Whatever time he may have deioted to general literature, while at the University, chemistry and the other sciences more closely connected with his fu ture profession, were always his favourite objects of pursuit. The splendid discoveries of Black and Priestley, which had' opened a new field of discovery, and promised to lead to the most important results, were powerfully calculated to inflame the ardour of so inquisitive and sanguine a spirit as that of Bed does ; and he accordingly soon became perfectly conversant with the new. doctrines of pneumatic chemistry, and used to exhibit, with great delight, the experiments which supported them, to a circle of literary friends in Shropshire, during his vacations. He was also much occupied with mineralogy and botany ; and for the former of these sciences, espe cially, retained throughout life a remarkable fond ness.
Having taken his Bachelor's degree at one and twen ty, he repaired to London, in order to commence the study of his profession, for which, as is well known, the English Universities do not provide the means. He became a pupil of the celebrated Sheldon, and devoted his time to the details of practical anatomy, and the physiological inquiries connected with it. It was while he was engaged in these studies, that he gave to the world, in 1784, a translation, from the Italian, of Spallanzani's Dissertations on Natural History ; a work which, in the year 1790, went through a second edition. In the year following (3783), he published a translation of Bergman's Es says on Elective Attractions (the first work to which Beddoes affixed his name), accompanied by nume rous original notes, which display an accurate ac quaintance with all the modern improvements in the physical sciences. In 1786, he became again known to the public as the editor of Scheele's Chemical Es shys. Previously to this, in 1783, he took his de gree of Master of Arts ; and, in the autumn of 1784, removed to Edinburgh, where he remained during three successive winters, and one summer. Shortly after his arrival, he became a member of the Medi cal Society, and of the Natural History Society of that place, and took an active part in the series of physiological experiments, in which some of the mem bers of the former were, at that period, engaged : to the lattei he contributed two papers, one on the.
Sexual System V Limueus, the other on the Scale of Being, both of which have been preserved at full length in Dr Stock's Memoirs of his life. The high estimation in which his talents were held at Edin burgh was shown, not only by his receiving every mark of honourable distinction from his fellow stu dents, which it was in their power to confer, but also by their choosing him as the organ of their re monstrances with the Managers of the Infirmary, on the occasion of a misunderstanding which had arisen between them, as to the houri at which they should be permitted to attend; and they were eminently in debted to him for the firmness with which he, on that occasion, maintained their privileges.
After taking his degree of Doctor in Medicine at Oxford, in'December 1786, he made, in the en suing summer, an excursion into the Highlands, and also spent a short time at Paris and Dijon, where he cultivated the acquaintance of Lavoisier and Guyton de Morveau. Soon after his return, he was appoint ed to succeed Dr Austin, in the Chemical Lecture ship at Oxford, an office which he was eminently qualified. to fill. The success which attended his exertions to inspire a taste for scientific researches was soon apparent, in the full and generally over flowing audience attracted by his lectures, and by his communicating to most of his hearers a large portion of that enthusiasm for the pursuit of which he was himself possessed. Enjoying the reputation' of distinguished talents, in a place where so much de ference is paid by all ranks to the possessor of so noble a distinction, and surrounded by men of learn ing and abilities, who courted his society, his si tuation at the University appears to have been truly enviable ; and it is difficult to understand the mo tives which could have led him to relinquish all these advantages, for the uncertain prospects, af forded by his establishing himself, in any other town. The decided part which he took in the po litical discussions that were agitated at the be ginning of the French Revolution, seems to have had 'a principal share in this determination. His opinions, which it was no part of his character ever to conceal within his own breast, were, on this oc casion, expressed with his usual freedom ; and were of a nature to give offence to many of his former ad mirers ; and the circulation of a political article which he inserted in a Shropshire paper, in reply to some misrepresentations which had previously been made, in an advertisement soliciting relief for the French emigrant clergy, excited a clamour against him, which accelerated his adoption of the step he had previously determined upon, that of yenning his Lectureship, and quitting Oxford.