the Royal Society of London, 20 September 2009, Vol. 63, No.3. Via JSTOR. https://www.jstor.org/stable/40647277
- Davenport, Derek A. "Fulhame, Elizabeth [known as Mrs Fulhame] (fl. 1780–1794), chemist." Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. September 23, 2004. Oxford University Press. Date of access 11 Mar. 2026, https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-39778
- Palmer, Bill. “Elizabeth Fulhame: The Invisible Chemist.” Teaching Science. Volume 54, Number 4. December 2008.
- Laidler, Keith J. “The Development of Theories of Catalysis.” Archive for History of Exact Sciences, 1986, Vol. 35, No. 4 (1986). Via JSTOR. https://www.jstor.org/stable/41133790
- Davenport, Derek A. and Kathleen M. Ireland. “The Ingenious, Lively and Celebrated Mrs. Fulhame and the Dyer’s Hand.” Bulletin for the History of Chemistry. 1989.
- The Gentleman's Magazine. Review of New Publications. “An Essay on Combustion …”. Vol. 65, Issue 6. June 1795.
- Beddoes, Thomas. “Mrs. Fulhame’s Essay on Combustion, &c.” The Monthly Review. Vol. 20. July 1796. https://archive.org/details/sim_the-monthly-review_1796-07_20/page/303/
- Anderson, R. G. W. "Black, Joseph (1728–1799), chemist and physician." Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. October 03, 2013. Oxford University Press. Date of access 11 Mar. 2026, https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-2495
- Cameron, Anne. “THE ESTABLISHMENT OF CIVIL REGISTRATION IN SCOTLAND.” Historical journal (Cambridge, England) vol. 50,2 (2007): 377-395. doi:10.1017/S0018246X07006115
- McCloughlin, Thomas J.J. “Lost and found: The Nooth apparatus.” Endeavour. Volume 45, Issues 1–2. 2021. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.endeavour.2021.100763.
- Lim, XiaoZhi. "The new breed of cutting-edge catalysts." Nature, vol. 537, no. 7619, 8 Sept. 2016. Gale Academic OneFile, dx.doi.org/10.1038/537156a. Accessed 9 Mar. 2026. Gale Document Number: GALE|A462784622
- MacPherson, Hamish. "The mysterious case of Elizabeth Fulhame, a chemist and true pioneer of science." National [Glasgow, Scotland], 31 Jan. 2023. Gale OneFile: News, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A735208005/GPS?u=mlin_n_melpub&sid=bookmark-GPS&xid=896de822. Accessed 9 Mar. 2026.
- Benjamin Count of Rumford. “An Inquiry concerning the Chemical Properties That Have Been Attributed to Light.” Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. 1798.
- Wheeler, T.S. “The life and work of William Higgins, chemist, 1763-1825, including reprints of ‘A comparative view of the phlogistic and antiphlogistic theories’ and ‘Observations on the atomic theory and electrical phenomena’.” New York, Pergamon Press. 1960.
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