Rice Charleton facts for kids
Rice Charleton (1710–1789) was an English doctor and scientist who lived a long time ago. He was a medical researcher and a member of the important Royal Society.
Life of Rice Charleton
Rice Charleton studied at the famous University of Oxford. He earned several degrees there, showing he was a very good student.
After his studies, he became a doctor in Bath, Somerset. This city is famous for its natural hot springs. He started working at the Bath General Hospital in 1757. He was also part of the Royal College of Physicians, a group for top doctors.
Charleton was very interested in the chemistry of mineral waters, like those found in Bath. Because of his research, he became a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1747. He later left the Society in 1754. He stopped working at the hospital in 1781 and passed away in 1789.
Charleton's Research and Books
In 1750, Charleton published a book called A Chemical Analysis of Bath Waters. This book described his experiments to find out what minerals were in the hot springs at Bath. He used the chemistry ideas of Hermann Boerhaave for his work.
He also wrote another book, An Inquiry into the Efficacy of Bath Waters in Palsies. This book was about how well Bath waters helped people with palsy, which is a condition that causes weakness or shaking. He later put this book together with his first one and added more patient stories.
Charleton's books included real patient cases. He suggested that part of the reason Bath waters were thought to cure palsy was because many people came to Bath with weak limbs from drinking cider that had lead in it. He believed that avoiding this cider and taking frequent baths helped these people get better.
