Thomas Hutchins

Who was Thomas Hutchins?

Thomas Hutchins was a British physician and naturalist

Hutchins was employed as Hudson's Bay Company surgeon at York Factory 1766–1773 then chief of Albany fort 1774–1782. By all accounts, he was a conscientious and hard-working physician but found time for research including a study of local edible plants useful for prevention of scurvy.

He was visited 1768–1769 by astronomer William Wales, who had been sent by the Royal Society to observe the 1769 transit of Venus, and was left equipment and instructions for recording meteorological data.

Encouraged by his acting chief Andrew Graham 1771–1772, he kept notes on wildlife, including descriptions of species not previously recorded.

At the behest of the Royal Society, he made useful observations on magnetic declination at Albany 1775–1776.

He performed preliminary experiments on the congelation of mercury in 1775, identifying the problem with previous attempts as being due to the abrupt change of volume of the mercury in the thermometer as it changed state. Apparatus for an improved method was devised and after a series of careful experiments 1779–1782, its freezing point was determined at −39 °F.