Skip to content

Please be aware that some material may contain words, descriptions or illustrations which will not reflect current scientific understanding and may be considered in today's context inaccurate, unethical, offensive or distressing.

The Royal Society: Science in the Making

Unpublished paper, 'An investigation of the powers of the simple supporters of combustion to destroy the virulence of morbid poisons and of the poisonous gases - with a view to ascertain the possibility of controuling [controlling] the extension of contagious or epidemic diseases' by Edward Browne

Reference number: AP/15/18

Date: 30 March 1832

Description

Browne discusses the power of chlorine gas as a disinfectant, asserting that it is effective on smallpox and explaining that some of his experiments suggested that it could also be effective in disinfecting gonorrhea. He also found that oxygen and iodine might have similar disinfecting properties, and suspects that fluorine and bromine might also share these properties.

John George Children's initials appear next to the date received. Minor corrections and annotations appear throughout in ink and graphite.

Subject: Chemistry / Biology

Written by Browne at 32 Craven Street [Westminster, London]. Communicated by J H [Joseph Henry] Green. Received by the Royal Society on 11 April 1832.

Whilst the Royal Society declined to publish this paper in full, an abstract of the paper was published in volume 3 of Abstracts of the Papers Printed in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London [later Proceedings of the Royal Society] as 'An Investigation of the Powers of the simple Supporters of Combustion to destroy the virulence of Morbin Poisons, and of the poisonous Gases, with a view to ascertain the possibility of controuling the extension of contagious or epidemic Diseases'.

Reference number
AP/15/18
Earliest possible date
30 March 1832
Physical description
Ink on paper
Page extent
34 pages
Format
Manuscript

Use this record

IIIF manifest

View​ IIIF ​ manifest Opens in new tab

Open in Mirador viewer Opens in new tab

Export this record

Download PDF Opens in new tab

Citation

Unpublished paper, 'An investigation of the powers of the simple supporters of combustion to destroy the virulence of morbid poisons and of the poisonous gases - with a view to ascertain the possibility of controuling [controlling] the extension of contagious or epidemic diseases' by Edward Browne, 30 March 1832, AP/15/18, The Royal Society Archives, London, https://makingscience.royalsociety.org/items/ap_15_18/unpublished-paper-an-investigation-of-the-powers-of-the-simple-supporters-of-combustion-to-destroy-the-virulence-of-morbid-poisons-and-of-the-poisonous-gases-with-a-view-to-ascertain-the-possibility-of-controuling-controlling-the-extension-of-contagious-or-epidemic-diseases-by-edward-browne, accessed on 08 November 2025

Link to this record

https://makingscience.royalsociety.org/items/ap_15_18/unpublished-paper-an-investigation-of-the-powers-of-the-simple-supporters-of-combustion-to-destroy-the-virulence-of-morbid-poisons-and-of-the-poisonous-gases-with-a-view-to-ascertain-the-possibility-of-controuling-controlling-the-extension-of-contagious-or-epidemic-diseases-by-edward-browne

Embed this record

<iframe src="https://makingscience.royalsociety.org/embed/items/ap_15_18/unpublished-paper-an-investigation-of-the-powers-of-the-simple-supporters-of-combustion-to-destroy-the-virulence-of-morbid-poisons-and-of-the-poisonous-gases-with-a-view-to-ascertain-the-possibility-of-controuling-controlling-the-extension-of-contagious-or-epidemic-diseases-by-edward-browne" title="Unpublished paper, 'An investigation of the powers of the simple supporters of combustion to destroy the virulence of morbid poisons and of the poisonous gases - with a view to ascertain the possibility of controuling [controlling] the extension of contagious or epidemic diseases' by Edward Browne" allow="fullscreen" frameborder="0" width="100%" height="500px"></iframe>

Related Publications

Hierarchy

This item is part of:

Related Fellows

Explore the collection

  • Archived Papers

    The 'Archived Papers' collection is comprised of original manuscript scientific papers and letters submitted to the Royal Society which remained unpublished or were abstracted in the journal 'Proceedings of the Royal Society' published from 1830 onwards.

    Dates: 1768 - 1989

    View collection