Scientific Instrument Sot iely

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Bulletin of the Scientific Instrument Society No. 43 December 1994 Bulletin of the Scientific Instrument Society tSSN 0956-8271

For Table of Contents, see inside back cover

President Gerard Turner

Honorary Committee Howard Dawes, Chairman Stuart Talbot, Secretary. ltfflla Didcock, Trett~urer Wiilem Hackmann, Edihw Michael Cowham, Adt,erttsmg Manager Trevor Waterman, Meetin,~ Organizer Ronald Bristow Peter Delehar Kristen Lippincott Anthony Michaelis Alan Morton

Membership and Administrative Matters The Executive Officer (Wing Cmdr. Geoffrey Bennett) 31 High Street Stanford in the Vale Fanngdon Tel: 01367 710223 Oxon SN7 8LH Fax" 01367 718963 See inside back ctn~r for information on membership

Editorial Matters Dr. Willem D Hackmann Mu~um of the History of Science Old Ashmolean Building Broad Street Tel: 01865 277282 Oxford OX1 3AZ Fax: 01865 277288

Advertising Mr Michael Cowham The Mount Toft Tel: 01223 263532/262684 Cambridge Fax: 01223 263948

Organization of Meetings Mr Trevor Waterman 75a Jermvn Street Tel: 0171-930 2954 London SWIY 6NP Fax: 0171-321 0212

Typesetting and Printing Lithoflow Ltd 26-36 Wharfdale Road Kings Cross Tel: 0171-833 2344 London N1 9RY Fax: 0171-833 8150

Price: £6 per issue, Lncludmg back numbers where available. (Please enquire of Exec.Officer if sets are required.)

The Scientific Instrument Society. is Registered Charity No. 326733

The Scientific Instrument Society 1994 Editorial

Fig.2 Part (y the Mc,.mx. (.,,lh',t~,,t~ I'h,,t,,~,,r,q,h t,,',, tit, Fig.l I r,mc1~ M,M,/t~m and /i),u Smtcotl~ ,it the t,rwah' rc(ct,twn catah~ue Uit Collection Ant. W.M. Mt~nsing (Amsterdam. /924). organi:'ed by. the Museum's staff m the 'Beeson Room'of the Mu.~'um Copyr(¢ht Museum ~¢rham,e. on 29 September 1994.

Changing Places strating the wealth of historicalinforma- history of science in (_-)x~rd through the tion that could be derived from use of its collections - an exciting 'A state without the means of some change is instruments when studied in combina- prospect for tho~ of us who have without the means of its conservation'~ tion with conteml~rary sources and always advocated this role. surviving examples. This study has formed an important foundation for Edmund Burke's aphorism about the On I October Jim Bennett left the more recent scholarship on Arabic French Revolution came to mind when Whipple Museum in Cambridge to take instruments. The Museum became thinking about the important changes up his post as keeper (previously known for its detailed scholarly ins['ru- that have come about in our sub~ct 'curator') of The Museum of the History ment-studies, notably through the work during the latter part of this year, of Science. In his place has been of John North and Gerard Turner, whose brought about by the retirement of appointed Liba Taub of the Adler catalogue of the Martinus van Marum Francis Maddi.~m hx)m the Museum of Planetarium. Bennett has brought with collection was another milestone. the History of Science in Oxford on 30 him an interest in unusual temporary September (Fig. 1). In his valedictory, exhibitkms such as his current ~ne /.q~}O: address he alluded to some of the Ln 1964 Maddison succeeded Kurt J(~ten The New A~e, about which he wrote in the changes that had taken place in his as curator. His interests were widening previous Bulletin. In the same k~sne he forty-~)ne years in post. The contrast further to embrace early navigation, described a computerized vb~ual data- between war-torn Europe and the particularly that practised in the Iberian base prt~'t, The Virtual Teaching Collec- quietude of Oxford must have seemed peninsula, and new languages such as tion, 'aimed at giving th~se who teach extraordinary to the ex-servicemen who Armenian and Georgian. These interests, history of science without ready access to resumed their studies in the late 19~ and his crt~s-cultural approach to the a collection a resource for integrating scientific instruments into teaching and when Francis Maddison came up as a study of scientificinstruments (combin- young man to read Modem Languages ing the archaeologist'sdelight in ob~'ts, learning'.'The Oxford collectiLmwill also (French), but which he soon changed to the philologist'sfascination with linguis- be used. Modem History. He also had a keen tic problems, the art historian's eye for interest in archaeology and archival decorative embellishments, the histor- in this year of change the Whipple is studies. After a brief spell as an archivist ian's need for clmtext, and the archivist's celebrating its half centenary and the first in the Glamorgan County Record appreciation of documents) have been Museum of the History of Scit,nce its Office and then in WarwicKshire, he was celebrated in afest.~'hrfft.' During the last seventieth anniversary." The move in encouraged by the then curator, C.H two decades of his tenure the academic Oxford from 'curator' to 'keeper' can be Josten/to apply for the assistant curator- climate began to change. Oxford was not seen as symbolic and augers more than ship in 1953. His first task was to immune to the increasing financial simply an alteration in title. If the redisplay the Museum's remarkable restraints produced by the world-wide changes are ct~nducted with care and collection of sundials and astrolabes. recession, which brought with it a much sympathy to the existing fabric,it will be The latter led to his intenest in Arabic, more demanding university admimstra- of great benefit to the subg.,ct.Perhaps ] and to the publication of his Supplement tion and a need to show accountability should leave the last word to Richard in 1957 to Josten's A Catalogue of Scientific and 'value for money'. As a result the Hca~ker, quoted by Johnson in the Preface Instruments from the 13th to the 19th University began a thorough appraisal of to his dictionary: 'Change is na~t made Centuries, the Collection of ].A Biilmcir its departments, libraries and museums. without inconvenience, even from worse (Oxford, 1954). Twice as large as the The emphasis in the future will be much to better'. We wish both institutions a parent catalogue although it describes more on the University using all its succesful future. fewer instruments (1~.1 as oppoced to facilities as 'teaching resources'. The 154), the Supp/eraent is a model of Museum of the History of Science will The Museum Boerhaave has done the detailed descriptive cataloguing, demon- fully play its part in the teaching of the instrument connoisseur proud by arran-

Bulk.tin of the Scientific Instrument Socieo} No. 43 (1994) photograph (Fig. 2) taken in 1924 of the the emerging natural philosophy. How- Amsterdam collectitm by Anhm W.M. ever, this is, as they say, another story. Mensing, which has since been dispersed Tony Simcock's exhibition in Oxford is a world-wide. If only tht~,eearly collectors smaller affair and concentrates on early had been keener on provenance. It would surveying. He describes thirty-six books, perhaps have made it easier for us to five instruments in books, and sixteen distinguish fake from real! instruments in context (Fig. 3). Elsewhere in the course of a tongue-in-cheek Three current exhibititms of early science description of his exhibition, Tony des- books demonstrate the importance of the cribes the book in computer program- scientific image. These are A Truly ming parlance as being 'a wad of folded Hea~,nly Libra,. Treasur~ frwn the Royal paper with characters printed on it ... Obserz~atorv~ Crau~rd Collecthm at the usually in an old programming language Royal ObServatory in Edinburgh (re- known as Latin ... kept on shelves in viewed in this issue by Jane lnsley), monasteries ... retrieved and read or Sphaera Mundi Astronomy Books searched manually, mostly using Win- 1478-1o00 at the Whipple, and Scientific dows (but sometimes just candles) ...'~. B~,ks & Instruments Fn~m R~Jertus An~li- Oh, but what treasures are to be found in cus to Lamhard Zubh'r 1478-1614 at the all three exhibitions among this anti- Museum of the History of Science in quated form of information retrieval! Oxford. The Edinburgh and Cambridge exhibitions concentrate on astronomy. Notes Fig.3 An instrument for setting out Both have produced a well illustrated catalogue of very similar appearance, sundials in L. Zubh'r, Novum instrumen- !. Edmund Burke, Reflecthms on the Revolu- turn sciotericum. Das ist, kurtzer und although the Cambridge volume is more tion in France(1790), p 10. grundtlicher Bericht, wie nicht allein aller extensive. Indeed, Sphaera Mundi illus- hand Sonnenuhren ... (Zurich, 1609). trates the richness of the Whipple's Zubh'r ~ eh.gant engraving appears to have library on this subject. Ninety-three 2. lostendied aged 82 in July this year, see are described the obituariesin The Independent,12 July (and been ct~Jiedfrom B Leemann, Instrumen- works in 19 groups. Topics two supplements),The Times, 16 July,the Daily turn mstrumentorum: horologiorum scio- covered are incunabula, the legacy of Telegraph, 19 July, and The Guardian, 21 July tericorum ... (Zurich, 1604L Puerbach and Regiomontanus, commen- 1994. taries on Sacro Boseo's Sphaera Mundi, astronomy and the university curricu- 3. WD. Hackmann and A.J. Turner, Lmrn- ging in September three conferences with lum, the astrolabe, sundials, astronomical in$, Language and lmcntion. £s~ Presented to at their heart a fine exhibition dealing nngs, surveying instruments relevant to Francis Maddi~m (Aldershot and Paris: Vario- with the changing attitudes towards astronomy, astrology, Peter Apian and rum and the Soci~tc~ lnternationale de instrument collecting over the last four Egnatio Danti, the calendar, sources for l'Astrolabe, 1994). hundred years. It is a pity that its pithy and reception of Copernicus, and ending illustrated catalogue Het kaperen kabinet is with contributions from other disciplines. 4. SIS Bulletin, No. 42 (September 1994), only in Dutch, but at least both the The very last book is William Gilbert's De p.25. exhibition and the conferences are magnete (1600), included because of the this issue in described in detail. The importance of the magnetic philosophy 5. T. Simcock, 'SBAIFRATLZ at MHS', typical antiquarian interest in these old on seventeenth century astronomy, but Oxford University Libraries Bulletin, no. 102 instruments is well illustrated by this which also neatly links astronomy with (July/August 1994), pp. 11-12.

Three of the one hundred and fifty-one snow crystal shapes observed by James Glaisher (1809-1903) during eight days in the winter of 1855. These shapes repn~'s~nted both the order and the complexity of nature. Glaisher's large compound microscope of the Ross pattern of about the same date, signed by H. Negretti and Zambra, is in the Collection of the Royal Microscopical Society in the Museum of the History of Science at Oxford. With this seasonal image the Editor takes the opportunity to wish all SIS members a very happy Christmas and a prosperous New Year.

Back Cover Illustration

I viewed this illustration sent by Anthony Turner with a certain nostalgia for winters past. It depicts an exceptionally cold day in Paris in January 1830 as recorded by the large thermometer outside the shop of Jean Gabriel Augustin Chevallier, established on the quai de i'Horloge since 1796, at the corner of the Pont Neuf. The engraver has left the address rather cleverly illegible, so it is difficult to pinpoint the site accurately, although I do imagine that I can see the bank of the Seine at the right of the illustration. Several makers were located in this street until the end of the 19th century. 'Uing~nieur Chevallier', as he was known, made and sold optical instruments as well as barometers and thermometers. "He participated in several national exhibitions held in Paris between 1798 and 1849. The shop had a very long life, and even today there is near the Opera the window of an optician with the legend: 'succese,eur de l'ingcSnieur Chevallier'. Another puzzle - the original lithograph also has a London address: Ch. ~lt, 86 Fleet Street.

Colh'ction Anthony Turner and information Paoio Brenni.

2 Bulletin of the Scientific lnstmmtmt Society No. 43 0994) The Three Dutch Conferences at Leyden 7-16 September 1994

Fig.2 l'ct,'r d,' Ch'r~q ,'tabard,5 ,m the ~,'r,,u. busme~ ,!t ,t,',larm.~,, the meetin~ open.

Fig.l Museum lt,~'rham,c ,it L,'udcn. l hv sph'ndid home of the Dutch national collecti,,n of scient!fic instruments in the old St Cecilia Hospital datinfl from the 16th cell Ill i~1,

In September 1994 Museum I~erhaave (Fig.l) hosted three conferences and an exhibition. The conferences began with the Or~ins and E~,lution of C,,Ih'ctinft Scient!fic Instruments, a three-day meet- ing organised jointly by Anthony Turner and Peter de Clercq, followed by a one- day meeting Verzamelen Nu ('Collecting Today'), and concluded by the SIC's Fig.3 Allen Smtps,,n and Anthony Turner exammc a trea,ur,' m flagship the Xlll International Instrument The Brass Cabinet exhibition. Symposium. A special exhibition was also arranged to coincide with this feast of the British Museum, P.P IHijKsenaar of attracted a large audience and led to the papers, The Brass Cabinet: Treasure Houses the Technical University of Delft, T.B. van establishment of the Iournal for the History of Science 1550-1950, which k~cuses on the Oosten of the Central Laboratory for of Collections. Since then, Krzysztof history of collecting scientific instruments Research of Objects of Art and Science Pomian's Collectors and Curi(~iti(~ (1983) since the Renaissance. The title is an in Amsterdam, and R.R. de Haas, has extended our knowledge of the allusion to the popular brass bands that Director of the State Department of Art subject. The present conference, held at used to play in Dutch parks, and the and Inspector of 'Movable Monuments' Leyden in the Museum [kwrhaave ~,m 7 subject was specifically chosen to accom- in The Hague. Judging by the reports, the to 9 September, was organised by pany the first of the conferences, it is a staff of Museum Boerhaave are to be Anthony Turner and Peter de Clercq pity that its splendid catalogue is only in congratulated on a splendid fortnight of (Fig.2) and took as its theme the Dutch, but at least the report by Anita papers, instruments, and Dutch hospital- collecting of scientific instrument. An McConnell will refresh the memory of ity. international cast of speakers addressed th(roe who visited the exhibition, and will us on the subject of changing fashions in give the others an idea of what they Conference, The Origins and Evolution private and public acquisition i~flicies missed. Her impressions are preceded by of Collecting Scientific Instruments, 7-9 and the dispersal and fate of various reports of the two main conferences, and September 1994 individual collections. The museum had the Editor takes this opportunity to thank also mounted a special exhibition Her th(r~e who took on this arduous task. The Anita McConnell koperen kabinet ('The Brass Cabinet') Verzamelen Nu is not reported. A wider which is reviewed below (Fig.3). public (mainly Dutch) was invited to this In 1983 the Ashmolean Museum in meeting which t(x)k place on Saturday l0 Oxford celebrated its tricentenary by Anthony Turner (Paris) opened the September. The speakers (one in English, holding the first conference on the proceedings on the evening of our three in Dutch) were Robert Anderson of history of collections, a meeting which arrival with an erudite account of

Bulletin of the Scientific Instrument Society. No. 43 (19~4) ,n~,trument 'colltx'tible¢ tn~m the lhth to the 2Oth centt, ries lhe earliest were tml,tar~an ,tem.,,, including th~" with d~xorahve tinish, mtendtxt h,r princely ,ab,nets l.ater, antique pieces were ~alued, and tho~, believed to have belonged to ~me famous man. Most recent art, the collections created to show the development of science, or of the ,nstruments themseh'es.

Instrument collections differ from natural hlsto~' specimens or coins and medals, where previous ownership carne~ little ~alue. The ch~est equivalents to the iconic 'Newton's prism', 'C~,~k's .,;ex- tant' or 'Brunel's theodolite', appear to be such relics as the head of John the Baptist, of which three are known. The Fig.4 Fwm left to r~c,ht Wdlmm An,trcwc~ ¢tt,zrz,ar, t, MassL ment and value of signatures" on instru- Mariorie and Roderick Webster (Chicago), and Anthony Turner ments was al~ a late development. t Paris; tan'fully examining, an inten~tm,~, early mediae~al "(probably late 14th century; Eur,,pean astrolabe at the castle-mu~um S~'st~n The serious matter of individual colh,c- in Nieuu, L~trecht. tions, and in ~me ca.,~'s their fates, t~-cupied the ~econd day. Jan L~pold (London) expanded on the selection of to the Royal Scottish Museum from 18,30 drecht where the party was welcomed by m.,,truments and ch~'ks which formed to 1960, were sold to buyers around the the curator C. Bogaard (Fig.4). The part of the rich cabinets of central world, the Museum having at that time collection of clocks (including a Thuret Europe. Silvio Bedini (Washington) re- no purchase grant which could have kept pendulum clock dated c. 1665), ceramics, lated the long sad ston' of the dispersal it intact. sculptures, old weapons, and some of the many mstrumt,nts and models scientific instruments, was put together once owned by the Medicis. This was an The subject of the 19th century collecting earlier this century by the nobleman obiect IL~n f~,~rcurators, for in the lath policies of national museums in Britain Jonkheer C.H.C.A. van Sypesteyn 0857- century this huge collection was dis- was tackled head-on by Robert Anderson 1937). The castle has a garden laid out in per.~J and diminished by gifts and (London) under the title 'Connoisseur- the style of around 1600, including a loans; items were mislaid" during re- ship, pedagogy or antiquarianism ...'. maze. moval,~ and abstracted by thieves. Unfortunately he tailed to wrestle this Attempts to trace dispersed items have oversize topic to the ground in the This was an excellent conference and the been frustrated by the lack of adequate allotted 30 minutes, during which he organisers are to be congratulated on contemporary likts and descriptions. disp(~ed of the British Museum (con- their choice of scholars and topics. Messieurs Ronfort and Augarde dis- noisseurship and antiquarianism), the Seldom has there been such lavish coursed on two major cabinets of pre~ Science Museum (pedagogy) but was provision of go(~ coffee and biscuits. revolutionary France. silenced before elucidating on the Royal On the down side, the audience was Scottish Museum's policies. Bernard discomfited by the hardness of the seats Audience optimism was rt~tored by Alan Jacomy (Paris) described plans to dis- and the difficulty for tht~e in the back Morton and Jane Wt~s (London), who play instruments in the context in which rows in seeing the slides. All is not lost, ~poke of the miMels of Stephen Lh,main- they came into being, 'cabinet to Con- however, for the papers are to be bray in the King George Ill now in the servatoire', in a forthcoming new gallery published in the Journal of the History of ~ience Museum, I_xmdon, and by KS. of CNAM, where the entire museum is Collections, probably in late 1995. Grt~s who has been reconstructing the being renovated. The morning ended ~rowth of the Museum Boerhaave's with paired talks on the Mensing collt~-tion of ~urglcal instruments, mt~t collection, the first by Willem Morzer Xlll International Scientific Instrument of which came fn~m Leyden University Bruyns (Amsterdam), on the formation of Symposium, 11-16 September 1994 and date fn~m the mid-17th century this hoard containing some rather onwards. Allen Simp.~m (Edinburgh) suspect pieces, which went to the Monday 12th September re~eak~d his detective skill in tracing Amsterdam Scheepvaartmuseum; the m.~truments fn~m the 186~) sale of the second by Liba Taub (Chicago), who Maurice £ Dorikens great Bancker collection in Philadelphia. described its subsequent purchase by Many items were bought by the Stevens the Adler Planetarium. The conference The Sympi~sium was organised in the Instiiute, but others disappeared into ended with Peter de Clercq's "Notes on superb venue of the Museum Boerhaave private hands. The Royal Scottish Mu- some Dutch collectors of antique micro- in Leyden, where we were welcomed by seum has recently purchased some scopt~', and Will Andrewes' story of the a most helpful staff. The organisation instruments which" can be shown to life and work of David Wheatland, by was outstanding. The reception on Sun- have come from this collection Ali.~m whose enthusiasm and care, not to day had given us the opportunity to meet Morri~m-l.ow (Edinburgh) delivered a mention per~mal generosity, the present most of the participants. On Monday ~,pirited account of the ~'ottish collecting great collection at Han'ard University morning the auditorium was filled to tradition as an appetizer to her tale of the has come into being. capacity. All speakers gave interesting Fmdlav colhx'tion of sundials and related talks, with in the chair, Pndessor G.L'E. instruments, a tale which ended on a sad After tea there was an excursion to the Turner, who was of course, the ideal note, for Findlav's instruments, on loan castle-museum Sypesteyn, Nieuw Loos- person to stimulate discussion.

4 Bulletin of the Scientific Instrument Society No. 43 (1994) the Fn~sters, fl~r instance, we saw that the Astnmomy section had more then twenty subdivisions, while the Electricity and Magnetism section had only h~ur. For the 'exchange format' presented by the group fn~m Florence, one had to fill in some 640 fields.' The audience was clearly interested in this sublect, and the discussion demonstrated this to be a problem that occupies all of us. Profes- sor Turner remarked that the main difficulty has been (and always will be) to find a universal (internationally acceptable) name with which to identify an object. Another go(~l remark madt' was that 'you only get out what you put in'.

Fig.5 l~uttmg on the whflc ~,hwcs at the start of the hamt~-tm The aflernt~n ended with the paper by session are from h~ to right: G. Tagliqh'rri (Milan), Anita McComn'll S.R. Sarma (Aligarth, India) concentrat- (lain&m), and M. Bas~ Ricci (Mihm). ing on Indian astronomical instruments in the United Kingdom, ba,sed on his tour of English institutions in 1993. He has Allan Mills (Leicester), showed how put on show. Furthermore, the delegates described in great detail over one complicated and difficult it is to handle could visit the temporary exhibition hundred instruments. He traced several barometers, especially water filled ones. called The Brass Cabinet 1550-1950, astrolabes in Oxford, the Science Mu- J.L. McKnight (Williamsburg) concen- dedicated to the collecting of scientific seum in London, Cardiff, and the British trated on the problems arising from instruments over the ages (and described Museum, which were made by the same reconstructing old instruments. He men- in this Bulletin by Mariin van Hoom). tioned, h)r example, that when he used family of instrument makers. We enjoyed unrefined shellac, this substance turned very much this really excellent study. The chairperson for the aftemoon was Dr out to be water repellant, useful when However, I would like to suggest that Marian Fournier of the Mu~um Boer- hn~king for go(~ electrical insulation as this type of high-level paper should be haave. Except fnr the last speaker, this in the case of Leyden jars or electrostatic split into two parts: a general lecture, and was a 'ladies session'. Mrs F. Le Guet generators. The paper presented by E. a poster for the 'specialists' with all the Tully (Nice) sought the answer to the Ki6v and L. Krtis (Tartu, Estonia), technical details. problem what to exhibit and how to presented the instruments (or what is interest people to come. Large instru- left of them) designed by Martinus van This concluded the first day. C)ne more ments, such as telescopes, may easily Marum, and used for the study of trip to the exhibition and we could return attract people but they are seldom physics at Tartu University in the first to our hotels for a go(N.t rest, because the interested in the details of their construc- decade of the nineteenth century. next day promised something very tion. Mrs S. [~arbat (Paris) presented in exciting - the 'hands-~m' session (Fig.5). an attractive mixture of French and The morning session was continued after English the story of the macromicromi'tre Tuesday 13th September the coffee by R.C. Brooks (Ottawa). In a (developed at the end of the nineteenth very clear and well documented paper century to measure the p(rsition of stars) Karel z~an Camp we were initiated into the pr(~hlems of and its relation to a piece of paper called mapping a country full of (R~stacles and in French the /x~rdereau which was so The second day started with a 'hands-on' mountains. The pioneering efforts of Dr important in the 'Affaire Dreyfus' session. This is alwavs my favounte, but I~-douard De Ville in the 1880s had a long (1894-1906). This was indeed 'an un- is often a nightma~ for the organizers, term impact. Mrs I. Keil (Augsburg) expected use of a measuring instrument although an ample stock of white gloves presented the life and work of Johann for celestial objects' - the title of her gave them the neces~rv relief from tear. Wiesel (1583-1662), optician of Augsburg. paper. ~me fine pieces and ai.,~ some puzzk.'s Wiesel was well known for the construc- were gathered in several of the offices on tion of telescopes and microscopes. Mara Miniati (Florence) presented a the second fl~r of the Museum ~'r- Beautiful slides showed the details of computer catalogue exchange system haave. Becau~ of my prt.'~ent intert.,st in three surviving telescopes. However, I called 'SIC' (Scientific Instrument Cata- radioactivity, I immediately spotted a did find it somewhat peculiar that the logue), based on ISIS, a programme rare piezo-electric compen.~tor by i'iem, author was using inches for the dimen- available free from UNE~C~O. The inten- Curie IFig.6). l'his is the essential piece of sions of the instruments. This concluded tion is: !. to record data, 2. describe the the piezo-electric electrometer, the first the morning session. instrument, 3. a.,~semble the instrument quantitative measuring device of radio- studies and references (e.g. exhibitions), activity u.,~l by Marie and Pierre Curie. As on Mondays restaurants in Leyden and 4. gather the administrative data. are chwsed, the organisers had taken the However, everybody seems to have his Another attraction was a huge inverted trouble to serve lunch. What a good idea! own solution to 'cataloguing'. Most of micn~cope by Nachet (Fig.7) on loan Another opportunity to meet the dele- the larger institutior~s already have a from the Museum of the Histo~' of gates. The Museum Boerhaave was properly working system, and i cannot Science of the University of (,;ent continuously open for visiting. It is such imagine that they would be willing to (Belgium). Older material, t,~, was on an impressive collection of all kinds of switch to another one. A majo0 problem display. There were about twenty fine instruments, that one needs several hours ns that a lot depends on who makes the instruments in the first rt~m, while in the just to gain a rough idea of what has been 'divisions' and 'subdivisions'. In tree of second there were two working rt~licas

Bulletin of the Scientific Instrument Society No. 43 (l~x4) Fig.7 ,\a, hct. m~,erh'd micrascope. The participants are Marian fournh'r (lef't fi,re,¢r,,und), Gerard Turner (standiny,), and Wilh'm Miirzer Bruyns.

Fig.O Rare l)l~'ttt" k'~rw t,lc:o-clc~trlL compenmtor with Tom Wiechmaffn (L~- den~ in the hlck~,round. to enable us to understand the working principles of the originals. The first demonstrated the difficulties of making electrical measurements with the Cou- lomb tor.,,ion balance. Such 'replication' experiments are the ~rte of the research gn~up on Higher Education and History of Science at the LniversiW of Oldenburg (Germany). Indeecl, it is t~nlv by repeat- ing the original experiments that one becomes aware of the problems faced by these pioneers.: The second was the copy water pendulum (Fig.8) described by Allan Mills in Bulh'tm No. 39. In the Fig.8 Allan AIilI, ext,hmmzy, the simplicity ot the (m Ins own third rtx~m the Dutch collector A.J. Klut us~rds) 'incredibh' water-driz~,n free pendulum clock'. .showed some puzzling instruments which, to his delight, were identified. that if you should miss him, you will be study of weights and other metrological One item was a veo' special piece of mathematical teaching apparatus used to able to find him during the next coffee standards. Paolo Brenni (Florence) gave demonstrate how a rotational motion break, or on another occasion. One of the an analysis of instruments presented at could be transformed into a perfect posters I saw did not even have the name international exhibitions, so popular in linear one. of the author, so was a complete waste of the second half of the nineteenth century. time! The poster must be well illustrated, The products tell us a great deal not only with the minimum of text which is easily The .second half of the morning was about the development of the precision readable for the more elderly conference devoted to a poster .session - much industry, but also a more general image members. There were fifteen posters in expanded since its introduction at the of the state of science and technology in all. Personally, I would prefer a gc~cl 1987 SIC Meeting in Paris. As I am used different countries. Alison Morrison-Low poster than a not so good oral presenta- to such sessions at biophysics congresses, (Edinburgh) dealt with the instrument tion. I would like to make the following subcontractors in such places in the ~uggestions for the future. A ptrster is Midlands as Sheffield and Birmingham not an article pasted on a wall. it should The aftern~x)n session started with a fine for the renowned London makers. Her make other conference members with piece of detective work on weights. research puts forward a revised picture of similar interests aware of your current A.D.C. Simpson (Edinburgh) introduced the interaction between the London rip, arch During the I~ter session the us to the economic relationships between market and the Midland workshops. presenter must be present. A photo of the Scotland, Antwerp and Cologne in the Anita McConnell (London) presented [~tt, r author should be obligatory so fourteenth century as determined by the information on the workshops of three

Bulletin of the Scientific Instrument Society No. 43 (1994) leading London firms, Ramsden, (Stockholm) compared the optical quality working with different didactic instru- Troughton and Gilbert, and the different of a 12-inch English telescope by James ments. They were given a completely free strategies they adopted to deal with the Short (and now in the collection of the hand in organizing this exhibition, but ] manufacture of large instruments. The Royal Swedish Academy), with one felt it impossible to avoid the strong last speaker, H. Heijmans (Utrecht), constructed by the Swedish maker impression that their choice of images introduced us to the fine collection of Daniel EkstrOm. Very sophisticated (and was being directed by 'Ix)litica[correct- top quality optical laboratory instru- expensive!) analysis showed that ness' (an American obsession!). The next ments belonging to the Utrecht although the separate lenses of group was taken in the 1930s and 1940s University Museum. Spectrographs, Ekstrom's instrument were of higher by a government agency. The dramatic interferometers, gratings, micro- quality than the English ones, Short and theatrical attitudes of scientists with photometers, etc., illustrate the richness produced better results because of the tier instruments in these photographs of the apparatus of the former physical way he assembled his lenses. However, 1 suggest the contemporary idea of science laboratory of the University which feel that no generalizations can be based as a heroic enterprise. Today's 'big specialised in optical and photometrical on a study of only two instruments. science' was represented by the third work at the end of the nineteenth century. image, a very famous photograph of the This concluded a fine day at Museum M.E. Rudd and D.H. Jaecks (University now abandoned American Supercollider Boerhaave. of Nebraska) after summarising the most (SSC). important steps leading to the dramatic Wednesday 14 September improvement in the optical performance Jim Bennett (Cambridge) was the last of the achromatic microscope in the 1830s speaker of the afternoon. He traced the Paolo Brenni and 1840s, presented an unusual micro- evolution of the historiography of scope by Andrew Ross, now in their instruments during the last decades. This was the last day of scientific sessions collection. They also showed a very rare The historical scientific instrument com- of the Symposium. The morning was photograph of an unknown sc;entist (or munity is today stronger and better devoted to papers on specific instru- maker? or amateur?) using the same type organized than it was even a few years ments, chaired by S.R. Sarma. J.C. of microscope, which could well be the ago. Partly because of the influence of Deiman (Utrecht) opened the proceed- instrument recently purchased by these sociology, scientific instruments and ings. After stressing the role of instru- two speakers. The morning session scientific practices are no longer the ments in the history of technology and ended with a short video presented by sole concern of the instrument histor- their importance for a better understand- A. Molella and C. Stephens (Washington) ian. Until fairly recently most historians ing of 'tacit knowledge', he described a on the making of the atom bomb. of science were historians of scientific series of meteorological instruments of ideas. Because of their philosophical the Royal Dutch Meteorological Office. The afternoon was dedicated to a special approach instruments were not consid- Among the most uncommon devices session concerned with instnmwnts in ered. Now the opportunity existed for illustrated by slides, I recall an appara- museums and in the history of science, historians of instruments and curators to tus for measuring and controlling the chaired by Robert Anderson. Otto Mayr, try and escape from the sidelines. quantity of gas in meteorological hal- the former director of the Deutsches However, there was the problem that loons, and a curious instrument for Museum, dealt with the role of mu- some 'museum lobbies' are against measuring 'apple-growth'. The second seums and exhibitions. Museums, he historical presentations as they consider speaker was R. Evans (East Carolina said, are the natural habitat for instru- original objects to be useless. They want University) who focused on instruments ment history and he presented the 'ideal to transform their museums into for the study of experimental psychology, role' of the history of science museum. crowded science centres (under the in particular emotions. He compared the He stressed the importance of studies dangerous motto 'science is fun'!), history and characteristics of electro- about instruments and their operators instead of increasing the resources for magnetic chronoscopes invented by (scientists, makers, etc.), as well as the researchers and curators. The afternoon Charles Wheatstone with the one later invaluable role of collections which session was closed by a rather fragmen- made by the Swiss maker Matthias Hipp reflect the western science empirical ted discussion. in the early 1840s. It is difficult to tradition. Mayr dealt with some of the determine whether Hipp developed his problems of temporary exhibitions and Excursion Thursday and Friday 15 and instrument independently, but despite also with the duality o4 museums which 16 Sep~mber the fact that Wheatstone's apparatus had to be both research centres and cater was technically superior, Hipp's chrono- for the public. scope was far more successful judging by the number that have survived in Molella and Stephens using case studies The Symposium concluded with a two- collections. One reason could be its from the National Museum of American day excursion to places of scientific attractive design. History's new exhibition, Science in interest around Holland. The first stop Amer/can L/fe (to open in April 1995), was the Radio Observatory at Dwinge- Jane lnsley (London) presented an explored the place of scientific instru- 1oo, to see the oldest, still-operational, amusing paper on the complex relation- meats in modem American culture. They radio telescope in the world. After the ship between George Everest, who was asked such questions as *What do War, radio telescopes with large dishes Surveyor General of India from 1823 to scientific instruments represent?', and were designed to detect longer wave~ 1843, and the inset maker Henry 'What is the relationship between instru- lengths from cosmic sources, in 1956, the Barrow, who was appointed the first ments and the general public?' In the 25-meter parabotoid dish at Dwingeioo mathematical instrument maker to the exhibition the importance of scientific went into operation: it was the largest of Survey of India, where he worked from instruments will be illustrated by means its kind at the time. Jan Hendrick Oort 1830 to 1839. The difficulty of running a of photographs, films and computer was involved in the design of the dish, proper workshop in India and the images. They ~ on three types of which was built by a Dutch contractor. problems which emerged during the images: The first photograph illustrated a Such dishes were limited in size because cooperation with Everest, were particu- school for African-Americans in 1899, of their weight. Modem radio observa- larly interesting in this paper. O. Amelin with a few black students and women tories now use a system of several small

llulk,~oCtheScimtiftclmmmm~Socit,ty No. t3 0994) 7 pamphlet based on the I~pular series of Bluffers' (.;uidt.'s. With stories of well- known makers and their imagined exploits, we were easily convinced of the authenticity of the fact that the letters AI) engraved on an instrument actually repre~,nt the initials of that celebrated instrument-maker, Algernon [~,e. Fully armed with this knowledge, I faced the next day with a new-found air of confidence, in my subject. Incidentally, rumour has it that Dr Anderson will be serialising the Guide in the next two issuts of the SIS Bulb,tin.

Day two commenced with a trip to Franeker in Friesland. The group was split in half to view two small sites: the Ei~ Eisinga Planetarium (Fig.lO), and the Mu~um t'Coopmanshfis. The province of Friesland has been home to a substantial number of amateur scientists over the ages. The Museum t'Coopmans- ht~s has an exhibition of instruments by Fig.9 I, III l.cot,,,I,t ,~t the l~rltt,/1 Abe,elm1 these folk. Most impressive was the taking notes l~. the parallactic instruntent. He library of wooden "books', each carefully Fig.10 Visitin¢, the f_istnc,a I'hlnetarilml ob.,erved an instance of "19th century crafted from the wood of a particular tree from left to right Carlene Stephens, Sara recvtlln¢,', because the plate holder was or shrub and filled with specimens and Schechner Genuth, Peter Louu,man, Profes- ntounh'd on top 14 an 18th centu~ stand descriptions of its bark, fruit, leaves and sor and Mrs Eugene Rudd, OIov Amelin and made by. Beniamin Ayrt~. ~ seeds. Yet another splendid exhibit was a SprMion Azzopardi. large mechanical ornery signed T. Wr~,ht & B. Cole, Fleet Street, lamdon. dishes in a row to sweep the skies. Huygens' designs and intended to win The most amazing sight of all, for which the Longitude Prize. The .~ond apl~intment of the day was most of us were totally unprepared, was in Groningen, a university town clating the planetarium of Else Eisinga. The The excursion was a great success. With from 1614. We visited the University planetarium was created in respon~ to split-second precision, the two coaches of Museum, where a di,~play of scientific the belief that the end of the world was delegates arrived at each port of call on instrumen~ and an accompanying des- about to happen in May 1774. That time. The organisers deserve warm criptive catalogue was specially orga- month saw a rare conjunction of congratulation on their perfect planning. nised for our group. Most of tl~e early planets: Mercury, Venus, Mars and At Schiphol Airport we bid our farewells instruments belonging to the universiW Jupiter all gathered in Pi~es, joined by and, with heads full of new facts and have been lost, and a fire in 1906 the Moon. Uranus, Neptune and Pluto historical information, headed for flights destroyed many more. The Museum had not yet been discovered, so Saturn linked to different parts of the globe. was founded in 1934 to manage the was the only known planet to be University's historical collections. Exhi- excluded from this assembly. Appalled Exhibition The Brass Cabinet: Treasure bits include instruments used by the at the panic caused by the ignorance of House of Science, 1550-1950. Museum Physics Nobel Prize winner, Frits Zer- the people, Eisinga decided to build a Boerhaave, 3 September 1994 - S March n|ke, during his quest to design a phase- clockwork model of the universe as a 1995 contrast micn~scope; a beautiful planetar- teaching tool. That year he began work- ium dating from around 1800 by the van ing on converting his living room ceiling Marlin van Hoorn Laun Brothers of Amsterdam, with into a great planetarium. The task took terrestrial and celestial gh~es by Dela- seven years and I0,000 hand-forged nails On the occasions of the conference marche of Paris; the parallactic instru. to complete. Except for the size of the ment designed by the astronomer J.C. Origins and E~lution of Collecting Scien- planets, the whole model is to scale and it tific Instruments (7-9 September) and the Kapteyn m 1~86 and used to measure the works in real time: Mercury orbiting the plmitions of a total of 454,875 stars (Fig.9); Xlllth Scientific Instrument Svmposium (ll- Sun in 88 days and Saturn in 29 years 164 16 September), this exhibition was staged and the equipment of Professor G. days. The planetarium is a truly amazing Hevmans who ~,t up the first laboratory by Peter de Clercq to give glimpses of the feat of engineering which must be ,seen to history of collecting scientific instruments for" experimental psychology in the be believed. Netherlands at Groningen University in in Western Europe during the last four centuries, in two galleries selections of 1892, using ml~tlv standard test instru- The day rounded up with a visit to the ments of German "manufacture. thirteen collections are shown, divided Zaandam Horological Museum to view into four sections. specimens illustrating the evolution of l he evening brought the symposium the Dutch clock from the 15th century. dinner, a splendid feast concluded with Courtly collections contains some On display is the oldest-known Dutch twenty early instruments and clocks a magnificent speech by RiR'~ert Ander- longcase clock, signed Anthonius Hoeve- assembled at the Habsburg court and ,,~n. Dr Ander~n entllused about the naer fecit lxi/da, the first to incorporate a by the Electors of Saxony, on loan from merits of The Bluffers" Guide to Antique seconds hand. There is also a Solomon Scientific Instruments, an imaginary Vienna and Dresden. It also pays Coster pendulum clock, constructed to attention to the lost collection of the

8 Bulletin of the Scientific Instrument Society No. 43 (1994) Fig.14 Model of a saw mill, maker unkntn~,n, c. 1750-88. Mu~um Boerham~,, Fig.ll Mathematical cabm,'t bu lohmm inv. no. 9693 (GM 85). Melchior Voickmair, Vienna, 16,~7-42, on Fig.12. Precision chemical balance by John loan from the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Whitehurst, Derby, c. 1740-75. Mu~um collections became accessible for the ira: no. 1010-1037. Boerhaat~, inv. no. 22456 (A 44). public. The instruments and clocks were shown as a separate collection in the Mathematisch-Physikalischer Salon, where they can still be seen. Among the instruments on loan from the Salon there is an artillery aiming device made by the young Christoph Trechs- let (1550-1624), who became the most important Saxon instrument maker of his time. The rich cabinets of the Dutch stadholders were confi~ated by the French in 1795. Of these, the i~stru- ments and models were never returned and cannot even be traced anymore. today only the royal archives can give a faint, though accurate, picture of these treasul~3.

Science at home concentrates on the eighteenth century, with many items from Leyden University (Figs~i2 and Fig.13 Detail of chemical balance. 13), as well as loans from the Museum of the History of Science (Oxford) and Teyler's Museum (Haarlem). Charles Dutch princes of Orange. In this section Many of the instruments are made by Boyle, Fourth Earl of Orrery, and almost every object is a highlight in its court craftsmasters, such as Erasmus Emestus Ebeling feature in this section. own right, if only because of the dazzling Habermel and Johann Melchior Volck- The Earl ordered many of his instruments design, often eclipsing its practical mair (Fig.ll). Very interesting is the from John Rowley; the new ~'pe of purpose. Needless to say it took quite remarkable amount of automata among planetarium called 'orrery' after its own- some effort to acquire these exhibits from the instruments. er, was also made by him. Orrery bequeathed most of his collection to their present locations, the Kunsthistor- Christ Church College, Oxford. Since isches Museum in Vienna and the 1925 they can be seen there in the Mathematisch-Physikalischer Salon in At the court of Saxony in Dresden a Kunstkammer was set up in 1560 by Museum of the History of Science. Dresden. At the Habsburg court, im- the Elector August I. For a long time mense collections on the arts and the emphasis in this collection was on The Amsterdam lawyer and merchant sciences were assembled from the mid- surveying, mining, the military and dle of the sixteenth century onwards, Ebeling brought together some 500 other practical purposes. In the early instruments. In 1787 he had to leave the especially so by the emperors Rudolf !I eighteenth century the Zwinger pavil- country for politicalreasons and went to (1552-1612) and Ferdinand 1II (1637-54). lions were built, and there the electoral five in Mainz. In exile, he ordered the

Bulletin of the Scientific Instrument Society No. 43 (1994) Fig.15 Ma~ic lanh'rn in W.J. "s Gravesande, Wiskundige grondbegin~len der natuurkunde, door pr~,fimdervindingen gestaaft ~L~Tdot, 1742L auction of his collection, which even- V.S.M van der Willigen on the Foucault tuallv t~k place in 17~1. Martinus van pendulum in 1851. Mart~m, affiliated to Tevler's Museum in Haarlem, bought extensively at this Another nineteenth-century group of auction, m(~tlv in the area of mechan- instruments once belonged to the king ics, but his most impressive buy probably Willem II HBS in Tilburg, erected in 1866. Fig.16 Magic lantern by Jan van was a portable equatorial telescope by (Among its first group of students was a Musschenbroek, Leyden, c. 1730-40 (Mu- ]t~.,~ Ra m,,den. thirteen-year-old by the name of Vincent seum B~wrhaazw, ira,. no. 1(~16 (GM 67a). van Gogh.) Among the early acquisitions Most of the other items in this section were a fine, four-prism spectroscope by concern the private collections of the Jules Dub~yscq, and a re~mator set by his auction house (Frederik Muller & Leiden profes.~)rs Willem Jacob's Grave- Rudolf Koenig. As most of such society Co., Amsterdam) published catalogues .,,ande and Petrus van Mus~henbroek, and schis~l collections of course got lost which became classics in the field, wh~e main supplier was the instrument or dispersed in the course of time, especially the one of 1924, that con- ~hop led by Van ,Mus~henbr~,k's re- remnants such as these, exemplifying tained 438 pieces. A most peculiar thing latives. Many of these instruments were school and society life, must be handled about this collection is that it turned out dt~igned for demonstration lectures on with great care as a group. to contain fakes, of which Mensing Newtonian physics (Fig.14), but on show probably was unaware. The collection is, for instance, also a huge magic lantern Old wine in new bags shows parts of got spread over the world and a curc~ont (Figs.15 and 16). Dutch private collections, which during research project carried out by Museum the peri(xt c. 1875-1950 were assembled Boerhaave, the Dutch Maritime Museum Physics for the public shows a large with antiquarian interests. For many (Amsterdam) and the Adler Planetarium number of instruments from Museum years Anton W.M. Mensing was a very (Chicago) - all owners of Mensing items I~erhaave's own stort~, which in the active dealer-collector of old ~ientific - is supp(w.~ to shed light on this nineteenth century had filled the cabinets instruments (Fig.17). In 1911 and 1924 intriguing affair• of a regional scientific society and a ~-~'ond a rv sch~x)l.

]-he ~cietv for I'hvsics and Chemistry in Deventer "was fi~unded in 1817, and accumulated in a fifty year span about 3tX) pieces of apparatus. In its most dynamic peri~ it was led by Professor I~.(.).C. ~,~w~,lman de Heer, affiliated to the Athenaeum (a kind of local uni- ver,,,ity). There was always a very ch~e ct~peration between the ~cie~ and the Athenaeum. After the ch~ing down of the Athenaeum and the decline of the .%~'ietv the instruments were entrusted to the newh,' erected (1864) t-h~,gere Burger- scherzi (HBS, a new type of .~econdary ~chool). Among the exhibits are a 'physiological' telegraph after Vors- ~lman, and a chronometer by Dent, Fig.17 Octant with case, maker unknown, c. 1780. Museum that served the experiments of I~rofes~w B~'rhaa~w, inv. no. 11871. Gift by. Anton Mensing, 1935). l0 Bulletin of the ~ientific Instrument S¢~ety. No. 43 (1994) A collection consisting of thousands of late seventeenth up to the early nine- Acknowledgements instruments was assembled by fatherand teenth century; and he was always eager son Groenendijk, both Amsterdam bro- to share his knowledge with everyone kers; their activities spanned almost a The Editor would like to thank the interested. following participants for supplying the century. Early pieces came, for instance, photographs for these reports: Figs 1, 4, from the Amsterdam societyFelix Meritis, A third Dutch collection of microscopes 5, 7, 8, and 9 Peter Louwman; Figs 2 and that was ck~d down in 1889, and of belonged to Willem and Andries Kaas 3 John Reid; Fig. 6 Karel van Camp; Fig. which Groenendijk sr. had been a (father and son); the son became a l0 Will Andrewes, and Figs ll-17 member. An initiativeof Groenendijk jr. neurologist in Amhem. They assembled Museum Boerhaave. to found a science museum with his about two hundred old instruments, collection failed, and in 1958 it was almost one hundred of which were auctioned. Notes microscopes. In the early sixties Kaas jr. decided to sell. Boerhaave selected three I. Exchange, or communication formats Microscopes formed the most important microscopes, the others were sold en bloc part of the collection that Johannes M. were first di~u~sed in Britain in the late to the USA. sixhes. ]he Information Retrieval Gn~up of Burgers brought together in the first half the Museums' A~ciatiim (IRGMA) pro~.-.ct of this century. He was the son of a This exhibition certainly was not only a funded a protect attached to the Museum of carpenter and had a modest job at the worthy accompaniment of the conference the History of Science at Oxford to evaluate a postal services in Arnhem. He was and the symposium, it also offers a computerized catalogue system developed at fascinated by the new developments and spectacle that can stand on its own. The the Sedgwick Museum in Cambridge. See 'Ten Years of IRGMA, 1967-1977', Museums Journal, the history of the sciences, became a impression one gets is given an historical teacher at the local physical society, and 77 (1977), pp. 11-14, and W.D. Hackmann, The dimension, by the notion of the shift from Epaluation of a Museum Commumcati,,n Format. lived to see both his sons become princely collecting through private to professor at the Technical University in Part 1: Collectam qf Input Data (London, OSTI societal/institutional. And although this Report No. 5154, March 1971). ]-his was the Delft. After their father's death in 1946 notion is to a certain extent an artificial precursor of the systems developed by the they donated more than one hundred of one - at least one has to account for long Museum Documentatkm Assooatitm (MDA). the most significant items to the Museum overlaps - it works as a perfect didactical Boerhaave. tool. I would like to end with a remark on 2. See the Editor's review of Resta~ing the last category, the private collections Couh,mb, contnwerses et rephcatanls autour de In 1957 this museum bought en blot" the assembled with antiquarian interest. On la balance de torsum edited by Chrishne Blondel microscope collection of Dr Wouter H. the one hand this shows a kind of shift in and Matthias Dorries,in Bulletin NoA2, p. 30. van Seters, an Amsterdam biology collecting interest indeed, but when one teacher, who survived this transaction sees how the four sections 'coincide' with 3. Holland never had the tradition (~ having instrument makers appointed 'Royal'. Benja- by almost twenty years. In his spare time four centuries, one wonders if it does not Van Seters had set up a collection with min Ayres was the exception as he was mask an as all-important as admittedly appointed in 1749 "s Lands Instrument- which he could show the typological difficult problem - the collecting of the maker' by S4adholder Pnnce Wlllem IV - so developmemt of the microscope from the twentieth-century heritage. perhaps not 'Royal', but certainly 'Princely 't

Announcements

Conservation Weekend at West Dean College, Chichester

The preliminary details given in the previous Bulletin can ra,w be updated. This residential course will be held on 20-21 May 1995. It will be for up to 25 participants, but a further 15 will be accepted as day visitors. The course will be jointly attended by members of the SIS and the Tool and Trades History Society. Estimated fees for all meals, bed and breakfast is £75. The propt~,e(i titles for the lectures are 'Conservation of Navigational Instruments', 'Care of Clockwork Movements', 'Structure and Deterioration of Metals', 'Conserva- tion by Environmental Control' and 'Ethical Considerations of Conservation'. The bookings are taken by Trevor Waterman, SIS Meetings Secretary (details in inside cover of the Bulletin).

Globe Exhibition Catalogue

The beautifully illustrated catalogue The World in Your ttands. An Exhibith,n of Gh,b~s and Planetaria From the Collectu,n of Rudt,lf Schmidt, edited by Tom Lamb and Jeremy Collins, published jointly by Christie's and Museum Boerhaave, and sponsored by Lithoflow (the Bulh'tin~ printers), Vulcan, and the advertisers, can be obtained from Christie's at £15, which is g(~xt value for money. Contributors to the catalogue are Rudolf Schmidt {Fig.l), Heide Wohl~hl/iger, EIly Dekker, Sylvia Sumira, Arthur Middleton, Franz Warwick, and Dr Veeneman. The exhibition was held at Christie's Great Rooms in St James, London, from 25 August-9 September. For those who have mis'~ it, or would like a ,second opportunity, it will also be at Museum Boerhaave from 18 March-24 September 1995. Fig.l Proh'>,or RudNt Nhmz,tt. at Immc m ~wm'a

Bulletin of the Scientific Instrument Society No. 43 (I~14) ll 19th Centumj French Scientific Instrument Makers V: Jules Carpentier (1851-1921) l'aolo Brenni

I:~ I ..... ' ' ' ' -"; 'I,o,. kilt'- (. arpt'r~tler I~-~I-I'021 ,l',m- t-ig ~ llw a'ork,ho/, ot ,lt<'hcr< ~,lPmkortt C+lrl,t'nlwr m 1881. At tlw Iron', tlw mat/imc/ovl, k'vu-,'~:'.ltom' .\,lttV~l,ll ,t¢', .'1 rt,. ,'t .~,|,'/.,,'r, wcrc t,o;n'rcd I,I¢ a t, tip ,~.,as cn.¢lm', who~,e.tl~a'hcvl can I,c .,n'n m t/if cc,trv of tlw en£r,n,m,¢. lltc 0H~t+c wa, 0n tlh' first tl~r. +t-rom l.a lumiere eh'ctrique. 4 11881L p. 281~.

In I¢,r!.'tm \o 41 dune 1++4) i +~rott' tir,,t three quartt'rs of the leith century, pentier was probably the first important about Ihunr~ch Ruhmkortf. one ot the but when he died in It'¢77, the financi,fl French instrument maker with an aca- bt',,t knoxxn French electric,l| m',trunlent ,,rotation of hi,, firm was far from demic education: In the same ,war he makt.r,, ol the period 1~4: to about 1~7"g. flouri,,hmg. It i~, certain that Ruhmkorff entered the Mmndilcturcs d¢ Fal,,h ,h' I'Etat RLlhl+11J..ortl. ~.x ho,,¢' in~,trunlent,, ~,~.t'r¢' I,va,,, nt'~.er x t'r$ intert't,ted in illcrea~.,ing and, in 1~7+,, he began work as a fitter in h,~,hlx appreciated both in |iurope and his per,,onal +~,alth, and probably, at the the workshop of the railnmd company m the L naed ~tate,,, is a tx plcal example end of his lift,, hi,, activity in instrument I'aris-l.von-Mt;diterranet;. After ten ol tht' cx~cllence ol the J~arlsian +lrtl>h'- makm~ t~a,, al~+ roJuct.d becau,,e of his months of apprenticeship he was made ,O+t.t~Zi¢tt'++t 1t1% c,lreer vva,, ~erv similar dtxlinin~ health. Furthermore, in the late assistant to the chief engineer. Thus, his it+ tho,,t' of mo~t l rt'nch maker', tff the eighteen ,,t'x t,nt,.s, his elegant lahor,ltorx' first activities were quite far removt~:l eh.ctrical m,,truments began to appt.ar m~m the ~cientific instrument industry, old ta,,hioned. Certainly they vvere not hut during his stay with the railroa~d ~,t, itable for the new needs of the company he h'arned to work in a ~, "- " .... ~ ;Li+£. electriLal indue,try which, at the time, machine shop and he ai,.o developed a was growing rapidly. taste fl~r prtx'ision mechanic.,;.

Juh,,, Carpentier (1~-~1-1¢121) ' (Figl) At the end of 1877, Ruhmkorff dit~ and ",ucceeded Ruhmkorff after having his work.,,hop was to be ~ld at auction bought his workshop and was one of Carpentier docided to participate in the the int+,dt importanl repre~,ntatwes of lht, auction i+uckilv, nobody el.,~, trit~l to buy new ~eneration of x'ientific instrument the old firm ~ t'hat he could acquire it for a maker,, who were active in the last ridiculou.~l.v low price, probably btx'au~' it quarter of the I'+th century and in the was on the txige of bankruptcy.' The new tir,,t decadt.,, of the 20th Ih+eir education, owner named the firm: Ateh,'rs Ruhmk,,rff- ~lentltic curricula, activities, and ~.'ial I.Carl,e,ti,'r, m s¢,;m,,ur w,struct,'ur. status ~,vt,re qtlite dilferent to those of their predett,,,+.ors. It was a bi~ challenge for Carl~,ntier. The newly born electrical industry noL,ded a lule', Carpentier wa+, horn in Paris into a new generation of in.~trumt:nts (Fig.2), m~h,,,t lanlih', ttis father was a merchant and more .,~phisticated apparatus was m haberda~,herv and hosiery. Carpt.ntier dt~,parateh' requiwd for the determina- h,ld a x cry le,~t~t education ,~nd at the age tion of a ,,~,rk,,s of electrical standards. l lg2 ..+tu mdz+,trt,+/ ohmm,'t,'r ttldd(' bll of 211, he t'ntered the prestigious Ecole ,'%veral important .,,cientbts and engi- t.+,l,cntwr ,+t th,' l,c+mulu+ of 20th I'ol.xthecnique, when' he finished his neers were involved with the develop- c,t~+tu +Irt,m: Ii t;cr,+rd. Me,,urt's studie,, as an enginet.r m 1~73. Apart ment and the pnmJuction of such new t'h'~ tnqut'., , l~,v t.: t ,utlncr Vdl,+r.J. I'. 2q ~ from (;ustave FromenL (l~lg-i~g), Car- ehx'trical apparatus. Amongst these were

J2 Bulletin ot the ~lentlfic In,,trument ~Kietv No. 43 (1~'~4) I-homson (later I.ord Kelvin) who worked with Jaml,s White, the famous (;lasgow instrument maker, the brothers Siemens who were btnilding tip their hi'avv electrical industry, and the firm of EJliott Brothers. At the end of the eighteen .~.,venties, France was without a doubt a late comer in this particular development compared to the Germans and the British

Carpentier had to introduce several radical changes into the pn~uction of instruments if he wanted to Ira, able to fight succt.'ssfullv the foreign competi- tion. Until the enkt of the 'Ruhmkorff era' every specialist worker had to make an entire instrument from the beginning to its finish. [his task was generally accomplished by copying existing appa- ratus, or by following a few oral instructions or some crude sketches. _ ,~ _ . ~;- _ _. - technical drawings in the modem .~,n.,,e did not exist in the ~ientific instument I'1:. i, . indust~'. The pieci.,s were manufactured with handt~,ds. A few lathes, and fi~r the Fig.4 The i'h'ltrlldi4nanlllml'ter mi,cnted bu. Henri I¥/lat flS.;O-l~tO~J and mamtfillturl'd hi/ most important makers, a dividing {'arpl'ntier. With a ~;lttiiltlr itl.,;trilltil'tit it ll,ll~; illil~;~,ihll" to dl'tl'rtliitlt' thl" ,,tlitid~lrd l,a/ut" of the engine were the only machine tl~ls to 'tlttlpt'rl". (From: Gl'rllrd, 171.li;t, p, ~.?(IL be found in these" workshops. The various parts making up the instruments were not interchangeable, but this way of making scientific apparatus was not LIItI'II~I Ill suitable for the needs of the expanding electrical industry which had to be supplied with th'ousands of efficient measuring instruments. Carpentier made a big effort to modernize his recently acquired firm. First he intn~- duced the subdivision of the tasks. Several non-specialist workers were normally doing the ~me operations fi~r producing the different pieces. New machine tools, such as milling or LL planing mackint.,s, were systematically inm~tuced into the workshop. Each part ,f an instrument was now made by fidlowing a preci.~" technical drawing. The parts were then put together by an assembler, and finally, the instruments were tt.,sted by specialist electricians who a~ =o,,mJ~'c~par ]e~ iinterruph..r~ V,ehnt.h, a , ,,.,hlfl ;o .~up-

did not have the skills to manufacture the I I= t:- devices themselves. Carpentier also intr,~tuced into his workshop the con- cept of interchangeable parts, which had fi~r quite a long time already l'~'en the current practice in the mass pr~hiction of guns and rifles. The standardi~tion of the parts simplified the manufacturing prl~:ess, ri~.|uct~.t the costs and made both repai~ and replacements much easier.

Carpentier was also abh' to lind several skilful collaborators, such as the ehx'tri- cian tt. Armagnat, who was fi~r mare' years the chief of the measurement [tepartment of the firm.'

C'arpentier's re.tructtnring% v of Ruhm- Fig.5 Tu~i t~l,tcal Carl,cnttl'r mductnm ctul~, winch wcrc korff's old firm meant that much more cmlased m u~h,n h~vc~, tt-rtun: It. Ama.~:uat, I.a bobine space was rtxluired. Around 11478, he d'induction (l~art~: (,authicr-Vtllar~. Iq¢~SL p. 1221

Bulletin of the ~'ientific Instrument .~xietv No 43 (l~q4) I Fig.6 Baudot., tch'x,rat,htc rcccw~'r. ¢tro,t: A.L. Ternat. l.es tbK~graphes. 2nd ed. ¢Paris: Hachette, 1887), p. 277). Fig.7 The stand of the Ateliers Ruhmkorff-Carpentier at the Paris electricity exhibition of 1881. (From: La lumi/,re ~lectrique, 7, (1882), p. 155). moved from the rue Champollion (galvanometer), Blondel (oscillograph), Carpentier also expanded the activities of (Ruhmkorff's address) to number 20, Abraham (voltmeter, hysterisimeter), Le his firm, and around 1890, he became rue Delambre. Subsequently, the firm Chatelier (pyrometer), Joly (Iogometer). involved with the construction of several expanded to the numbers 14, 16, 18 and He contributed largely to the diffusion of different optical intsruments. He in- 22 of the .same street as well as to the 98 the famous moving coil galvanometer vented the photojumelle ~ rf'pPtition. It boulevard Montparnasse. which was the successful result of the was a curious combination of a binocu- cooperation between Carpentier himself, lar with a photographic camera which At the end of the century the firm was the physician and physiologist Ars~e contained twelve revolving photographic well organized and it had several d'Arsonval (1851-1940) and the electrical plates. Another of Carpentier's photo- sections: a d~rector's office with a wait- engineer and inventor Marcel Deprez graphic devices enlarged the negatives ing room, the administration and (1843-1918). He prtgluced some of the made by the photolumeile. He also accounts, a "bureau d'etude' (it was a first electrical recording instruments as introduced two new intruments for kind of primitive research and develope- well as the first electromechanical oscillo- measuring the characteristics of eye- ment office), a photographic room, a graphs of Abraham and Blondel. Carpen- pieces: thefocomPtre and the f0cograde. drawing office, and a small printing tier's firm continued to produce induction office where the catalogues and the coils, which had been the glory and In 1895, Louis Lumi6re, the pioneer of the instruction leaflets for the instruments success of Ruhmkorff (Fig.5). ~ cinematographic industry, asked Jules were produced.' The workshop (Fig.3), Carpentier to manufacture one of his tta~, was divided into different depart- first film cameras. The first public The highly accurate standards of resis- ments (coil winding, lacquering, electri- showing of a Lumi6re film (28th of cal testing, insulation, machinery hall, tance, capacity., and inductance were also December 1895, in the Grand Carts of amongst the products of the firm. For repair, assembly, etc.). The wooden boxes the Boulevard des Capucines) was example, Carpentier produced several which contained the instruments were performed with a Carpentier apparatus. mercury standard resistances as well as made by a couple of very skilful Carpentier also patented a couple of secondary standards. independent cabinet-makers. important devices related to cinemato- graphic technology,s Following Ruhmkorff's tradition the firm In the field of telegraphy, the role played continued to specialize in electrical by the Ateliers Ruhmk,,rff-Carpentier was The firm continued to develop optical apparatus. A list would be too long, so ! very important. They perfected and instruments. Thus, from the beginning of will iust mention a few of the most produced the multiplex telegraphic the 20th century, periscopes were manu- important ones. Carpentier's firm con- apparatus invented by the French post factured for the first French submarines. ~ tinued to manufacture many types of office engineer, Emile Baudot (1845- About 80 of them were manufactured in classical gah'anometers such as the 1903). 7 Thousands of them were sold the period 1900-1906, and several more Nobili, Weh, r and Pouiilet versions. But, (Fig.6). From the end of the century were produced during the First World Carpentier also introduced several new onward, Carpentier often worked with War?" and perfected instruments working in Captain Gustave Ferri~ (1868-1932), the close cooperation with many leading well known French pioneer of wireless Carpentier also invented and manufac- ~-ientists. (The members of the 'upper technology. Carpentier produced many tured two different musical instruments: crust' of the French ,scientific and technical instruments invented by Ferri~ which the m~lotropeand the meh~£raphe.The first establishment could often be seen in were used for measuring the character- was an apparatus that could be adapted Carl~,ntier's worksbop). He manufac- istics of high frequency electric currents to a normal piano which transformed it tured the instruments of Peilat (electro- such as cymographs, thermal ammeters, into an automatic pianola. The second dynamometer) (Fig.4), Broca frequency meters and so on. device when attached to a piano

14 Bulletin of the Scientific InstrumentSociety No. 43 (1994) recorded, on a roll of palXn", the notes Carpentier disappeared in the much larger Conservatoire National des Am et Mttiers in which were played on the keyboard." companies of Brand and Thon~on. 1972 on the occamon of an exhibition concern- Finally, various other instruments came m S Carpentier him~lf. An interesting analysis from Carpentier's workshop, such as The story of Jules Carpentier is the story of the precL~i~m industry of the time can Ix, in: M. Williamq, 'Training fin" Spec~ii,~ls: dynamometric brakes, and around the of success. Carpentier, together with a 1920s several geodetic instruments. the Precision Instruments Industry in Britain few other French instrument makers of and France, 18~)-1925', m R Fox, A Guagnini the same period, such as Jules Richard or (ecls), Education. Technology and Indu,~trial The Ateliers Ruhrakorff-Carpentier was, of Antoine Br~guet, represented the succeea- Perfnmanc¢ in Europe, 1&50-1939 (Cambridge course, present at the Paris electricity ful transformation of part of the French University Press, 1993). exhibition of 1881 (Fig.7), as well as at precision industry. After reorganization, 2. Generally, until about 1870-1880 French most of the universal exhibitions. Car- Carpentier's firm could compete with instrument makers began their career as pentier was a member of several commis- many powerful foreign companies on the apprentices in a wdl known worK,d~,. They sions which contributed to the European market. With Carpentier (and often had an extremely rudimentary education. organization of the 1889 and the 1900 with some of his colleagues), the mean- 3. Carlxmtier's words were: "L'adiudication Paris exhibitions and related congresses. ing of the expression 'instrument maker' ne me rut pas disputett, et j'obtins, pour une changed. The self-made artiste-construc- somme d~risoire, tout ce que Ruhmkorff Carpentier became one of the leading teur, the apprentice who learned the lam~ait al~rt~ lui. Les ateliers du vieil artiste French industrialist and was appointed basics of physics after many hours of avaient tit# i deux doits de I'e~nndA~ent to many important official positions, such hard manual work, the humble and complet: ~ son succes~ur mcombait la tlche et as president of the Syndicat Prafessionel I'honneur de les relever'. Unfortunately, we do disinterested servant of a few scientists not know the amount of this sum. des lndustriels l~l¢ctriques in 1890, of the (which is the contemporary rhetorical Socit,t~ franfaise des ~iectriciens in 1892, image of the Second Empire), the skilful 4. Armagnat wrote an intemmng and quite member of the Bureau des longitudes in craftsman considering his instrument as comprebem~ve book on the induction coils"/J 1897, and president of the Association little chefs d'oeuvres, became obsolete. bobine d'induction (Paris: Gauthier-Villars, pour I'avancement des sc/ences in 1902. He 1905), and a good treatise on electrical Carpentier was a highly educated en- measurement: Instruments rt m~thodes was elected to the Academie des Sciences 8ineer and scientist, a clever tycoon, a (~'ctrh~,,s industr(~l~, 2Dd ed. (Paris: Gau- in 1907)= Carpentier was also associated good manager, and an important public thier-Villars, 1902). with the Laboratoire central d'~lectricit~, figure. His election to the elitist Acad~bnie which was founded in 1882. He was one 5. The firm, in fact, produced several des sciences represented, in fact, the illustrated catah~ which are nowadays of the founders of the first French official stamp of approval of him by the quite difficult to find. wireless company, the Compagnie French scientific community. g(,n(,rale radiot~i~raphiqu¢. He was also 6. Carpentier's large coib had a typical the president of the administrative board design. ]hey were enclmed in parailelepipe- Unfortunately, until the begirmmg of the dal or octogonal wooden bows. of the French Physics Society which 20th century, many other French instru- published the important Journal de ment makers remained bound to a 7. The Baudot apparatus was a type of 5 Physique et du Radium. glorous, but old fashioned, kind of keys multiplex printing telegraph, it had a special rotating distributor, which was syncro- craftsmanship. They did not foresee the nized with a recewer. It was po~ible to Carpentier, who got married in 1876, to rapid changes that were transforming the on the same wine up to 6 diffenmt messagt~. A Lucie Violet", had four sons but two of industrial world and did not have the special ek'ctromechanical Uansducer trans- them died young in 1889 and 1891. He courage, the capacity, or the intelligence formed the electrical signals into printed was described as a very intelligent and to modify their activities accordingly. letters. A detailed description of this compli- simple person, but he could be hard, This was surely one of the reasom for cated apparatus can be (ound in A.L. Ternat, almost tough. Every day, he regularly their slow but inevitable decline. Les ttqt~,raphes, 2nd ed. (Pare: Hachette, 1887). visited the di~t sectiom of his firm, 8. Carpentier also contributed to the checking the tools and the machines and Next to come: Rudolph Kaenig unpmveme,t of a techntq~ for colour photo- inspecting the way his employees grapy, which was invented by Charles Crm dressed. At the same time, he also Notes aal References (1842-1888) in 1869. Crm was the French supervised the putting together of p~neer of phono~'aphy. special courses in which the better L For.biographical informationsconcerning 9. About 200 large periscopes, as well am workers were taught the fundanumtals arlxmtter see: I. Carotin,, N0t~ sur/,~ tttres many small periscopes for the French infantry of physics and mathematics. tt Its trm~auxde M I.Carpentier (Pare: Gauthier- were produced during the First World War V'dlars, 1903); J.B.(?), "Jule~ Carpentier', Revue I0. Carpentier, for reasom of secrecy, never His successful fife came to a sudden end $~,n~,rale d'dectricit~,10, (1921), pp. 43-44; A. tried to obtain a patent for his pemcopt~. on 26 June 1921 when he died in a car Jobin, 'Ju~ Carpentier, mS~.nieu~- During the First World War Carpentwr's firm teur', Annuaire du Bureau des Longitudes, 1923, not only produced several instruments used accident. The company then became the pp. C1-CI6; H. Baudin, 'Nos ancienn~ 5oci~t~ anonyme des Ateliers Jules Carpen- by tbe army, the navy and the air force, such as industries: les atelk,rs Ruhmkofff-Carpenti~, gymecopic compasses and acowt~cal appara- tier,and on its board were Jules'sson Jean 14 au 22 rue Delambre (14e). De 1878 1931.', tus, but also 75ram ammunition ~ells. (the general director),and his son-in-law, Annuaire de la Socid,h~ historuwe du 14k"Arron- Louis Joly, together with several leading dmsement de Paris, 19 (1974), pp. 1-10. Move 11. Carlxmtier also made, [or the director of industrialists of the t~ne, such as Louis m~ntly Christine Blondel carefully analysed the Opera, an electrical metnmome. Carpen- the rote of the French electrical instrument tier's interest m curious mu~cal apparatus can Lumitre and Louis Renault. However, the takers at the end of 19th century in her perhaps best be explained by remembering financial and industrial landscape was 'lk~Ixmses d'une ~ ancmme i des that his son Jean married a Mile Lyon, whose rapidly changing and the management nouveau besoms: k~ in ' family was involved with the famom piano became more and more complex. In 1931, d'immunmt~ #iectriques ~ la fin du XIXe f~-tory,PIJy~. sidle', Bulletin d'histoir¢ de I'~iectricit~, 11 the company left forever the rue Delam- 12. He was also p~ident of the .~c~ttt bre, and in 1939, it merged with the Soci#t~ (1988), pp. 103-120. A short description of anonyme des industrie radio-~lectrique. Carpentier's workshop can be found in C.Soulases, 'Les atelie~ Carpsntier', la lu- Soc/~f~des ingttmeurs cn,//sale France in 1911. Finally, because of the complicated m/~ ~qect~, 4 (1881), pp. 280-282. A short alchemy of the financial world, the last 13. She was the daushter of the contractor boold~ with the title I. ~hcr 1851-1921 who built the Pare Opera, designed by the traces of the glorious Ateliers Ruhmkorff- was published (with no author's name!) by the architectCharles Gamier.

BuUetinoftheScientifzimmm~Society No. 43 (1994) 15 "To find the mind's construction in the face": The Newly-Discovered Astrolabes of Mercator Gerard L'E. Turner

Introduction pher Columbus. Mercator became a after Gerard Mercator's death as the highly skilled engraver, cut copperplates Atlas, si~" cosnla,~raphicae meditationes de Gerard Mercator was born on 5 March of his italic .,~'ripts, engraved the gores for .tiibrica mundi el fabricali fiRura ('Atlas: or 1512 at Rut~,lmonde in Flanders. and his first globe in 1536, and in 1537 Cosmographical Meditations on the died on 2 Lh,cember 15q4 at Duisburg in publb, hed his first map. His revolution- Structure of the World'). This was the Germany (Fig.l). Therefore l~q4 is being arv contribution to cartography, one of first time that a collection of maps had marked as the 44Xith anniver~irv of his the great inventions of all time, was his been given the name Atlas. death. From 15~I, when he entt,red the world map of 15oq drawn using the University of Louvain, he studied philo- cylindrical projection he devised. It is this No instruments made by Gerard Mer- .,~ph,," and theology; however, im gradu- map, meant for ships' aavigators, that cator were known to have survived ating he turned to astronomy and continues to be familiar to many people until the present writer identified an mathematics working under th'e gui- t~tav. Mercator is famed, secondly; for astrolabe, early in 19'#2, in the lstituto e dance of Gemma Frisius. He determined the great collection of maps he designed, Museo di 5toria della Scienza, Horence; to tran.~form cartography, which was engraved, and published during the later it is unusual because it has a double- vital for the exploration of the world part of his life. The entire collection was sided map plateL This has a North that followed the di.,,coverit.'s of Christo- published by his .,~n Rumold in the year polar projection on one side reaching to the Tropic of Capricorn, while the other side is a South polar projection to the Tropic of Capricorn only. The engraving characteristics found on this plate are markedly similar to ~me products of the Mercator workshop. Not only that, but a critical examina- tion of the rest of the instrument showed that, apart from one latitude plate, the remainder is m(rst likely to be in the hand of Gerard Mercator himself. The odd latitude plate, made for the latitude of Florence, is from the work- shop of Giovan Battista Giusti. It can be shown that Giusti made the astrolabes commonly associated with Egnazio Danti (1536-1586), cosmographer to Duke Cosimo II of Florence." Danti published his Trattato dell'uso et della fabbrica dell'Astrolabio at Horence in 1569, the same year that Cosimo (1519-1574) was created Grand Duke of Tu~any on 27 August by the Pope in Rome. It is likely, therefore, that the Horence Mercator astrolabe was bought for the t~'casion.

While the Florence instrument was being studied, two more astrolabes were identified as closely similar) On the evidence supplied by examination of all three astrolabt~, and by compari~m with astrolabes and maps of contemporary craftsmen, only the Mercator workshop could have produced these instruments.

Fig.2 I~tt1~ a,tr(Jla/,c It 4o¢J8. Ah,tl~,,rmpl t:igl (,'r, lrd Mercator, 1574, .fn,m his Tabulae (.,t~,graphicae CI. Ptolemaei, 1584. GMR = Genlrdus Mercator Rupehnund,1- /L'i,llrtt',t/ I.htl~,cr~ttctt~l,ibli,,th,'ek. l.eiden.; 1114~.

IO Bulletin of the Scientific Instrument ~ciety No. 43 (1~4) . ,- •

Fig.3 Florence astrolabe IC 490. Front. Fig.4 Florence astrolabe IC 490. Back.

The astrolabe in Augsburg is of exactly Mater. The mater of the Flonmce astrolabe have engraved on them a quadrature the same size as that in Florence, and the is engraved with projections for the nauticum, or diagram of the wind engraved information on the back is latitudes of 90 North and O. Also directions. On the Augsburg instrument identical. The Bmo astrolabe is slightly engraved are the tun)equal hours for the sides are labelled Lon~itudt) mint)r; smaller, and it is signed with a mono- latitude 0 (twenty-four hours) and the Lon$itudo major; Latitudo meridiana; Lati- gram. This is located on the bottom edge asmdogical houses (numbering twelve). tudo ~eptentrionalis. Superimp(r-Jed are 32 below the hour symbol 12 on the limb, The maters of the other two astrolabes radial lines each labelled in Dutch with and reads 'GMR', standing for: Gerardus Mercator Rupelmundanus (Fig.2). Gerard Mercator was born at Rupeimonde, and Table 1 The key infonmaion on the tluce astrolabes. Meuutemea~ m millimetret referred to himself by this style on his productions from 15,367 Location Florence Au~rg Bmo IC number 490 4609 4608 The ~ dmagaxl Inventory no. 1098 3537 24-385 Signature no no GMR The astrolabes are made of brass, with Diameter 316 317 278 the Florence example gilded (Figs 3 and Plates, latitude 5 1 1 4). Associated with this are five original Plate, latitude, extra 1 - - latitude plates, and a further one made in Plate, map 1 - - Florence in about 1570. A seventh plate is Plate diameter 293 293 258 engraved with pro~ctions of the Earth Star pointers 50 50 48 from the North and South Poles. The Stars named 42 42 40 other two astrolabes each have a single Ecliptic diameter 202 202 177 latitude plate. In all three of the 1st point Aries 10.3 10.2 10.3 astrolabes the mater can accept only one Limb width 11.4 12 9.5 plate at a time. thickness 6.2 5.3 6 Alidede length 316 317 276 Limb. The limbs on all three astrolabes are width 15 13 7 to 5 divided in degrees, marked, from the top, thickness 3.5 4 3.5 90°-10 " in each quadrant (zero degrees Rule length 316 317 278 are not marked). Inside the degree scale width 13 15 12.4 is one for 24 hours, engraved 1-12 twice. thickness 4.2 3.4 3.5 The Brno limb has the degree scale inside the hour scale. (Fig.5) Table 1. The key information on the three astrolabes.

Bulletin of the Scientific lmtmment Society No. 43 (1994) 17 (-

:1 t! ,.

Fig.5 Brno astrolabe IC 4008. Front. Fig.6 Brno astrolabe IC 4608. Back. the wind directions. The Brno mater is the astrolabe. Because the instrument The Florence astrolabe's maps are en- similar to Augsburg, but rotated through was to be used in Florence, a plate for graved on a copper disc, the land mass 180 ; the winds are not named except for 43 was made by a craftsman of the ci.ty, and decorative elements are gilded, while the cardinal points. Giovan Battista Giusti.~ The fabrication of the seas are left as copper. This has this plate, although skilled, is not to the blackened through long contact with the Back. The backs of both the Florence and same very high standard as the rest. The atmosphere. One side is a North polar Augsburg instruments are identical, with maters of all three astrolabes can prolection to the Tropic of Capricorn, a shadow square in the lower semicircle, accommodate but one plate at a time, while the other side is a South polar and in the upper left quadrant a diagram contrary to the usual practice. This makes projection cut off at the Tropic of for conversions between equal and for a better fit, and it may explain why Capricorn. This side has more space for unequal hours (also called planetary or the other two instruments have just the engravings of monsters and sailing ships. temporary hours) based on the times of one plate with them; any others could On both sides the outer rim is divided sunrise and sunset; the right quadrant is have been lost over the centuries. The into degrees, marked every five from 5 blank. On the Brno astrolabe (Fig.6) this Brno plate has a projection for the to 360. The prime meridian runs through quadrant is not blank, being filled with a latitude of 49, unlike the others. This is the Azores, a few degrees West of the diagram for measuring time in unequal backed by a prolection for 51", so giving a Canaries, and through the magnetic pole, hours based on the Sun's altitude; the left deliberate 2 difference; the others are at Polus Magnetis, at longitude 180' and quadrant has its hour conversion dia- 3 intervals, normal for the climates and latitude c. 74. The meridians and the gram like the other two, but it is a mirror their extensions. Augsburg has one plate parallels are engraved for every lff. The image and turned through 90. In other for 45 /48, which matches one of the longitude scale is on the outer rim, respects it is the same as the others. Florence plates. Brno does not match any marked by punched numbers every five Around the edges of all three are divided in the Florence set, and, by inference, degrees from 5 ° to 360 °. The latitude scale scales for degr~, the zodiac, and the Augsburg. The 2 latitude range covers is along the prime meridian and is calendar. The calendar is eccentric with the region from Antwerp (modern value marked every ten degrees from lO~ to respect to the zodiac. 51 13') to Paris (48 50'). 90'. Both sides of the plate show the polar circles, Circulus Arcticus and Plates. The original plates with the A remarkable feature on the Florence Circulus Antarcticus, the equator, Circu- Florence instrument are engraved for plates is the burnishing of the gilding in lus Aequinoctialis, and the two tropics, latitudes every 3 between 36 and 60, alternate segments of the unequal hours Tropicus Cancri and Tropicus Capricorni. and cme has a tablet of horizons. These, and on some other parts. Such a and the latitude plates on the other two decorative conceit has been remarked Rete. The retes are in the 'tulip' strap- astrolabes, are each engraved with on only one other astrolabe (also Flem- work pattern typical of the Flemish almucantars at 2 intervals, and azi- ish), and means that the instrument came astrolabes of the sixteenth century. The muths at 5. The sixth plate is made for from a first-classworkshop, and that it Florence fete has some extra flourishes the latitude of Florence, 43, and it is not was probably made for a notable within the ecliptic circle, otherwise it is from the same workshop as the rest of customer. the same as Augsburg. Both have

18 Bulletinof the Scientific~t Society No. 43 (1994) a b

c d

Fig.7. The rete patterns of the three Mercator astrolabes and one Gemini astrolabe. (a) Thomas Gemini, 1559, Florence (IC 489): {b) Gerard Mercator, c.1545, Brno (IC 4608); (c) Gerard Mercator, c.1570, Florence (IC 490); (d) Gerard Mercator, c.1570, Aucsburg (IC 4609).

Bulletin of the Scientific Instrument Society No. 43 (19~) 19 pointers for 50 stars; Brno has Fn~inters (originally Lambert, Lambrit, or Lam- dividing the day and night periods each for 48 stars." The Brno rete is not brechts), was bom in eastern Flanders at into 12 hours, which become equal to identical to the other two; it bears a Lixhe (Lieze) in about 1510. He died in each other only at the equinoxes. Clocks closer resemblance to the retes of hnu:h~n in June 1562. He had migrated to keep equal hours, but many sundials, Thomas Gemini, a Flemish engraver, Blackfriars, Lond~n, in around 1540, and from Roman times into the seventeenth working in h~ndon from about 1540 to set up as an engraver, printer, and century, are constructed to read unequal 1562." The retes on both the Florence instrument maker. Gemini is known hours. The diagram of unequal hours and and Augsburg astrolabes bear the chiefly for his edition of Versalius' its approximate readings, except at names of the same 42 stars or groups Fabrica that he published in London in sunrise, noon, and sunset, is fully of stars. The Brno instrument has 31 1545 with the title Compendh~sa totius analyzed mathematically by Dr Archi- stars in common with those engraved anah~mie delineatio. For this he received a nard.I° The horary quadrant that appears on the Florence and Augsburg instru- pension from King Henry VIII. In 1555, on the upper right of the Brno astrolabe ments with the same names. Of the he published maps of Spain and of occurs in the medieval period, and it is remaining, I is not named, but is in the England, and in the same year published inherently inaccurate, getting much correct position for l~nx septemtrionalis Leonard Digges's Pral~nostication of R(~(ht worse as the user moves to higher (i~ Lib); 3 stars are common, hut have Ca~d Effect. What is important about latitudes (e.g.,above 30"). Mercator chose different names; I has the same name, Thomas Gemini (the name he assumed to leave a blank space on his masterpiece but refers to a different star (t Cet). in his Lond<~n period) in the present and its close kin, so the presence of the Additionally, the Brno rete has 5 stars context is the similarity between his style diagram on the Brno astrolabe points to that are completely lacking on the and that of Gerard Mercator. Gemini was an earlierperiod in Mercator's life. others. Also two stars are in the wrong a highly skilled engraver, and his position through simple errors in calligraphy owes everything to that Astrolabes at Florence and Augsburg calculation, for example a Declination exFn~unded and taught by Gerard Mer- of -6 instead of +6, and -7 instead of cator. There are several independent pieces of -17. evidence that, taken together, focus a Thomas and Gerard, being much the date for two of the astrolabes to quite a Throne. The thnnms on all three astro- same age, may have trained together in narrow span of years. The sheer con- labes are the same: they are formed by a the workshop of Gaspar van der Heyden, trolled skill of the engraver's hand, and bar attached to the limb and supported a goldsmith of Louvain, who produced so many characteristic letter forms, point by two S-shaped brackets with elaborate in 15.36, with the cooperation of Mercator, to Gerard Mercator's second period, decoration. The rung at the top swivels a globe for Gemma Frisius. Mercator which was at Duisburg. The style has above a bracket that moves in a shackle acquired tools in 1540, and from then settled down by the time of the celestial left or right. The boss is foliate on the on worked at Louvain independently of globe (1551), and found its great expres- Florence instrument and plain on the Van der Heyden and Gemma Frisius. sion with the world map of 1569. others. The pendant attached to the ring This is also about the time that Thomas has a grotesque face on either side. The Gemini is thought to have left Flanders The map plate does not appear to be in face and brackets are cast from the same for London. During the 1540s, Mercator the hand of Gerard, and a case has been mould; the brackets seem to be stylised is known to have made mathematical put forward that this was engraved by dolphins, a sea mammal whose form has instruments, and the group of instru- the second son, Rumold." He was born had a perennial appeal in all manner of ments made for the Holy Roman c.1546, and by 1565, at the beginning of decoration. The dolphin is found as a Emperor Charles V points to his high his twenties, be would have been mature support in architectural features such as reputation and skill. It must be stressed enough to produce the map plate.This is the corbel or bracket. that the style and quality of the work by the period in the run-up to the publica- Thomas Gemini is such that he could tion of the world map, when Gerard Mom~ram. On the Bmo astrolabe, the have learned it only at Louvain before his would have needed additional help monogram 'GMR' has the G engraved in London period. because of the volume of work. From the way that is very typical of Gerard the evidence of his own signed map of Mercator. The capital G is formed by For Mercator, the decade began with his the world published in 1587, Rumold cutting the semicircle first, followed by terrestrial globe (1541) and ended with was highly skilled,and his hand seems to the vertical stroke, which leaves part of his celestial globe (1551). During this match that of the map plate'sengraver. the circle protruding to the right below period his calligraphy settled down into the verticalstroke. If this is an early piece, the style he kept through the rest of his The role of Egnazio Danti in Florence is one of the first astrolabes made by life, which was spent in Duisburg from almost certainly an important reason for Gerard, then it might well have con- 1552. A careful scrutiny of the gores that the presence there of a Mercator astro- rained errors that he was not proud of. form these two globes prompts the labe. He was appointed Cosmographer Since it was usable to one who was impression that the engraving on the to Duke Cosimo II in 1562, and designed aware of its faults,he put his initialson it Brno astrolabe resembles more the globe a globe and 29 wall maps between 1564 in order to mark it as not for sale: purely of 1541 than it does that of 1551." and 1575 for the Guardaroba in the personal to him. Palazzo Vecchio. In 1569 he published a The Horary Quadrant treatise on the astrolabe. Cosimo de'Me- When were the astrolabes made? did came to power in 1537. With skill, The back of the Brno astrolabe has two luck, and force of arms he was created Ez,idence from the Rete Pattern horary diagrams, the upper left is for the first Grand Duke of Tuscany on 27 conversion between equal and unequal August 1569. He was now 50, and his As has been pointed out, the rete patterns hours, and the upper right (blank on Cosmographer, whose Trattato on the of the Florence and Augsburg astrolabes Florence and Augsburg astrolabes) is for astrolabe had just been published with are the same. The Brno rete,however, has finding the time in unequal hours from a dedication to Cosimo showing the six a closer kinship with two astrolabe retes the Sun's altitude. For equal hours the balls of the Medici over a globe of the made by ]homas Gemini of London that day/night period is divided into 24 equal Earth, was 33 years old. Clearly in great are dated 1559 (Fig.7)."Thomas Gemini hours. Unequal hours are formed by favour, Danti was, in 1571, granted

20 Bulletinof the ScientificInstrument Society No. 43 (1994) permission to live in the Palazzo Vecchio. retes cut by Thomas Gemini, who left attributedto Gerard Mercator,c.1570', Annals Unfortunately for Danti, Cosimo died on Louvain for London in about 1540, than of Scm~ce, 50 (1993),pp. 403-443. This paper 21 April 1574, and was succeeded as it has to the other two Mercator will be referred to subsequently as Turner and Grand Duke by his son Francesco (1541- astrolabes. Then there is the choice of Dekker. istituto • Museo di Storia della 1587), who disliked Danti and summarily stars and star names on the rete, which Scienza, Florence, invent(ny no. 1098. Interna- tional Checklist [hereafter IC] no. 490. Sharon dismissed him on 28 September 1575. has a number of layout mistakes in its L. Gibbs, Janice A. Henderson, and Derek de construction. The unequal hour diagram Solla A Checklist of Astr~ Danti's presence in Florence between Price, Computerized in a quadrant leftblank on the other two labes (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University 1562 and 1575 introduced the court to instruments is yet another pointer to an Department of the History of Science, 1973). cosmography, and one would expect to earlier date. It is not an accurate device, find here the reason for a copy of and if the unequal hour is required, then 2. Turnerand Dekker, Section3. Mercator's world map to have been it is much better to take the reading on purchased at Antwerp on 1 November the astrolabe of the equal hour and then 3. Stitdtische Kunstsammlungen, Augsburg, 1569 for delivery to Florence. Although convert by means of the diagram Germany, inv. no.3537 (IC 460% Mocavsk~ the local craftsmen were reasonably engraved on the left-hand quadrant that Calerie, Bmo, Czech Republic, inv. no. 24-385 competent, they were no match for the (IC 4608). All the astrolabes are described in is to be found on all three of Mercator's G.UE. Turner, 'The Three Astrolabes 04 Gerard renowned cartographic and craft centre. astrolabes. Fianders. At the time of the crowning of Mercator', Annals of Scwnce, 51 (1994), pp. 329- 353. the first Grand Duke of Tuscany in 1569, The star positionson all three astrolabes what would be more appropriate than to can be shown to be according to the new 4. Gerard gremer had Latinized his name to acquire from the world's finest astrolabe theory of Copernicus published in 1543, Mercator by the time he enrolled at the maker an example of his art? After all, and which reached Gemma Frisius in university of Louvain on 29 August 1530. See Gerard Mercator had made mathematical Louvain quite rapidly. This gives a lower R.W. Karrow, Jr, Mapn~,rs of the Sixteenth instruments for the Holy Roman Emper- limit of about 1545 for the Brno astrolabe. Century and their Maps (Chicago, 1993), p. 276. or himself, and Cosimo was rising in the Karrow provides a full listing of Mercator's courtly circles of Europe. It is the calligraphy that points strongly cartographic output, starting with the terres- trial globe he engraved for Gemma Frisius to a date during the 154Os for the Bmo c.1536, pp. 376-406. All things considered, the date of circa astrolabe, and various other features do 1570 seems to fit this astrolabe of Gerard not contradict this proposal. If correct, 5. See G.UE. Turner, 'The Florentine Work- Mercator and his Duisburg workshop. then the Bmo astrolabe was made in shop of Giovan Battista Giusti, 1556-c.1575', The Augsburg astrolabe is the same size Mercator's Louvain workshop during the Nuncius: Annali di Storia della Scwnza, 10, pt. ! and has the same back as the Florence period 1545 to 1550, while the astrolabes (1995), in press. instrument, has the same star names, but now at Florence and Augsburg were differs in having a less elaborate fete and made in the Duisburg workshop around 6. The stars are listed in Turner and Dekke¢, it is not gilded. Another common feature 1570. pp. 438-439, and in Turner, 'The Three is in the sizes of the alidades and rules, Astrolabes', p.344. and it is tempting to believe that these act o k.d m parts were made at the same time. The 7. For Thomas C,emmi, see C.D O'Malley in weight of evidence means that a date D~t~,~ry of $cu,ntific Bk~rapky, vol.5 (New i have pleasure m acknowledging my York, 1972), pp. 347-349. near 1570 is also reasonable for the indebtedness to my co-author of a Augsburg astrolabe. previous paper, Dr Eily Dekker. 1 am 8. Museum of the History of Science, also grateful for the co-operation of the Oxka'd, dated 1559, and dedicated to Queen The Astrolabe at Brno directors and curators of the museums Elizabeth of England, inv. no. 36-6 (IC 575); holding the Mercator astrolabes: Profes- istituto e Museo di Storia della Scienza, The Bmo astrolabe was most probably sor Paolo Galluzzi, and Dr Mara Miniati, ~, dated 155 [last numeral omated], made earlier than the others. The of the lstituto e Museo di Storia della inv. no. 1093 (IC 489). calligraphy is slightly different, sugges- Scienza, Florence; Dr Renate Eikeimann, tive of an earlier date. If one examines the Maximilian Museum, St~dtische Kunst- 9. See the repmductmm from originals m the Bibliotheque royale at Brussels, Lrs Sph~es style of the engraved letters and numbers sammlungen, Augsburg; Dr K. on Mercator's globes of 1541 and 1551, terrestre & c~leste de C,~rd Mercator 1541 et Hole~ovsk~, Moravsk~ Galerie v Brn~, 1551 (Brussels, 1968), Preface by A. de Smet. one readily sees many small variations in Brno, Czech Republic. the layout of the letters, and the 10. Margarida Ardm~rd, 'The Diagram of decorative flourishes, which are more Notes Unequal Hours', Annals of Scwnce, 47 (1990), pronounced in the earlier globe and on pp. 173-190. the Brno astrolabe. The pattern of the 1. This astrolabe is fully described in Gerard Bmo fete has a greater similarity to the UE. Turner and Elly Dekker, 'An Astrolabe 11. Tmne¢ and Dekker, p. 430, Sectkm 6.2.

BuUetinoftheSctenttf~lmmm~tSociety No. 43 (19~) 21 The Origin of the Everest Theodolite

Jane lnsley

C;tx)rge E~ ert.'st (17th)-II'k~) ' became head had carried out emergency repairs to it in 'Simms'), another three foot theodolite of the Great ]rigonometrical Su~ev of the field, it was no longer very .~tisfac- now in Calcutta, and other instruments. India on the death of his predtxes~,r Sir tory fi~r the accurate work that was tie hijacked two ~'ts of compensation William [ambton in 1823 (Fig.l). The rtxluired by the Survey. bars fl)r ba~qine measurements which instruments available to the Survey had been ordered by the Bengal Engi- includtx| the third of the great three h~t Fver¢,'~t was invalided back to Britain in neers, on the grounds that trigonome- thmx|olltes to be made (a copy of the 1825, .~ ill he was not exl~-ted to live. trical survey was in greater need of the original Ramsden d~.~ign by L'a~'), a Happily he survived, and took the degree of accuracy they provided than battert~! zenith ,,~'ctor. and other pieces opl~rtunity to join the Royal ~cietv, tol~dogical sur~,ey or revenue work, and in various stat¢~ of repair. In the court, of and to follow up ~ientifi'c contacts, that six bars could be u..~d more than the the~xh,lite's career in India, it had familiarising him.~,lf with the work of twice as fast as two sets of three. And he been damaged more than once, but its the Ordnance Survey, particularly in al.,~ devi.,,~d a small revenue thex)dolite? mt~st spectacular accident occurrod dur- Ireland, and invt.-,tigating the London ing an attempt to haul it to the top of a workshops with a view to bringing the I have devoted .,~,me consideration to the pagt~a for trigonometrical ob~,r~'ations. equipment of the Survey of India up-to- impnwement of the common theodolite which A restraining n~pe broke, allowing the date.: He received funds from the Court are ~th more cumbersome and expensive ca~ to crash against the wall. defl~rming of Directors for two astronomical circles than they need be and after frequent examina- tion of all the best devices ! could meet with in the horizontal circle. Although Lambton (one nicknamlxl 'Troughton', the other the [shops I of the various makers in lamdon Mr Simms has at my suggestion designed an instrument which contains all the useful parts of the old constructkm and is cheaper by line fourth. I beg to suggest the propriety of keeping one of the 7 indented for at the India House as a mt~el and sending two to each of the Presidencies.

]'he model has only 5 inch diameter but the principle is so perfectly applicable to all instruments fl)r secondary triangles that I should respectfully recommend the propriety of adopting this as the Honorable East India Companys [sic] furm for all small thet~olites not exceeding 12 inches diameter and

MA!V!.L. & POLY.~I,A,~IPT 1 ~) N')ON Fig. I Portnut of Sir Ge0rxe Eperest. carte &. t,isite by Maul/and I't,hd,hmk, tak,'n m hts later years This is the m,~t hkely s,urce h,r Fig.2 Examph"of an ER'n~t theod,,lite, This is signed Troughton .ub~cquent l~,rtratt~ in other media, u,hic'h have themselves I~'en and Simms, and is in the Schmce Mum'urn, Lamd0n, where it/ms r,'t,n ~h.cd im,entorv number 1929-936. Re/,r,~h,,,'d bit/,,'rmis.i,,n ,g th,' Royal G,.(,,~ral,hical S,,(i,'ty. Credit: J'he Sciem'e Mu~'um/Sch'nce and S,~'iety Picture Libra..

22 Bulletin of the ~cx'ientificInstrument ~K:iety No. 43 (19°,4) and Zambra were advertising the type in five sizes (Fig.3). These had horizontal circles of 4,5,6,7 and l0 inches diameter, and cost ~m £22 to £6,3 inclusive of tripod. The last two could be read to l0 .seconds of arc, but instruments more finely divided were al~ available for a further payment of 21 shillings.

Acknowledgments

My thanks go to Anita and Ali.~m, without wh(~e constructive bullying I would never have written this, and to David Exton, of the Science Mumum Photographic Studio for help above and beyond the call of duty.

Notes, References and Further Reading

1. For ma)re details of Everest's career, see Col Sir Georce E~erest, CB, FRS ¢1790-1806L 19~}, ISBN 0-8r-~400-478-8,the prt~.'eedingsof a birth bicentenary ctmterence held at the Royal Geographical ~ciety, L~mch~n on 8 November 1990. A hill-scale biography by J.R Smith is in press.

For further details of the work of the Survey ~ India, see H.R. Phillimore's monumental Historical Re~x,rds of the Survey of India, m five volumes from 1950 to 19~. 1"he fourth volume ctrvers the Everest years. Phillima~re wn~e his history from the records of the Survey of India Fig.3 Line drau,iny( of an Everest theodolite, taken fwm Nocretti and Zambra's held at the time in Dehra Dun; these kave r~w Encyclopaedic Illustrated and Descriptive Catalogue ... Revi~d and corrected editu,n, been moved to the Nats~mal Archives m Delhi. of around 1885, pa~e 285, F(c,u~ 1114. Credit: The Science Museum~Science and Society Picture Libra,. 2. The papers and corresptmdence cosenng Everest's hve years in Eurt~e ~,m 1825 to 1830 are held together at the India Office all preserving on future occasions the strictest was organised. The bulk of his recom- Library in L~mdtm. I remain deeply indebted unifl,rmay. mendations to the Honorable Court of to Pn~fes.~r Matthew Edney for bnngtng these Directors of the East India Company was to my attention. The full reference is India In later writings, Everest was vague on summarised in a 70 paragraph memoir Office Library and Records, L/MII./5, 402, the subject of the exact date when this dated October 21 1829, and the most Collection 205. t(~k place, but the minute quoted above likely date for devising the pattern would is dated 4 February 18,30. The bulk of the be during the autumn of 1829. 3. LIMIL/5, 402, collecta,n 205, folios 4,~ instrument making and testing took 464, paragraphs 12 and 13. place in 1829. In July of that year, Everest The pattern (Fig.2) was hugely success- went on an extended tour of Ireland, to ful. The main features were a single pillar Author's address: visit Colonel Colby (the inventor of the to carry the telescope support, and a Science Museum compensation bars) and to see for himself vertical circle cut into two segments. South Kensmc, ton how the triangulation of Great Britain Even as late as the mid 1880s, Negretti London SW7 2DD

Bulletin of the ScientificInstrument Society No. 43 (1904) 23 Facsimile File A Modem Planetarium and Orrery Peter Grimwood

In Bulletin No. 34, Mr. John Millburn wrote an article on the 'Nomenclature of Astronomical Models'. As a result [ received a request from a colleague to cut a set of gears for a repnduction double cone planetarium, and this in turn prompted me to design and build a planetarium for myself. This was not T to be a copy, but would have some of the stylistic features of models of the 1780s.

Fig.l shows the finished pn~uct. All the gears are of brass, and the 150ram _ ~lr" diameter top plate has been engraved, wax filled and silvered in the manner of a long-case clock chapter ring. The planets are represented by various semi-precious stones, the moon by a silver ball, and the sun by a gilded hollow copper sphere. The central collars that support the planets are a light friction fit, and can Fig.1 Completed instrument. be easily set to any pre-determined position. A setting card has been produced (for March 21st, 1992) and from this position 2~ turns of the handle advances the model by one terrestrial year. Gearing is by a modified double cone arrangement (Fig.2) whereby an 'intermediate' stack of gears is intro- duced. This avoids using small tooth numbers in the Saturn and Jupiter trains. To make the design more compact, the gear train was 'folded round' until the three axes formed an equilateral triangle I (Fig.3). This just about worked, but did involve some judicious 'designing on the move'.

Gear ratios are as shown in Table 1, as are the respective cumulative errors. The 'worst' ratio, for Mars, will be improved in the next planetarium by using the ratios shown at the bottom of Table I. Also the next top plate will include the months as well as the Zodiac signs. Fig.2 Driving gears, all rotating together, internu,diate gears and output gears.

Well before the planetarium was corn-

Table I ] a~

Ratio, Input Turns Cumulative error, Arc- Output Turns Min/Yea

Satum 103/16x64/14=29428 20.6 Jupiter 83/16x48/21=11.857 ~. Mars 50/10x18/48=1.875 Earth 40/20x20/40 Venus 32/28x,?.8/ 52=0.6154 6.83 Mercury 40/34xl 7/83=0.24096 11.91

"The next planetarium will have ...

Mars 79/21x21/42=1.88095 10.91 Fig.3 Gear train forming an equilateral triangle.

24 BuUetinoitheScientific~tSociety No. 43 (1994) Fig.5 Close-up of orrery, h~p plate removc,t to sh~,~e l~'ap Year Mechanism.

Fig.4 Completed orrery: Earth and Moon of hollow sihcr spheres.

f) ..... f3 lIIil IIIil] lIIIIllIIII m " 20 U llIlllllIIlll 111

U ~15

Fig.6 Rotatation of Earth. (Siderial year). Ret,olutions/Year=185/39x165f15x98/14=365.256 days. (Actual, 365.256). Fig.7 Rotation of Moon. (1 Lunar Month). Synodic Retsdutions= 185/39x16M15x20/48x32/40 x32/45= 12.36847/Yr. Giving a mean perit¢l of 29.531 da~. (Actual 29.5306L pleted, designs were being produced for The civil calendar. pie behind the gear trains that kt~-T the an orrery showing all the major motions The leap year cycle. Earth's axis fixed in space, the Ml~m's of the Sun-Earth-Moon system. By the shadow opposite the Sun, and the time 'design fatigue' had set in, eleven A star map (for midnight) [or the date calendar nng orientation as the orrerv features were planned to be demon- shown. rotates about the centre-line of the stand strafed: Figures 4 and 5 show two views of the Fig.10 shows the operation of the completed orrery, with the Earth and calendar corrector and leap year indica- The rotation of the Earth around the Moon represented by hollow silver tion. The top plate is pivoted at it's Sun. spheres. The 21mm diameter Earth centre, and is held in positi,m (from shows the equator, tropics, arctic and below) by pin A. As each year ends, the Earth's axis 'fixed' in space. antarctic circles, and the Greenwich top plate is 'jumped' on bv I/4 day to Earth's rotation about it'sown axis. Meridian; whilst the M(~n's surface is svnchroni~ the ,~dar and "civil years. The rotation of the Moon about the depicted by a styli,~edengraved face. The l~ach leap year the plate 'jumps' back by Earth, on a plane inclined to the 200m diameter top plate is engraved, one full day to repeat February 28th. ecliptic. waxed and silvered, and below it the The rotation of the Moon on it's axis. 'stars' are silver alloy set in a blued steel Many things have been learnt during the disk. prt~uction of these two devices, not least The phases of the M~a~n (viewed from that it always takes longer than you Earth). The three main gear trains are shown in think. At the time of writing, three The retrograde motion of the n(~les of Figs. 6, 7 and 8, and their action is quite proiects are running in parallel; an the Moon's orbit. straightforward. Fig.9 shows the princi- improved planetarium, a 'pr~'e~i~m of

Bulletin of the ScientificInstrument ~ciety No. 4.3 (1994) 25 ''"mm'Illllll H...... III [['J[II ...... I,IHIII--

L "if a

Fig.8 Retrograde Motion o/Moon's Nodes. Fig.9 Gears A and B are mounted on an arm that rotates about the (The Earth's axis is kept ftred in space by the two 56 teeth gears, centre o/ a fixed gear C. The orientation o/gears A and C remains connected by an add number of idler gears). constant as the arm rotates. When gear 56" rotates once, gear 48 (carrying the nodes) rotates 28/31 • 56/48=1.05376 times. Giving 365.256/1.05376-1 =6793.8 days~revolution of nodes. (Actual 6793.5).

I D BAA, The Handbook of the British Astronomical Association (London, 1994). I fi e F H.C. King and J.R. Millbum, Geared to the Stars. The Evolution of Planetariums, Orreries and Astronomical Clocks (Brbtol, 1978).

J.R. Miilbum, Wheelwright of the Heavens (London: Vade-Mecum Pr~, 1988).

O. Mortem~, lens Olsen's Clock (Colx.nhaSm Technological Institute, 1957).

'Low' H. SpencerJones, Genera/Astronomy(London: tooth Edward Arnold, 1934). Author's Address: La Chaumiere Vicarage Road Beichamp Otton Sudbury Suffolk COIO 7BW

Fig.10 Mechanism shown at Dec 30th in year 1 o/ cycle. On Dec 31st, pin D rotates the star wheel by 1/5 turn, also cam E (causing the lop plate to move on by 1/4 day) and gear B. Gear C rotates 4/5 turn, indexing the Geneva mechanism, and advancing the pointer to year 2. In leap years, pin F catches the 'Low" tooth on Feb 28th. This rotates the cam E, and pin A drops from sector 4 to sector 5, causing the top plate to "leap"back one day. and repeat Feb 28th. During this particular movement the Geneva mechanism "finger' moves from X to Y, and does nor move the year pointer. the equinoxes' demonstrator, and a grand Notes and references orrery with the planets and their satellites 'out to Saturn'. C.W. Allen, Astrophysical Quantities. 3rd ed. Acimowledsemenls (University of London Athlone Press, 1973).

! would like to thank Mr. J.R. Millburn G.H BaiUie,H.A. Lloyd and F.A.B. Ward, for his help and encouragement during Planetarium of G/ovanni De Dondi (London: these prom~. A.HS., 1974).

26 BuiletinoftheScientir~lmaxumntSoc~ No. 43 (1994) Photo Opportunity Sir Francis Ronalds' Electric Observatory Willem Hackmann

its four radiating arms) is undoubtedly the same as that of the Kew electric observatory - Airy's competitor in the study of atmospheric electricity and terrestrial magnetism (Fig. 2). This was situated in the old Kew Observatory established by Stephen Demainbray in a substantial building erected in the old Deer Park (Richmond) for George III in about 1768. Ronalds obtained funding for his observatory in 1843 from the British Association for the Advancement of

The electric observatory was situated in the small wooden equitorial building on the fiat roof. A hole in the dome was cut for the copper conductor, which termi- nated in the brass arrangement on a strong circular support. The instruments and observations are described in great This remarkable photograph appears to instruments in situ in an observatory. detail in a series of published reports of give us a rare glimpse of the interior of This is reinforced by the observation that the annual meetings of the BA from 1844 until 1851.* The photograph depicts nine Sir Francis Ronaids' 'electric observatory" the central support is not screwed down; at Kew for the study of atmospheric its circular ring of holes are devoid of electrometers - all easily identifiable once their source had been established: a electricity. On the photograph is written screws! Pro~cting from support is this Henley electrometer of improved Volta in a fine copper-plate hand: 'Invented by the brass tube to which was connected an F. Ronalds Esq r and Manufactured by J. design (pro~g from the top of the arrangement which terminated in a sharp furthest arm); three gold-leaf electro- Newman 122 Regent S t London'. The conductor on the observatory roof, and original waxed paper negative from scopes with prominent "earthing plates' which communicated the atmospheric (on l/h side and not connected to the which this photograph was taken about electricity to the assorted devices below. (furthest fifteen years ago is in the Lacock Abbey Initially I thought that this was a mock- arms); Ronalds' 'distinguisher' collection (inv. no. LA 3199), devoted up of the electrical instruments in the I/h instrument) which is in essence a gold-leaf electroscope with small Leyden mainly to the work of the pioneer ante-room of Sir George Airy's 'Magn~ jar in neck which keeps the gold photographer William Henry Fox Talbot House', a small wooden structure enected leaves at (1800-77). However the suggestion by in the grounds of the Royal Observatory negative potential so that the atmo- charge could be determined by photograph historians Larry Schaaf at Greenwich in 1837-8, and demolished spheric the collapse (+) or separation (-) of the (Baltimore) and John Ward (Science in 1917) However, the arrangement of leaves; a spark electrometer (extreme r/h Museum, London) that this image is not the central conductor and instruments as instrument) which Ronalds calls his in Talbot's style,but perhaps in that of his depicted in Jabez Hogg's Elements of protcSg~, the Dutchman Nicolaas Henne- 'discharger' as it also acts as a 'safety Experimental and Natural Philosophy valve' when the charges are getting too man has led to an interesting story. (London, 1853), is different from this photograph. great on the conductor; two of Ronalds' lantern-type straw electroscopes (con- Henneman agreed to rent part of 122 nected to the same conductor at the Regent Street from the instrument maker The Royal Observatory arrangement front of the picture); and a modified John Newman in December 1846, after (Fig. 1) consisted of an upper horizontal Coulomb balance (I/h side between two the failure of Talbot's photographic arm of glass kept dry by lanterns, and electroscopes). The two lantern electro- studio in Reading, and there is relevant below this a larger copper tube from meter were calibrated in such a way that correspondence between them Lacock at which sliding electrodes communicate one was five times more sensitive than Abbey. He started his operations some with the various electrical instruments. the other. The limb projecting from each time in the spring of 1847, but the These consisted of two Bohnenberger instrument supports a lens for more business closed in 1856 after it had been gold-leaf electroscopes of differing sensi- accurate reading of the scales.' One such losing money for some time. ~ Talbot had tivity with their characteristic dry piles, a an instrument has survived in the Science supported Henneman financially and spark-electrometer, a sensitive astatic Museum, inv. no. 1957-106, but is now so technically throughout the Regent Street galvanometer, and two straw electra damaged that it cannot be ascertained venture and when this failed some of meters typically used in atmospheric whether it incorporated Ronalds's knife- Henneman's material found its way to observations. These are of the lantern edge suspension. Not shown on the Lacock Abbey. 2 type described by Francis Ronalds (1788- photograph is the 'electrograph', a 1857) in 1843.' clock-work driven charged shellac disc The instruments in this photograph are on which the hourly variation of the carefully arranged on a black cloth on Initially it was not easy to identify the atmospheric charge was shown by means what appears to be the top of a table, and instruments in the photograph, but the of Lichtenberg figures, a Peltier elects- probably against a back drop. This general arrangement (in particular the meter, and a sensitive galvanometer by would suggest a studio shot, rather than characteristic brass pedestal support with Gourjon.

Bulletin of the Scientif~ Instrument Society No. 43 (Iq94) 27 3. For a rare Pht~ograph, see Derek Howse, Greenwich Observah~ry (I.xmdon: Taylor and Francis, 1975), vol. 3, Fig. 112. I F" 4. Howe's history (previous note) makes no "t reference to these electrometers. They are not t~ listed in his Appendix 11 of the principal magnetic and mettq)rological instruments tt~d at Greenwich and Abinger, pp 154-160.

5. He formally retired from his honorary directorship of Kew C}bservatory in 1852, and received a pension from the civil li~. The Kew Committee continues reporting in the Reports of the BAAS until 1871 when they publish an inventory dated May 1870 of the instruments at Kew (pp. lxi-lxvii). Ronalds' electrometers may well have been in disrepair by now. This episode deserves further investigation.

6. In the Reports for 1844, pp. 120-142, esp pp. 120-126 and Pls 30-32; for 1846 in k ,- t 'Transactions of Sections', pp. I0-II; for lINg, I/ pp. 8087; for 1850, pp. 176-192; for 1851, pp. Fig.l The electric obser~att~rV in the ante- 335-369, esp. pp. 336-341 and PL 18. The Report room of the "Magnet House"of the Rtwal for 1855, pp. xxx-xlv deals with the instru- Obsen~lory, from/abe'z Hogg, Elements of ments which were taken to the Paris Exhibi- Experimental Philosophy (London, 1853), tion of that year. These did not include the 'set Fig. 292, p. 339. up' illustratedin this photograph. Fig.2 Ronalds' electric observatory at Y,~ from BAAS Report fi~r 1844, Pi.31. 7. See Ronalds MSS, box 2 (unnumbered) at The 'electrograph' was an early attempt the Institution of Electrical Engineers, London, at self-registering instruments wh/ch, at and for a detailed discussion of these this time were developed both at Kew which the instruments were manufac- electrmnete~, W.D. Hackmann, 'Eighteenth and at the Royal Observatory? Ronalds tured! The small circle of people involved Century Electrostatic Measuring Devices', described in ~e BAAS Reports a 'night- were all related professionally. Heone- Annali dell'Istituto e Mu,~,o di Storia della registering electrometer' and various man worked at one time for Fox Talbot Scienza di firenze, $ (1978), pp. 3-58, esp. pp. 20-21. The suspension of the straws was an other meteorok~gical self-registering in- and his premises were rented from update of Volta's method in that Ronalds used struments achieved by means of the new Newman. Newman made cameras for both hooks and a knife-edge to reduce h'iction developments in photography. Henneman and instruments for Ronaids. as much as possible. He also used Volta's Fox Talbot corresponded with Airy ever system of connecting two such elect~mwters since they were near contemporaries in of different sensitivity together. George Biddell Airy (1801-92), the Cambridge, and Ronalds straw and Seventh Astronomer Royal, set up the spark electrometer devised for Kew There Magnetic and Meteorological Depart- 8. was some dispute between the were also made for Greenwich despite relative merits (and origins) of the Royal ment at Greenwich in 1840 with James the rivalry between the two institutions Observatory's self-registering instrmnents by Glaisher in charge. There was strong on matters meteorological. Charles Brooke, which were communicated by incentive to study the earth's magnetism Airy, to the Royal Society in the Philosophical because of its effect tm the mariner's Transactg,ms of the Royal Socie~., 137 (1847), pp. Ackowledgements compass. Likewise, atmospheric electric- 59-68, followed by Brooke's own account, pp. itv was investigated because of the 69-77. and Ronalds' in the same volume, pp. influence this was thought to have on This kind of note is never possible 111-117. Great show was made by the Jurors of meteorology, hut in the end Airy lost without advise from colleagues. ! would the Great Exhibition of Brooke's instruments, interest because the results obtained by like to thank in particular John Ward, and he received an award of £500 from the his electrometers could not be reduced to Larry Schaaf, Gloria Clifton and Allan government. This induced friends of Ronaids Chapman. to push him for an award as well, and he anything sensible by 'Newtonian matha- eventually received £250. matics'. Thus, the electrometer mast Notes erected in 1840 was removed in 1880, 9. The Report for 1851 of the BAAS, PI. 18, the year before Airy's retirement. Fig. 3, depicts a portable electric observatory, I. In the same year Newman changed to but the bra~s support has only two arms and Newman & Son. So what conclusions do we reach after not the four in the Photograph. Early into my research ! hyl~)thesised that this photograph this cursorarv examination of this rare 2. See H.J.E Arnold, Will,am Henry Fox Talbot might he one made by Heineman of exhibits of photograph?" It is almost certainly a Pioneer ,~ Photography and Man of Science the Great Exhibition [or the Juror's Report. He studio shot taken sometime between (London: Hutchinson Benham, 1977), pp.150- also planned a I~k of 100 views of Crystal 1844 and 1850 of apparatus developed 2, 156-9, 167-9, 172-4. Henneman and his Palace which never appeared. However, the by Newman with the help of Ronalds for partner Makme exhibited at the Great Exhibi- only instruments of Newman listed in Class X tile study of atmospheric electricity. It is tion a Talbotype photographic apparatus 'of of this exhibition are an air pump (item 262), a perhaps tta~ fanciful to suggest that this unproved design' made by Newman. Thus, self-registering anemometer and rain gauge Newman continued to manufacture a variety may well be a mock-up of the instru- (item 3~X)),a standard thermometer (item 301 ), of instruments while Part of his premises were a self-registenng tide gauge (item 303), and a ments shortly before they were trans- occupied by Henneman & Makme. See the ported to Kew for assembly." it is l'all~type camera for Henneman & Makme ~. cial Descraptive and Illustrated C_atah~gue of (item 274). Also listed is Bn~ke's self- intriguing that the photograph was the Great Exhibition 1851 (Ltmdon, 1851), vol. I, regLstering unstruments (item 280), but not probably taken in the same premises in section X, item 297, p. 441. th4~e of Newman and Ronalds.

28 Bulletin of the .Scientific Instrument ."~iety No. 43 (1994) Exhibition Report A Truly Heavenly Library Jane Insley

.a,,

Fig.2 /()harm(', bt(!ttl('r. ¢l~'le~tlun. rerum dl~iphnae (Mama', 1535). The dta£ram shaws how to construct the azimuths, and th(" fold-out extension demonstrates where the compass lel¢ must be placed for inscribin~ the arcs on the ba~ plate of the astrolabe. Crau~rd Library, Royal Obsen~tory, Edinbur~Ih, inv. no. Cr.8.133. Fig.l I'('trus Apianus, Astronomicum caesareum (ln clolstadt, 1540), depicts the epicyclic theory of the solar system in tu~en~- correspondingly low. But the value of occasionally obscure the obg,cts below. two magnificent plates containinl~ movin~ bringing these books to public view, the But the ambience is that of a reverential coloured voh¢lles, like this one which depicts advantage of the real thing over the vault, and the learning of the contribu- the Ptolemaic theory for the Moon with a catalogue photographs, lies in the breath- tors is worn lightly - the catalogue is not central 'crank' mechanism shown by the taking splendour of the books them- only readable, but nearly seamless inner circle and an epicycle that adjusts for selves. Their colour, size and even the despite having four authors: Angus the changinff position of the Moon's apogee, annotations of former owners, including Macdonald, AD. Morrison-Low, Owen the stunning Copernican De Re~lutioni- Gingerich and Liba Taub. its nearest point to the Earth. bus marked perceptively by Erasmus Crawford Library, Royal Obsen~atory, Edin- Reinhold and movingly described by burgh, inv. no. Cr.10.l(l). Owen Gingerich, all contribute to an You may have missed the exhibition, but exhibition which, though small, contains do buy the book, and beat a path to the One hundred years ago, some 15,000 millions of pounds worth of material. door of the ROE library to see these volumes from the collection of the 26th treasures and more when the exhibition closes. Earl of Crawford were transferred to the A few choice instruments share the glory care of the Scottish nation, r/early 60 of - the oldest known signed and dated the finest of these volumes have been astrolabe made in Europe, the two foot Book details: A Heavenly Library - selected for display at the National diameter Humphrey Cole astrolabe from Treasures from the Royal Ob~rvatory's Museums of Scotland, Chambers St, the University of St Andrews and the Crau~ord CoilecOon, compiled by Angus Edinburgh, from 6 October to 31 1890 demonstration model of Babbage's Macdonald and A.D. Morri.c~on-Low, December 1994. In a magnificent exam- difference model No l, from the Science published by the Royal Observatory, ple of rapid, effective transatlantic Museum to mention but three. The Edinburgh, ISBN 0-902553-37-2, 1994; cooperation between four collaborators, latter's claim for inclusion is the post- price £12.50, p & p £2.50, from either selection, exhibition and a fully illu- humous purchase of Babbage's huge the Museum Shop, Chambers St, or the strated catalogue were all completed in library by Lord Crawford in 1871. By ROE. The 1977 supplement to the 1890 a matter of months, with the support of the time this review appears, the exhibi- Catak~ue of the Crawford Library is also the Royal Observatory, Edinburgh (Figs.l tion will be on the brink of closure, but available from the ROE for (a further!) £5. and 2). the catalogue (a wise purchase, as the Treat yourselves. labels are long and in parts physically Putting tx~oks behind glass (and making uncomfortable to read) carries all the text it interesting) is a devilish task. Many are and illustrations of most of the items on Authors address: old - two of the manuscripts are from the show. The lighting constraints give an Science Mu.q'um 13th century - and many are fragile; added hazard in that huge shadows of South Kensmcton lighting levels in the exhibition are objects placed high in a showcase London SW7 2AD

i Bulletin of the Scientific Instrument Society No. 43 (1904) 29 Market Place- Christmas 1994

Arthur Middleton

At the Meeting of the Manchester L|terarv and I'hd¢~.,ophtcalSociety, March 7th Iqli: AGENDA: Item l: by a Manchester fruit im[~)rh,r: "How l k~nd a rare snake in a crate of =mported bananas." Item 2: by l~f. Ernest Rutherford: "How l have tourtd the nuck~us of the atom"

We all knew, Harry the Death, in th(~.~e days. (! speak about the 1970s and earls' ~s.) The Trade had many more 'char- i . I I acters' in it then, and the general atmosphere was much more happy-go- lucky than compared to the more serious and dedicated approach you need tndav. Harry's speciality, as his nick-name implied, was anything to do with Fig.l A vacuum pump. with knobs ,,n. mortally', and this included old sur- geons instruments and post-mortem sets, Victorian mourning jewellery, granny-type ear trumpets swathed in One thing caught my eye, and it was not black silk ribbons .... you get the idea. the unexceptional micr(~cope; it was a He went on his rounds habitually sinister phra~ in the preamble 'Condi- dr~sed in a black morning coat and tions pertaining to Buyers'. It ran 'All waist-coat, black trousers tucked into antiques and Works of Art more than 50 black leather riding b~ts, all topped off years old, to be Exported from Italy, by a dark bushy beard His general require an Export Licence. Sotheby's are countenance was not unlike Svengali. not responsible for the granting of such a At one stage he even had a girl-friend, Licence, and the Sale of G(xxts is not L - .... ' J who was promptly, but perhaps unfairly, dependent on such a Licence being dubbed "Mrs Death'. The onh' thing l granted.' In other words, first you pay Fig.2 Monkey busim~s, at Sotheby's: only ever sold him was a plain turned oak your bill, and then you apply for the lOcm /ugh, but someone paid £330 per snuff-box, but on the lid was an engraved Licence. Foreign buyers could not, there- centimetre. silver plaque which read 'Made from the fore, take with them even the smallest Kind Gallows of Creiff 1782'. His eves item, and nor could you, at the end of the The biggest news that buzzed round the gleamed. Never have I .seen a dealer three days, hand over the larger items to produce his roll so fast. it would have trade in the early summer was that one of tl~e English trucking firms that do Harriet Wynter had put all her stock beaten any spaghetti-western gunslinger the italian run. Everything - that is, if to the draw anv day. One Saturdav into Sotheby's autumn sale. "But why?" you were not a native Italian - had to morning .,~me o'f us met up in Por~- people asked. The answer was given in a stay there and wait. I well recall an obello Road, wondering what to do circular that she sent round, advising us incident a few years ago. A friend had about lunch, when Harry suddenly that from henceforth she was to concen- flown to the same city and the next day strl~ie up. Steak sandwich~s had been trate on building public and private bought one minor piece in a .sale. Having mentioned, and someone, trying to be colk~'tions. Very well, but the problem, fnendh,', .,,aid "Care to join us, Harry.?" handed over a modest sum, about £400, from an auctioneer's view-l~,int, is that a "Er, veah" he replied, (conversation not she asked where she could collect it. "Ah, dealers stock has all been seen before, b~,ln~ one of his strong points.) ]here was no", they said, "first we get Export and therefl,re lacks that 'fresh to the a paul,, and then Steve from Brighton Approvai, and then we send it to you. market' quality that buyers prefer. asked the immortal question - "how A few weeks, perhaps." An aggrieved would you like your steak, Harry, and frustrated lady boarded the evening flight home. Weeks later, a truck indeed Nevertheless, on October 7th we filed medmm~ rare, or through the heartS" into I~,nd Street and took our places. It As the rest of us leanlxt weakly against arrived outside her shop and delivered a was an all-day affair, with a break for the wall he stomped off, muttering "l a small carton, at the same time lunch. Harriet's stock t~x~k up the first don't think that's veto" funny". Onh' a demanding a further £400 fl~r 'shipping !.'~ lots and as predicted, interest in the few years later he achieved what l~ad and Customs clearance charges'. She had r~m was patchy. Most of the higher perhaps been his dearest wish, and to pay, and she was even cr(~r when prices attained were to bids left on the suddenly died. He could have only been she got home that night. All profit on the I~k or from telephone bidders. At one in his late forties: vet the ]rade is p(~,rer deal, which had to include the cost of the stage Mr Baddeley kx~ked up from his wmthout characters like Harry. flight, a night in a hotel plus meals and rostrum and said "come along - wake taxis, had gone. To be fair to ~thebv's up!" Her total sold was a shade over Now to graver matters. In the last week when I tackled them about this [~tential £157,(M)0, but left unsold was seventy, of .~,ptember .%~theby's conducted an- trap, their Pr~.'ss Officer was at pains to thousand pounds worth; among the other of their "attic clearance' ~les, this I~int out that they would only employ casualties were all the sets of Napiers time m Florence, at the Palazzo Corsini. the m~t reliable shippers, 'wl~o would Bones, a rare map of Nuremburg Ihe tamih' had rL.'sided there for three never overcharge'. That remains to be engraved on a leaf on an early diptych hundred years, and more than 16(X) lots, seen. It could be another case of 'caveat dial, and a late 18th century French in excess of 2(),(XX} objects, were offered. emptor'. Loxocosme. (Why are these so difficult

Bulletin of the, Soentific instrument ~iety No. 43 (1994) Irl

Fig.5 Miniature ebony octant u,ith i~vry Fig.4 Western meduwval astroh~h', one ot ,~'ale and zcrmer, circa 1790-1810. only 16 kmn~,n to exist today from the period Fig.3 18 carat gold-cased laWh,t thermo- 1200-1320 AD. meter by. Henry Kes~ls, lamdon, 1821. £2,200. it was just 4~" (ll.Scm) wide (Fig.5). There were two gca~-Iooking him as an ape and produced further reflecting and repeating circles, the first to sell? There was one floating about acrimonious and violent debate at by Edward Troughton, circa 1810, and Paris for years, and no-t-me wanted to Oxford and elsewhere. It made f,3,30(]. the second by Bellet of Paris, for the pay any appreciable money for it, and yet I~t ~ral de la Guerre and dated they are very rare and interesting.) The 1811. Neither came to anything; the k~estones all sold, despite their indiffer- Christie's offered us a 300 lot sale on the Troughton failed to reach its reserve, ent quality, and so did the pocket gk~es. 29th September with good variety and and the Belier was withdrawn before In the end, she was less than mollified. results. One of the earlier lots was an 18" the sale. Lot 204 was a late Victorian (45cm) long anatomical model of a brass binocular microscope by I. Hicks of The rest of the morning, and the after- cockroach, which made one Parisian London and dated 1892. The outstanding noon session, was more varied and dealer take the breakfast time plane, his feature was the very fine glazed case generated more interest. A theodolite by first buying trip to London for II years, it with double drawers underneath in burr Jonathan Sisson made a high £20,000, but was knocked down to him for £x~00. A walnut veneer. True, this very instrument what ! noted was an equinoctial dial by few lots later they offered a very rare has been on display at last Spring's Meurand of Paris dated 1782. The gold-cased pocket thermometer by Scientific Fair at the Portman Hotel, and catalogue gave it almost a whole column Henry Kessels of London, hall-marked the reason it was not sold on that of historical detail, including provenance for 1821 (Fig.3). Not surprisingly it went occasion was that drawers that should from the family of the Marquis de over estimate to £3,000, which seemed have been full of accessories - were Chambrun. But wait ... did not the high until a member of the watch trade practically empty. This did not deter the present-day Comte de Chambrun re- leaned over the back of my chair and telephime bidder who paid £5,000. cently marry Raine Spencer, Lord AI- whispered that the last one he recalled was sold at Bonhams 7 years previously thorpe's widow? And was she not well- Christie's seem to have adopted the and even in those days had made £2,400 known for attempting to sell off the policy of saving up their ghR-,es for an and therefore this one was not expensive. family treasures during her time there? annual *Great Gk~e Sale'. This years How interesting. There was yet am~ther pedestrian-quality took place before a crowded nxnn ~n lodestone which made £1,400, but the July llth and was rated a great success - star of the sale was the rare Medevil (sic) Lot 282 was an Enqlish Nairne type 98% sold. As usual the best was last and brass astrolabe. Described as the Pro- vacuum pump of the more complicated a pair of Cary's 21" library globes on pert), of a European Nobleman, and sort complete with a pair of Magdeburg stands by William Trotter of Edinburgh provenance by descent, it was claimed hemispheres. It was a nice looking item, made £64,000. The stands were most to be the earliest European astrolabe to and surely worth more than the unusual and the compass for the appear at auction, datable to between £1,000-£1,500 estimate and the £1,300 celestial slotted in under the ba~: there- 1200 and 1330. The only problem was hammer price. (Fig.l). The lot which fore, becau~ it had hardly been exp~d that it bore no signature. A recognizable aroused most interest and amusement to daylight since the day "it was made in name could well have produced a much was the smallest microscope (Fig.2), by 1823, the printing is still "remarkabh, fresh higher estimate, but the pitching of the the French constructor Moreau and dated (Fig.6). estimate was difficult, given that the big 1871. The tube and stage were supported buyers of such items are no longer so The event started with 10 i~cket or by a seated and cross-legged figure of an numerous - one died, and two others small-sized gk~x~s which all made the ape, and it is entirely coincidental that in seem to have completed their collections. the same year Charles Darwin published, sort of money to be expected - £I,.~10 to It sold just below the estimate for LS,500. Then came an unusual armillarv as the catalogue told us, his 'Decent (sic) £72,000, and might just have been a of Man'. Darwins claim that the extinct sphere to the design of Professor J.M. bargain (Fig.4). ancestors of Homo sapiens would have Egloff The internal construction was to be classified amongst the primates was arranged so that it could be turned misinterpreted by the ~)pular press of Further into the sale a miniature (~tant, round to represent either the Ptolemaic the day, led to many a cartoon depicting of ebony with an ivory scale, made or Copernican systems. I thought the

Bulletin of the Scientific Instrument Society No. 43 (1994) 31 estimate of £4,000 to £6,000 was modest enough and the hammer price of f.5,500 even more so.

Chr~stie's was so pleased with the result that they plan a similar event next year. They were m~t, though, pleased with my description of one of their recent sales as 'ctmtaining a fair amount of dross'. In fact, they were quite crt~,.s, so by way of explanation let me qualib,' this: all sales contain drt~s, theirs or anybody el~'s, except that this one had a bit more than usual.

The most recent Scientific Fair unloaded on the morning of Sunday, .~)th (,ktt~er. There was a sprinkling ofnew exhibitors, including two ~m France and one from the U.K. One of these contes.,~e~'l, as he was ~,tting out his stall, that as he didn't know how much to ask for his things, we were to make oilers. Two minutes later and quite properly he ssas informed by the organizer that he was not conducting an auction sale, that he would forthwith price ever).'thmg or it could all be put back in the boxes" and go home. He readily complied. Three other exhibitors from the Shires had to be quietly told that their Bombay-made copies of pocket sextants and "compasses were unaccept- able and these were put away hefore the dta~rs optn~i at 10am. I pam~lled around carefully and frequently but the overall impression was that quali~" and interest- mg items were thin on the ground I did r~te a rare model of a coastal surveying ot-tant by Troughton and Simms which Nick ~A'ebster pn~uced - and sold, and he also showed an amusing model of an 'electrostatic castle', the battlements manned by a battery of brass guns which fired when a charge was applied Fig.6 A pair of libra~ gh,h's, but what is more important are the stands. Underneath the to the conductor (l'he powder must have ba~ of the celestial (top left) ,you can just see Ihe compass ready to be pulled out. been damp because it didn't sell).

Bertrand Thjebaut from Paris prt~uced k~destones, equally of indifferent quality, urged to buy a model of a 'three masted t~'o of the most interesting items, one a and so neither sold. Harriet Wynter was bark', and a 'steam and sale schooner'. superb seven drawer vellum telescope there, m good form, and gamely trying to The Curator of Astronomy at Greenwich from the late 17th century which, when unk~d what Sotheby's had been unable had a letter from an elderly lady asking if fulls" extended was more than 4t~ meters to. Altogether it was a quieter and less they would like to acquire 'the family's (nearly 15ft) long, and the other a interesting and exciting fair than many 1 old sexton'. Charming fellow. Never met complicated ring dial with its original have known. him. He and I wish you the Season's case, beautifully engraved and signed Greetings. Cann~'t a la Si~here l~ Pans 17o0. The Spelling mistakes in catalogue details, former sold and the latter will very. like tho~ mentioned earlier in this Author's Address: shortly. A glmlometer came, and if you article, are just part of a continual and 12 New Row blinke~l, you'd mL'ssed it. There were two on-going prlx'ess. Earlier this year I was London, WC2N 4LF

32 Bulletin ,4 the .";c~ntific Immmm~t Society No. O (1994) Book Reviews Opinions expressed by revieu,ers are their own, and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editor or the S~riety

Guide to the Hi~Hry of TechnololD, in interests of Francis Maddison, whose cat-and-mouse game that brought the Europe 1994 career at the Museum of the History of TG instrument to the MHS in 1948, and Compiled by Betsy Bahr, Timothy. Boon, Science (MHS) in Oxford spans 41 years, then of Bedini's 30 year effort to Nicholas 1. Wyatt and Robert Bud. the last 30 as Curator. establish the provenances. Published by the Science Museum, London, 1994. The diverse topics include Islamic Allan Chapman describes two of Pierre ISBN 0-901805-73-4 decorated ceilings, Andrew Paschall's Price £9.95 Gassendi's (c. 1592-1655) instruments. attempt at a universal language, R.T. Chapman deduced the practical prob- Gunther's role in establishing the Whip- lems, solutions, and reliability of results In 1992 the Science Museum published a ple Museum in Cambridge, early Euro- by working backwards from the known useful guide to articles appearing in the Ix'an language books in the Bodleian, smaller and lesser-known technical jour- form and physical dimensions of Gas- and musical symbolism in Renaissance sendi's 5 foot quadrant and 7 foot radius nals under the title History of Technology mathematics, but measurement and astronomicus, to derive their general Index 1992. This was favourably re- scientific instruments are the central mathematical features. He then used viewed in Bulletin No. 38 (September theme. data from C,assendi's actual observa- 1993). Therefore, from its title, your tions and tier scale digit sequence to reviewer expected an updated version The late Donald Hill records the debt of determine how the scales were divided of this admirable publication, which modern machine designers to the only and read. He then made accurate certainly gave the impression (following two Greek and two Arabic treatises on physical reconstructions. Chapman's as it did a 1991 edition) that it was to mechanical engineering, c. 200 BC to paper is a model of clarity on the appear annually. 1206. They described the fine mechanics instruments, method of division, meth- and techniques of water power and od of use, and practical problems. Not a bit of it! The Guide to the History of pneumatics (siphons), many of which Technology in Europe 1994 is no more than were used for 'tricks'. In a sense, Tony Simcock gives a valuable and a deceptively titled alphabetical list of Cornelis Drebbel's perpetual motion entertaining guide to the printed books people engaged in some way in the field machine of c. was such a 1607 'trick'. on scientific instruments c. 1470-1550 of technology, and what they would like Jennifer Drake-Brockman analyses half a based on those in the MHS. He describes others to think they are researching. century's documented puzzling, to show how the 'master' Regiomontanus (1436- Apart from the misleading title, I am at the inventor misunderstanding his ma- 76) effected a revolution as he printed a loss to know why the Science Museum chine because of his Aristotelian mind- has dropped its invaluable index of set. It became the 'weather glass', a classical works, set new conventions in publishing tables and information, and publications for a mete computer-gener- pinto-barometer, when analysed scienti- used the German vernacular to diffuse ated compendium of names. A real tically by one of the new philosophers of the culture across Europe. Johann Stoef- researcher either knows his colleagues Galileo's circle as early as 1621. Willem tier (1452-1531) and Jakob Kobel (c. 1465- in a given field, or looks up the relevant Ha&mann describes the early naviga- abstracts to locate appropriate papers. 1533) followed his lead. Regiomontanus tion devices of lodestone and compass, invented prrinted paper instruments, It's the sul~ect and content, not the name, then dissects a mass of artistic and and Simcock gives a detailed description that matters in science. The only persons literary sources to demystify and seek of an important and beautiful astrolabe who could regularly benefit from the the origin of the Mariner's Compass. of Stoeifler's in a Mainz 1535 edition by present volume are journalists and public Jean-Pierre Verdet discusses the astro- Jordan, previously overlooked, but now relations people seeking a name to phone nomical and astrological applications for seen to link literature and instruments in for an instant opinion and/or free a small Indian quadrant dated c. 1815 in a special way. consultation. So, unless you are a the MHS. Alain Segonds discusses member of the latter group, don't waste Tycho's careful promotion in 1598 of your money or that of your institution. the instnanents, work and results of his Emilie Savage-Smith and Colin Wake- Maybe the Science Museum will then research institution at Uraniborg in the field illustrate,describe and analyse the think more carefully about whom it is '~tion of astronomy', and offers a intellectualinfluences upon a unique set trying to serve, and ensure that the titles provocative view of his motivation. of 12 paper gores [panels] by Jacob of its publications are a fair guide to the Golius (1596-1667) intended for a celes- contents. For readers of this journal, four papers tial globe. Based on Tycho's stars, with seem especially important to me, and 196 stars newly measured by de Hour- A.A.Mills have a wide appeal. man, and 107 Ptolemaic ones re-measured by him, the choice of old and new constellations is fascinating. From early gazing from the cave mouth This is an important paper showing that to sitting beneath a computerised planetarium, people in all ages have Colitis began the serious modem Euro- pean study of Islamic astronomy hxnn sought to understand their place in the the original Arabic texts. Learning, Language and Invention: cosmos. Silvio lh.dini's paper cites a Essays presented to Francis Maddison. 1734 source to credit the origin of W.D. Hackntann and A.I. Turner (Editors), English planetaria to two 'proto-orr- This handsome book, well indexed, with Variorum and the Socit~t~ lnternationale de eries' by George Graham c. 1705-12. 73 photographs and diagrams (unlisted) L'Astrolabe, (Aidershot and Paris), 1994, One is signed by Tompion and Graham to help the readers' exploration, weighs pp.330. (TG) in the MHS, and the other just by in at a hefty £47.50. The book offers gems ISBN 0-86078-467-3. Graham (G) in the Adler Planetarium, to the specialistand much stimulus to the £47.50 Chicago. Both are excellently illustrated, curious, it deserves a place in every good as also for comparison is the original library of arts and of the history of science. The compliment of a festschri~ is a rare orrery by John Rowley, now in the opportunity to present cross-disciplinary Science Museum, South Kensington, work. This book's nineteen contributors which was copied 'with Additions' Roger Hutchins firom six nations reflect the wide range of from the TG. Not less interesting is the Magdalen Collece

Bu"e~dtheScientif~immm~tSod~ No.O 0994) 33 Maynooth College. The Scientific phy was one of the eleven professorial mercury contact breaker of his own Apparatus of Nicholas Callan and chairs established at the College's foun- devising (l&r~q), and a smaller one fitted Other Historic Instruments dation. The study of scientific phenom- with a McGauley-type electromagnetic Charles. Mollan and ]phn Upton ena (the Scholastics' omne scibile), was in interrupter of the type later developed for St Patrick's College, Maynooth and Samton the domain of Ecclesiology, in that it was the electric (house) bell. Apart from the Ltd, Blackrtx'k, 1994. 304 pp. ISBN 1- regarded as another means of learning large elecm)magnet already mentioned, 898706-01-8 (hardback) and 1-898706-02-6 about the Creator. The catalogue of the two other historically important items are (softback). IR£ or £25, US$40 (hardback;, or Ecclesiok~gicai material will be published Cailan's 'Maynooth' battery invented in £17, US$27 (softback), plus postage £5 or $8 shortly. 1854 (marketed by E.M. Clarke after he surface mail. moved from Dublin to London), and At~ilable from Dr C. Midian, 17 Pine Lawn, The catalogue has 385 entries and 390 Callan's single fluid cell of c. 1855. Blackrock, Co. Dublin. photographs. The earliest instrument is a Another interesting group of instru- surveyor's sighting compass, dated 1688, ments belonged to Monsignor Gerald We have a priest here from Co. Louth, Dr. made by Johannes Lewis of Dublin, and Molloy (1834-1906), a pioneer in X-rays Cailan, the Pro~-~sor of ~ience, and many is the oldest Irish-signed scientific instru- and wireless telegraphy. In August 1898 are afraid he will blow up the College ... ment preserved in Ireland. The bulk of But he is a very.holy priest. he and Guglielmo Marconi (1847-1937) the collection is from the mid to late demonstrated the new radio waves in nineteenth century. The major compo- Dublin. There was considerable interest ! have always felt a certain proprietorial nents of the Maynooth collection are (1) as the previous month the Dublin Dai/y interest in the Ma.vntx~th collection ever and (2) the instruments relating to the Express was the first newspaper in the since l viewed it on a delightfully sunny interests of the Rev. Nicholas Cailan and world to publish news received by radio afternoon in the Spnng of 1971. What Mgr Gerald Molioy respectively; (3) early when Marconi and Molioy successfully interested me in particular were the surveying instruments; (4) instruments transmitted the results of the Dun impressive induction coils and the huge by Irish craftsmen; and (5) teaching and Loaghaire Regatta from Marconi's horseshoe-shaped electromagnet by that research instruments used in physics and yacht. Some of this apparatus was pioneer of 'practical' electromagnetism, chemistry. The catalogue has been presented to the Museum by the distin- the Rev. Nicholas Cailan (1799-1864), ordered according to disciplines, or guished mathematician and physicist, professor of natural philosophy at the groups of related disciplines, and then Professor A.W. Conway, FRS (1875- College from 1826 until his death. He is into sections related to the type or use of 1950). Many of Molioy's instruments rightly considered in Ireland as being the the instrument. In these sections, instru- have been preserved in University inventor of the induction coil, although it ments are arranged in alphabetical order College, Dublin. An induction coil, has to be admitted that much of the work of their names. At times this seems signed by Yeates & Son of Dublin, is leading up to this epoch-making device historically rather eccentric as instru- said to have been used in the DUn was done independently by Callan at ments are mixed up rather oddly. For Loaghaire trial.Another key instrument Maynooth and Charles Grafton Page instance, in the case of the section would have been the type of spark gap (1812-1868) at Salem in America. My 'Electrostatic Generators and Static Elec- also found in this collection (item 164). host on that exhilarating afternoon was, tricity', after a few minor accessories, we One other item of note should be singled I believe, the redoubtable Rev. Michael T. move on to a small electrostatic generator out from this section: the wireless Ca~y, professor of chemistry, who was (a small plate machine not identified receiver unit system made by the appointed the curator of the collection in here, but usually used for giving the Marconi Scientific lrLstrument Company 1974, and not the Rev. Professor P;idrag starting charge to large induction shortly after World War I. These unit O'Fiannachta, the then curator, l was machines), followed by a Carr~ electro- systems made for the amateur wireless given copies of the Very Rev. Professor static generator (a mixture of a friction experimenter and physics laboratories a Patrick J. McLauchiin's Nicholas ]. Callan and induction machine), a Nairne elec- few years before commercial broadcast- - Priest Scientist, I799-1864 (1965), and trostatic generator, next two Wimshurst ing began in 1922, are now extremely his St Patrick's College, Ma~ooth, Mu- machines, and ending with a Winter-type rare. seutn, Third T6stal Display Som~,nir Cata- electrostatic machine - thus mixing up league (1955). This volume Ls dedicated to friction and induction machines. The the Rev. Casey, whose inventory of the same occurs in the section on 'Tele- Several other instruments caught my Maynooth collection was not only in- graphy and Radio', in which the Branley corporated in Charles Mollan's Irish attention, in particular the weather coherer is described amongst the tele- recording station by Yeates & Son of c. National Inventory of Historic Scientific graphic material, while it would have Instruments, Interim Report 1990, but also 1877, and the O'Leary seismograph, been more sensitive historically to list it built in 1917, probably by Howard forms the beginning of the present near the two spark gaps. However, this is catalogue. Grubb. Irish makers are well repre- only a minor quibble about an otherwise sented. The authors demonstrate that a excellent catalogue, and to which there is great deal can be gleaned about makers St Patrick's College, Mayrmoth, founded in any case no simple solution. 1 do like in 1795, is the only Pontifical University by careful study of this type of the authors' system of dating, and brief collection. There is a fine polariscope in the British Isles. It has a distinguished historical notes in Italic script at the end by John Spencer and Son of Dublin, of many of the entries. scientific tradition, highlighted by this active in Dublin from 1864-1886, but the catalogue, published on the occasion of most versatile range of instruments is the College's bicentenary. The collection The important group of instruments used undoubtedly by the Yeates dynasty. This is a part of the College's Museum of or made by Cailan number thirty-one. volume is designated no. I in the Ecclesiology, established in 1934. Only The most important of these are the those who are not familiar with the 'Catalogues of Historic Scientific Instru- survivers of his researches in electro- ments in Irish Collections'. I am now scientific development of the Renais- magnetism and the electrochemical cell. looking forward to the next volume. sance and Enlightenment, and with the The most remarkable are his three role played by the Catholic Church, induction coils, dating from the late would find this strange. Natural philoso- 1850s, the largest one fitted with a Willem Hacknumn

34 BunetmoftheScient~ckutnm~tSociety No. 43 (1994) Current and Future Events

Until 31 January 199& Ouisbur8 20-26 March 1995, Florence tions to Mrs. Drs. C. Reinders Foimer, P.O. Box 102, 2350 AC Leiderdorp, The The Society has arranged comprehen- An exhibition, Verfolgt,geachtet, universal a Netherlands. Tel: (31) 7189 5382. - Gerhard Mercator, Europa und die Welt, is sive visit to the museums of Florence. staged to celebrate the 400th anniversary There will be an opportunity to handle Edinburgh, Scotland of Mercator at the Kultur und Stadthi~ some of the objects in the collections and torisches Museum, Duisburg, Germany. the customer), S~riety Dinner will take Reaching for the Stars is an exhibitkm at place on the Saturday. Details from the Visitor Centre, the Royal Observatory, until 31 December 1994 Trevor Waterman, Meetings secretary, Blackford Hill, Edinburgh EH9 3HJ 75a Jermyn Street, London SWIY 6NP. staged to celebrate its centenary. Details: A Heavenly Library is an exhibition to 031-668 84O5. commemorate the centenary of The 2 April 1995, Maryland Royal Observatory, Edinburgh. It is held Cambridge, England in the Royal Museum of Scotland, The 20th Scientific & Technological Chambers Street, Edinburgh, Monday to Artifacts Trade Show & Swop Meet will A new gallery 1900: The New Age is now Saturday 10:00-17:00, Sunday 12:00- be held on Sunday 2 April at the Holiday open at the Whipple Museum, Free 17:00, admission free. The collection of Inn, Calverton, Maryland, USA, 10:00 to School Lane, Cambridge. Devised and over 15,000 historic b(a~ks on astronomy 16:00. All manner of antique and user arranged by its curator, Dr. Jim Bennett, it and related subjects includes many rare scientific instruments will be offered, is his last exhibition before moving to his and beautiful manuscripts dating from seventy tables. Organised by the Mary- new post at Oxford. Centred around the the thirteenth century and is their first land Microscopical & Scientific Instru- International Exhibition m Paris in 1900 it public display. They are complimented ment Society. Details: Sam Koslov, tel. illustrates how the 20th. century was by early astronomical instruments drawn (703) 893 9102. anticipated. One section enables visitors from the Scottish collections. to be measured according to a system 7 May 1995, London devised by Bertillon and fashionable at November-December 1994, Brussels the time. Open Monday to Friday 14:00 The Eighteenth International Antique to 16:00. Saturday 10:00 to 16:00. Details: Scientific & Medical lr~strument Fair will tel. 0223 334545. An exhibition to celebrate the 400th be held at the Portman Hotel, Portman anniversary of the death of Mercator Square, London. 10:00 to 16:30. The Ferrara, Italy will be held at the BibliothtSque Royale largest selection in the world at any one de Belgique, Brussels, Belgium. place and time. Details: Peter Delehar A new permanent exhibition of physics 0181-866 8659. apparatus, Strumentaria - Alla scoperta 24-25 November 1994, Cent dell'anticoLaboratorio di Fisica del Liceo, is 20-21 May 1995, near Winchester now on display at Liceo Classico Ariosto, The George Sarton Lectures of the Ferrara, Italy. Details: Liceo Classico University of Gent, Belgium will include The date of the Seminar on the Con- Ariosto, via Arianuova, 19-I-44100 Fer- G.L'E. Turner on Gerard Mercator and the sermtion of Scientific Instruments at West tara, Italy. h)u~ain Workshops. Dean College has been changed to 20-21 May. The residential weekend will cost Ontario, Canada 26 November 1994, Amsterdam about £75 but there will be an opportu- nity of non-residential participation. De- A new permanent exhibition of the A one-day symposium on navigational tails from the Meetings Secretary, Trevor physics apparatus is now on display at instruments will be held at the Scheep- Waterman, 75a Jermyn Street, London Queens University, Kingston. Details vaartmuseum, Kattenburgerplein 1, SWIY 6NP (see Announcements). from the organise~. Bernie Ziomkiewicz, 1018KK Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Department of Physics, Stirling Hall, 5-7 September 1995 Queens University, Kingston, Ontario 27 November 1994, Paris K7L 3N6, Canada. International Conference 100 Years of The 5i,me Salon des Antiquites Scientifulues Rad/o is being organised by the Institu- Hamburg, Germany will be held on Sunday 27 November as tion of Electrical Engineers. Call for papers deadline 23 January 1995. Pegasus und die Kunste is an exhibition part of a science weekend organized by containing a number of instruments and the local university. It is open I0:00 to Further information from HYR Secretar- iat, Conference Services, lEE, Savoy books at the Museum fur Kunst und 19:00 in the Grande Bouveche, 71 rue de Gewerbe. A catalogue is available. De- Paris, 91400 Orsay, France, admission Place, London WC2R 0BL. Tel: 0171-344 5477. Fax: 0171-497 3633. tails: Dr. Bernhard Heitmann, Museum free. Details: Comit~ Municipal des fur Kunst und Gewerbe, Steintorplatz, Fetes, BP 47-91401 Orsay cedex, France. 29 October 1995, London Hamburg 1, Germany. Fax: 040 2486 2834. tel: (I) 69 82 89 27. The Nineteenth International Antique Jena, Germany 15 January 1995, Minneapolis Scientific & Medical Instrument Fair will be held at the Portman Hotel, London. Die Brillein acht ]ahrhunderten is the title This is the closing date for the Adeile and Details: 0181-866 86~. of a new gallery at the Optical Museum Erwin Tomash Graduate Fellowship of the Ernst Abbe Stiftung. Details: Dr. 1995-1996 awarded to a graduate student 5-6 June 1996, The Netherlands Helga Beez, Optisches Museum, Carl for work on the history of computers and Zeiss Platz 12, Jena, Germany. information processing. The stipend will The Dutch Association for Maritime be $10,000 and the research can be done at History announces that the Netherlands Compiled by Peter Delehar any appropriate institution. Details from Maritime Museum at Amsterdam and the sponsors: Charles Babbage Institute, the Maritime Museum Prins Hendrik at Details of future et~nts, meetings, exhibi- 103 Walter Library, 117 Pleasant Street Rotterdam will host the Second Interna- tions etc. should be sent to Peter Delehar, 146 S.E., Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA. Tel: tional Congress for Maritime History. Portobello Road, London WII 2DZ, U.K. (612) 624 5O50. Information and proposals for contribu- Tel. 0181 866 8659.

Bulletin ~ the Scientific irum'umentSociety No. 43 (1994) 35 Classified

MICROSCOPF MAKERS AND Advertising Charges RFTAII.FRS, IbF,0-Iq20 by C.R lorent- zen. A new book ,lx,iilablt, on conll+tili,r Whole page £175 di~k in IBM I'C iormai fill+ t,nlrlt~ All Half page £qo t+rotit~ to ch,lriix. ~illl~lt, tl.'-,ercti|+y L2"~.llO, Quarter Page ilt'tx~ilrk ti+t'r ttlt+ V {.If.till including Eighth Page £35 I t~il~t,igt' t hcqut'~ paX,lbh' to .M..XRS- Classified £0.20 per word, I)IN I'..\l'XXt)Rl+ll FL'Xi). Prom C.I man. £5 i ort'ntlt, n, 22 Abbt'v Road..qtt'$ llinli ~, Flier, Single A4 £100 %~,t'~t .%tl~.*,~t'X.BN44 3.~,Q. It,it,phone 0~0} Flier, Double A4 £12.~ ~-~,77,~, Half Page with Flier 1;50 Other advertising On Quotation WANTED BY PRIVATE COLLECTOR Artwork, if required At cost. . m,<,,/.'J,,//,,,/:: •,ttntqt' and ct+mpound n~icro,,copt'~, clTt~)-I'~+, d~'ft-.,~+rlt~ and .',lidt"~ In Ill'If 10% di~ount applies on bookings for 4 condition. ~,%'ill purclaa~, or t'xt'h,ll+gt'. or more consecutive issues. The rates i'lca,e contact Chrl,, l.ort+rlt/t,n, t~40.'~ shown ;,re for camera ready artwork. 87~733 Detailed Rate Card available on request. Copy date no later than 4 weeks prior to publication, i.e. end January, April, July & October. Payment for advertising is due in advance. Send cheque in Pounds Ster- ling drawn on a UK bank with order to:- Mr M.|. Cowham, The Mount, Toil, Cambridge, CB3 7RL. Telephone: 01223 263532/262684, Facsimile: 01223 263948.

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40 Bulletin of the Scientific Instrument Society No. 43 (1994) Table of Contents Appropriate material will be referenced in Phil's A~tmcts Editorial ""* ...... ""°'° ...... " ...... ° ...... "' ...... " ...... *°° ...... " ...... ' ...... """" ...... "'"" ...... ' ...... ' ...... * ...... 1 The Three Dutch Conk, rences of Leyden 7-16 September 1994 ...... Anita McConnell, Maurice F. Dorikens, Karel van Camp, Paolo Brenni, Maria Blyzinsky, Mari~n van Hoom 3

Announcements • o ...... o...... °...... ~| 19th Century French ScientificInstrunu, nt Makers V: Jules Carpentier (1851-1921) ...... Paolo Brenni 12 "To find the mind's constntctkm in the face": The Newly-Discovered Astrolabes of Mercator ...... Gerard L'E. Turner 16 The Origin of the Everest Theodolite ...... Jane lnsley 22 Facsimile File A Modem Planetarium and Orrery ...... Peter Grimwood 24 Photo Opportunity Sir Francm Ronalds' Electric Observatory ...... Willem Hackmann 27 Exhibition Report A Truly Heavenly Library ...... Jane insley 29 Market Place - Christmas 1994 ...... Arthur Middleton 30

Book Reviews • ..,..o.,.o...... ,...,,,....,...,...... , ...... , ...... , ...... 33 Current and Future Events ...... 35 Advertisements

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