SITDOWN WITH JOSEPH PRIESTLEY

Story and photos by Cindy O. Herman

If it were possible to visit with someone from the past, who would you choose to interview?

With that idea as a premise, Cindy Herman interviewed one of the most interesting people who ever lived in our valley. Joseph Priestley, scientist, teacher and minister, was very well-known when he walked this earth.

The Joseph Priestley who sat for a chat with Herman was Ronald Blatchley, retired Mifflinburg Area High School chemistry teacher, who has been portraying Joseph Priestley for 40 years. She met with him — in character — for this question and answer session.

Question: Mr. Priestley, history knows you as the scientist and teacher who lived in Northumberland, but I understand that in England, where you lived until you were 61, you were a Dissenter. Can you tell me what that is?

Answer: It’s a person who is not a member of the Church of England. I started out as a fairly orthodox Christian, but the more I thought about my maker, the less orthodox I became. Some people saw me as a troublemaker, although I never meant to give offense to anybody. I became interested in the study of science because I thought it would better help me understand the mind of God.

Q: I understand you left England in 1794 when you immigrated to America. Why did you leave?

A: Being a Dissenter made me unpopular with the powers that be. In 1791, rioters in Birmingham burned down my church and my house. At that point, it just wasn’t safe for my family to remain in Birmingham, so I moved to London. I had already sent my three sons to Philadelphia and I followed them there in 1794. George Washington lived there, but the city was not to my liking. It was noisy, dirty and filled with people trying to get money and power. My sons had established a home here in Northumberland, so I joined them and we began to build this house that Mary, my wife, designed. Sadly, she never lived to move into it. She and my youngest son, Henry — we called him Harry — died of tuberculosis when he was just 18.

Q: I understand you knew a famous American named Benjamin Franklin. How did you meet him?

I met Dr. Franklin on one of his trips to London. I asked him about his electrical experiments, and he helped me get books and equipment for my own experiments. When I wrote “The History and Present State of Electricity,” I was probably the reigning expert on electricity in the entire world — until Faraday came along.

I sometimes wonder about Franklin flying that kite. I wouldn’t go out and fly a kite in a thunderstorm. Dr. Franklin was a brilliant man, but he was a bit of a rascal … he says he did it, so we’ll take it at that.

Q: And, you also knew Thomas Jefferson?

A: Jefferson had made a trip to England and I met him there. I was fascinated by his wide-ranging intellect. We’ve exchanged letters for years. In fact, the very first letter he wrote from the White House was to me.

Q: I understand you had tuberculosis as a child, but, even though you were ill, you taught yourself French, German, Italian and several other languages, and you also studied mathematics. Why did you study so much?

A: Even as a child, I was curious about nearly everything. If I looked for knowledge in books, some were in German, some were in Italian and French. If you only read one language, it limits what you can learn, and I do not like being limited.

Q: Early scientists sometimes called gases like oxygen “airs.” Where did you get the idea that there are “airs?”

A: It was the state of science at the time. Joseph Black, the Scottish physician, had discovered carbon dioxide — which is a combination of two airs, carbon and oxygen. His work proved there were different airs. Henry Cavendish found a highly flammable air called hydrogen. At that point, we began to suspect there might be lots of airs besides the air we breathe. I discovered at least eight different airs. Some people say 12 or 13; it all depends on how you define “discover.” Even if you only count eight, that’s more airs than any other chemist has discovered before or since.

Q: How did you discover “dephlogisticated air”

(oxygen)?

A: I heated the red calx of mercury to produce mercury and dephlogisticated air. Everybody who did that experiment ahead of me did it in an open container. I did it in a closed container. I tried the air on a mouse in a glass jar, and the mouse seemed to do better than when he was breathing ordinary air. I tried it myself and I felt peculiarly light and easy in my breast for some time afterward.

Whenever I worked with a new air, I filled a glass with it and turned it upside down over a mouse. Only then, if it turned out well for the mouse, did I try the air myself. I did discover one air right here in this laboratory.

When I was studying carbon monoxide, it did not turn out well for the mouse. I sometimes wonder if somebody discovered that ahead of me and didn’t live to tell of it. It is extremely poisonous.

Q: I wonder, Dr. Priestley, if you have any advice for people living in 2023?

Throughout my life, I never lost my love of learning. I never understood those people who, when they left school, stopped learning. Why would you do that?