The Mutual Poisoning Society

摘要

Like many a great reformer, Frederick Accum adopted the country where he made his name. Born in the small German town of Buckeburg, near Hannover, he emigrated to England in 1793 to work as an assistant to the king's apothecaries. In his spare hours, Accum frequented science lectures, anatomy theatres and public libraries. By 1798, he had mastered English and chemistry alike, was writing popular science articles, and passed out business cards announcing "private Courses of Lectures on Operative and Philosophical Chemistry". A few years later in 1801, he did a stint as assistant chemical operator at the newly founded Royal Institution, working for the most renowned chemist of the time, Humphry Davy. His home in fashionable Soho became a veritable warehouse of laboratory gear and Accum himself came to be regarded as London's finest chemistry lecturer and its pre-eminent scientific outfitter.