John Mayow
Who was John Mayow?
British chemist and doctor
Biographical data adapted from Wikipedia’s article on John Mayow (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Biography
John Mayow (1641–1679) was a British chemist, physician, and physiologist who made early advances in understanding respiration and combustion, putting him among the forward-thinking natural philosophers of the seventeenth century. Born in Bree and educated at Wadham College, Oxford, Mayow was part of a movement of empirical research that was beginning to change European scientific thought. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society, a sign of the high regard his contemporaries held for his experimental work. He died in London in 1679 at the age of thirty-eight, leaving behind a body of work that later generations of chemists and physiologists would appreciate more fully.
Mayow is best known for studying the nature of air and its role in breathing and burning. In what is now called pneumatic chemistry, he suggested that air wasn't a simple substance but had an active component essential for life and combustion. He named this component 'nitro-aerial spirit' or 'nitro-aerial particles,' a forerunner to the concept of oxygen, which Antoine Lavoisier and Joseph Priestley would formally identify and name nearly a century later. Mayow carefully experimented to show that a candle under a sealed vessel would go out after using only part of the air, and an animal in similar conditions would die once this vital part was used up.
In his writings on physiology, Mayow argued that breathing's purpose was to bring this active aerial component into the blood through the lungs. He proposed that body heat was produced by a process like fermentation or combustion in the blood, fueled by the nitro-aerial particles taken in during respiration. These ideas were surprisingly close to modern understanding, though expressed in the theoretical terms available at the time. His anatomical work on muscle contraction and breathing mechanics were also seen by his contemporaries as insightful contributions to physiology.
Mayow published his major findings in a collection of five treatises titled 'Tractatus Quinque Medico-Physici,' released in 1674. This work collected his essays on respiration, muscular motion, rickets, and the nitro-aerial spirit into one volume and showed the range of his intellectual interests. Although the work gained attention in England and Europe, Mayow's early death meant he couldn't further develop his ideas or defend them against the competing phlogiston theory that dominated chemistry in the following century. As a result, his contributions were largely overshadowed right after his death.
Before Fame
John Mayow was born in 1641 in Bree. He went to Wadham College, Oxford, for his early education. Oxford was one of the most lively places in England during the mid-seventeenth century. At that time, Wadham was home to a group of experimenters and natural philosophers whose discussions eventually helped create the Royal Society. This environment introduced Mayow to the rigorous empirical inquiry that would shape his career.
After his studies at Oxford, Mayow qualified in both law and medicine. However, he was most interested in medicine and natural philosophy. He worked as a physician in Bath, treating patients while also conducting experimental research. During this time, new mechanical and experimental philosophies were challenging the older Aristotelian views. Mayow embraced this spirit of questioning authority through direct observation and controlled experiment.
Key Achievements
- Identified a vital component of air, which he termed 'nitro-aerial spirit,' conceptually anticipating the discovery of oxygen
- Demonstrated experimentally that combustion and animal respiration consume the same active portion of enclosed air
- Published 'Tractatus Quinque Medico-Physici' (1674), a comprehensive collection of medico-chemical treatises covering respiration, muscular motion, and rickets
- Proposed that bodily heat results from a combustion-like process occurring in the blood, foreshadowing later biochemical understanding
- Elected Fellow of the Royal Society in recognition of his contributions to natural philosophy and experimental science
Did You Know?
- 01.Mayow's concept of 'nitro-aerial particles' anticipated the discovery of oxygen by roughly a century, predating Lavoisier's formal identification of the element.
- 02.He published his landmark five-part scientific treatise, 'Tractatus Quinque Medico-Physici,' in 1674, just five years before his death at age thirty-eight.
- 03.Mayow demonstrated through sealed-vessel experiments that both a flame and a living animal consume the same active portion of air, suggesting a chemical link between combustion and respiration.
- 04.He trained at Wadham College, Oxford, the same college associated with the informal philosophical club that helped found the Royal Society.
- 05.Despite producing genuinely original insights into respiration, Mayow's work was largely eclipsed during the eighteenth century by the dominance of the phlogiston theory championed by Georg Ernst Stahl.
Awards & Honors
| Award | Year | Details |
|---|---|---|
| Fellow of the Royal Society | — | — |