SIS Bulletin Issue 47

Scientific ins trument Sot ie! y Bulletin of the Scientific Instrument Society No. 47 December 1995 Bulletin of the Scientific Instrument Society 0956-8271 t~ For Table of Contents, see inside back cover [ t President 1 Gerard Turner Honorary Committee L Howard Dawes, Chairman Stuart Talbot, Secretary John Didcock, Treasuwr Willem Hackmarm, Editor Michael Cowham, Adt~eTtising Manager Trevor Waterman, Meetings Secretary Gloria Clifton Jane ~ey Arthur Middleton Alan Morton Membership and Administrative Matters The Executive Officer (Wmg Cmdr. Geoffrey Bennett) 31 High Street Stanford in the Vale Faringdon Tel: 01367 710223 Oxon SN7 8LH Fax: 01367 718963 See inside back cover for information on membership Editorial Matters Dr. Willem D. Hackmann Museum of the History of Science Old Ashmolean Building Tel: 01865 277282 (office) Broad Street Fax: 01865 277288 Oxford OXI 3AZ Tel: 01865 54058 (home) Advertising Mr Michael Cowham The Mount Toil Tel: 01223 263532/262684 Cambridge CB3 7RL Fax: 01223 263948 Organization of Meetings Mr Trevor Waterman 75a Jermyn Street Tel: 0171-930 2954 London SWlY 6NP Fax: 0171-321 0212 Typesetting and Printing Lithoflow Ltd 26-36 Wharfdale Road Kings Cross Tel: 0171-833 2344 London NI 9RY Fax: 0171-833 8150 Price: £6 per issue, including back numbers where available. (Enquiriesto the Executive Officer) The Scientific Instrument Society is Registered Charity No. 326733 The ~ntific Inset Society 1995 . ,.,...,.mind Editorial I: .i.e':. ",'.,,:_ I ,~. zaJwJ'J'~..,~. ~" ,~..%'I • . ......." ............. II /°.~I I ~I,, ".~ " ! • liPPt'i'v't iIf.. I '- ", ~ '''~" "" .- ".,.I" l ~ ' Fig.l Trade card of W" leu,itt & Co. of Limro, a. Fig.3 Multi-prism table spectroscopefrom the collectionof the Royal Dublin 5ocie~. By Instrumental Evidence Howard Grubb of Dublin, purchased in 1871. Inventory no. 0129. "Language is only the instrument of science, and words are but the signs bibliographies. Hemming Andersen vis- ideas: ! wish, however, that the ms~t nught be k~ apt to decay, and that signs Red about fifty collections over a two-year might be penman,'it,like the thinllp which Fig.2 Comp,,nd mlcr,)sct,pe J?,,m Russ- period. The descriptions of instruments they denote." borough House, Co. Wicklou,. By Angelo up to the mid-2Oth century are, generally, Oohnson, Dictionary (1755), preface). Gozzi of Parma. Reputed to be a wedding briefer than those by Charles Mollan, but present to Marie Antoinette. Inventory no. include essentials such as location, func- tion, dimensiorm, material and, where This has been a very satisfactory year for 1425. the scientific instrument community not possible, the maker He recognizes that least because of the appearance of three this work is more of a listing,but as such important works of reference. The long- instruments. Earlier entries, too, have will form the basis towards a tully est in gestation was the Directory. of British been upgraded following further re- comprehensive Danish national inven- Scientific Instrument Makers 1550-1851, the search. Details are also given of Irish- tory. It will also feed the discussions that fruits of a decade of work on Project signed instruments located outside must take place concerning the ultimate SIMON, which is reviewed in this issue. heland, with a separate chapter devoted form and contents of such inventories We now have, at last, a solid foundation to those exported by the Grubb family of began in the late 1950s under the auspices for future research on the structure of the Dublin. The entries are lucid and, apart of the International Union of the History instrument-making trade of the British from the matter-of-factdescriptions, give and Philosophy of Science (IUHPS). Only Isles. Being of a visual turn of mind, I some indication of provenance and key a few and rather unsatisfactory national made one intriguing observation while references. The reference section at the inventories were compiled, followed by a leafing through the Directory: the orna- back has a somewhat haphazzard Biblio- gap of twenty years. The endeavours by mentation depicting a "horn of plenty' of graphy whose most useful feature is the Mollan and Andersen are the results of instruments in the trade card of J.D. emphasis on publications of Irish renewed interest in historic scientific Potter (working 1851-1880) of London is sources, and indexes by name of instru- instruments striven for by an active identical to that of W. Jewitt & Co. of ment, and by name of maker or supplier. Scientific Instrument Commission of the Liverpool (Fig.l), the successors after As the compiler notes in his Introduction, IUHPS, and in which the Scientific 1851 of Edward Meiling & Co. H.R. it would not have been possible to Instrument Society, and its Bulletin have Calvert, in his monograph on scientific include any significant number of photo- also played an important part." Of trade cards, gives the example of Joseph graphs because of cost, and there seemed particular concem in Hemming Ander- Linnell taking over James Ayscough's little point printing just a few. However, sen's fieldwork was the preservation of trade card as well as his business, he assures us that photographs (of written ephemera such as catalogues. His changing only the name in the car- varying quality) can be supplied of instrument descriptions are based on touche, but in the case of Potter and virtually any listed instrument. Figures straightforward visual examinations, Jewitt there appears to be no link. I Is this 2 and 3 are to wet your appetite and and nearly all instruments have been a case of simple pictorial piracy, or were indicate the range of instruments to be photographed and the negatives num- there a set of stock designs similar to the found in Irish repositones. bered for reference. Hopefully, these can carte de visite which could be obtained be used by serious researchers. He had from printers off the shelf?. I am sure that Charles Moilan claims that his is the first most problems with determining dates. we can still learn a great deal from comprehensive national inventory to be Of particular interest is the brief survey of pictorial evidence such as scientific trade published for any country. The stress is, of (selected) Danish instrument makers. The cards. course, on 'comprehensive'. Mary Hol- emphasis of local makers was tm naviga- brook's Sc~we Preserved is more of a tional instruments, in particular com- The second reference work is the final delightful ramble.' Shortly after the Irish passes and compass accessories. It version of Charles Mollan's Irish National Inventory there has appeared the Danish would be truly surprising if no mistakes Inz~mtory Of Historic Scientific Instruments one by Hemming Andersen under the had crept in even though both compilers (Dublin: Samton Ltd, 1995).2 Interim auspices of the Royal Danish Academy of were most willing to consult specialists. reports of this work were published in Sciences of Letters.* This consists of 2447 Not only should the compilers be 1989 (2051 entries) and 1990 (3355 entries, two comprehensive indexes, the congratulated for their meticulous inven- entries). The present volume has brief first (as before) by name of instrument, the tories, so should those institutions, descriptions of a staggering 5104 entries, second by name of maker, followed by an toundatkms, and societies whose finan- many of which contain a number of index of location codes and the briefestof cial support made this work possible. Bulletin of the Scientific Instrument Society No. 47 (1995) ! FC.,: , B,'natkv had liz,'r,,u where lilt~to Brahe staved in !o~-1o01. Fig.5 ..Dn,zt,'z~r miner, o,t,!dc Itra,h'l~ castle nou, turned into a mining mu.,q'lmL It was undoubtedly such a z,itm, that inspired XIV Scientific Instrument Symposium, Fig.o cl,,,m; addres* by Robert/~n,h'r,lm Prague 23-28 September Walt Dism31. u'ith our host/an,slav Folta h,okin,q on. ]'his was held in the comfortable lecture theatre of the National Technical Paris on an equal altitude instrument where intrepid participants went down Mu.~,um in Prague under the auspices developed in Prague and the main values an old mine after donning suitable of the Scientific Instrument Commission obtained by Gauss. clothing (Fig.5). Alas, no silver was of the Divi.~m of History of Science of the found. This was particularly sad for IUHI~ The programme was put to- The sessions were not grouped in themes. RiP,eft Ander~n who had hoped that gether by Jar~lav Folta of the National Even' .,~sion had its own mi.~ellanv and this would have been a quick way to Technical Mu~um and Gudrun Wolf- some surprises. Surveying the pro- augment the coffers of the British schmidt of the Deutsches Museum gramme, a number of categories do Museum Perhaps he will have more Rt~,earch Institute for History of Science emerge. 1here were single instrument luck with the National Lottery. On the and Iechnology, who also compiled the studies, such as Jaroslav Folta's ancient return journey the group split into two: .,,ympostum brooklet ably assisted bv reckoning device from Moravia the astronomes to visit an observatory Helen Turner. The 31 "papers were (although one participant displayed while the gastronomes returned to divided over five sessions. It was extreme cynicism by wondering Prague. The institute in question was decided by the organi.,,ers, quite cor- whether the 5~ notches on the wolf bone Ondf'ejov Observatory, about 40 km rectly, not to have an overall theme. were not h~r nonverbal reckoning but south-east of Prague, established in PaD;rs covered .,,uch diverse topics as gnaw marks), and Amparo Sebastian- 11498, and today the observatory of the an analv.,,is of the Champlain Astrolabe Caudet on a fine Flemish astrolabe in the Czech Academy of Sciences.

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