Nineteenth Century Scientific Instruments

Examines the variety of instruments and equipment used in scientific research in fields such as chemistry, mechanics, meteorology, and electricity

Scientific Instruments between East and West is a collection of essays on the transmission of knowledge about scientific instruments and the trade in such instruments between the Eastern and Western worlds.

With over 300 entries from the ancient abacus to X-ray diffraction, as represented by a ca. 1900 photo of an X- ray machine as well as the latest research into filmless x- ray systems, this tour of the history of scientific instruments in multiple disciplines provides context and a bibliography for each entry. Newer conceptions of "instrument" include organisms widely used in research: e.g. the mouse, drosophila, and E. coli. Bandw photographs and diagrams showcase more traditional instruments from The Science Museum, London, and the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

The university has very different priorities from the salesroom, the museum from the antiques fair, but the challenge of instrument history is to integrate connoisseurship, technical insight and historical sensitivity, while not neglecting the trade institutions and practices of the makers and remaining familiar with instrument populations in both the captivity of museums and the relative freedom of the market-place. This volume is presented to Gerard Turner, who has been at the forefront of promoting instrument studies in recent years. After a twenty-five-year association with the Museum of the History of Science at Oxford, a Visiting Professorship in the History of Scientific Instruments was established for him at the Imperial College, London, in 1988, from where he has been able to increase his research in this field.

This collection of essays discusses the marketing of scientific and medical instruments from the eighteenth century to the First World War. It features case-studies from the United Kingdom, the Americas and Europe.