Andrew Crosse - Scientific Research

Scientific Research

Having lost his parents – his father in 1800 and mother in 1805 – at the age of 21 Crosse took over the management of the family estates. After abandoning his studies for the bar, Crosse devoted his spare time increasingly to studying electricity at Fyne Court, where he developed his own laboratory. He also studied mineralogy and became interested in the formation of crystalline deposits in caves. Around 1807 Crosse married his interests together and started to experiment with electrocrystallization, forming crystalline lime carbonate from water taken from Holwell Cavern. He returned to the subject again from around 1817 and in subsequent years produced a total of 24 electrocrystallized minerals.

Among his experiments Crosse erected 'an extensive apparatus for examining the electricity of the atmosphere' incorporating, at one point, an insulated wire some 1.25 miles (2 km) long, later shortened to 1,800 feet (549m), suspended from poles and trees. Using this he was able to determine the polarity of the atmosphere under various weather conditions, with his results being published by his friend George Singer in 1814 as part of Singer's Elements of Electricity and Electro-Chemistry.

Along with Sir Humphry Davy (who later visited Fyne Court in 1827), Crosse was one of the first to develop large voltaic piles. Although it was not the largest he built, Henry Minchin Noad's Manual of Electricity describes a battery consisting of 50 jars containing 73 square feet (6.8 m2) of coated surface. Using his wires he was able to charge and discharge it some 20 times a minute, 'accompanied by reports almost as loud as those of a cannon'. Due to such experiments he became known locally as 'the thunder and lightning man'. In 1836 Sir Richard Phillips described seeing a wide variety of voltaic piles at Fyne Court totalling 2,500, of which 1,500 were in use when he visited.

Although little of his work had been published and Crosse had largely studied for his own interest, in 1836 he was persuaded to attend a meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science in Bristol. After describing his discoveries over dinner at the house of a friend in Bristol, he was further persuaded to recount them to both the chemical and geological sections of the meeting, where they proved to be of great interest. These included his electrocrystallization and atmospheric experiments, and his improvements to the voltaic battery.

Crosse went on to successfully separate copper from its ores using electrolysis, experimented with the electrolysis of sea water, wine and brandy to purify them, and examined the effect of electricity on vegetation, and researched various other areas of interest. He was also interested in the practical uses of electricity and magnetism, including the development of loudspeakers and telegraphy although he did not research these areas himself.