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Richard Lovett (scientist)

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Richard Lovett's portrait by Robert Hancock, published by William Richardson, after Joseph Wright. Mezzotint, late 18th century.

Richard Lovett (1692–1780) was an English amateur scientist and lay clerk of Worcester Cathedral.[1]

Lovett was mainly known as a pioneer in the electric shock therapy. His results from experiments around 1755, were recorded in The Subtil Medium Prov'd (1756), which was the first English textbook on medical electricity, and The Electrical Philosopher (1774). He claimed to be able to treat not only mental diseases,[2] but also other ails as sore throats by electricity.[3] Lovett's theory of electricity was to a large extent based on the theories of Isaac Newton.[4]

References

  1. ^ Lee, Sidney, ed. (1893). "Lovett, Richard" . Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 34. London: Smith, Elder & Co.
  2. ^ Charles E. Dinsmore A History of Regeneration Research 2007 Page 154, "by 1755, Richard Lovett claimed to be treating mental disease successfully with electric sparks and current".
  3. ^ James Sambrook The Eighteenth Century: The Intellectual and Cultural Context of English Literature, 1700-1789, London and NY: Routledge, 1997, p. 16
  4. ^ Jesús Pérez, Gianni L. Faedda, Ross J. Baldessarini Electricity rendered useful for mental illness: tribute to Richard Lovett The British Journal of Psychiatry Oct 2013, 203 (4) 241
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