James Cumming

James Cumming (26 September 1777 – 10 November 1861) was the ninth Professor of Chemistry in Cambridge from 1815 to 1860.

Cumming was sent to school at Marlborough before he became a student at Trinity College, Cambridge. Graduating he took holy orders earlier than most aspiring academics under the Bishop of Lincoln, George Tomline, in 1802.

Cumming was said to lecture every day in the 1820s accompanied by three assistants so that he could cover a large amount of material in an hour's lecture. His students included George Stokes and Charles Darwin's elder brother, Erasmus. Erasmus Darwin commented on the entertainment value of Cumming's lectures where Cumming compared the results of one of his experiments to artificial diamonds (they weren't). The professor would include many historical and literary anecdotes as he commented on the danger implicit in his experiments. He would point out where previous experiments had blown a hole in the ceiling and how other professors had been maimed by an ill-considered demonstration. His research included investigating galvanometers and electricity. He was noted for giving electric shocks to his audience and for a demonstration in which he would electrocute a cat.

Works include In 1827 Cumming published ‘'A Manual of Electro-Dynamics,’', 1827 (after Montferrand's ‘Manuel d'Electricité Dynamique,’) ‘Report on Thermo-Electricity’ in ‘Brit. Assoc. Reports,’ 1831–2