Science & Mathematics

Chemical Balance

The Museum's collections hold thousands of objects related to chemistry, biology, physics, astronomy, and other sciences. Instruments range from early American telescopes to lasers. Rare glassware and other artifacts from the laboratory of Joseph Priestley, the discoverer of oxygen, are among the scientific treasures here. A Gilbert chemistry set of about 1937 and other objects testify to the pleasures of amateur science. Artifacts also help illuminate the social and political history of biology and the roles of women and minorities in science.

The mathematics collection holds artifacts from slide rules and flash cards to code-breaking equipment. More than 1,000 models demonstrate some of the problems and principles of mathematics, and 80 abstract paintings by illustrator and cartoonist Crockett Johnson show his visual interpretations of mathematical theorems.

Arithmetic Card for Use with a Numeral Frame

In the nineteenthth century, Americans began to teach young groups of children in classrooms. Some of these institutions were designed especially for these children, and were called infant schools.
Description
In the nineteenthth century, Americans began to teach young groups of children in classrooms. Some of these institutions were designed especially for these children, and were called infant schools. To create a vivid impression on young minds, teachers used a numeral frame or abacus in combination with a chart like this one.
The cardboard chart was part of a larger series. It has printing on both sides. One side is entitled: ARITHMETIC CARD III. It shows groups of like objects on the left, with one slightly different object on the right. Subtracting one fallen tree from two trees leaves one tree standing, Having one of three mounted trumpeters fall off his horse leaves two trumpeters riding. Further illustrations show the loss of one from larger groups. The reverse of this chart is entitled: ARITHMETIC CARD VII. It has groups of vertical lines on the left and three vertical lines on the right, and is designed to teach adding by three.
A mark on the chart reads: INFANT SCHOOL CARDS, PUBLISHED BY MUNROE & FRANCIS, BOSTON.
For another chart in the series, see CL*389116.28.
Infant schools were popular in Boston around 1830, and the abacus was introduced into the Boston schools at about that time. Munroe & Francis was in business from the last decades of the 1700s until 1860 or so. In October 1831, The New England Magazine announced that the firm had just published “Complete Sets of Lessons on Cards for Infant Schools, consisting of 100 Lessons of every variety, on 50 Boards.” It seems likely that these cards were part of that set.
Reference:
“Works Published,” The New England Magazine, 1 (1831), p. 368.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1831
maker
Munroe & Francis
ID Number
CL.389116.04
accession number
182022
catalog number
389116.04

Leveling Bulb

Joseph Priestley (1733–1804) used this leveling funnel bulb in his Northumberland, Pennsylvania laboratory. Priestley, the noted chemist whose accomplishments include the discovery of oxygen, was born in England.
Description (Brief)
Joseph Priestley (1733–1804) used this leveling funnel bulb in his Northumberland, Pennsylvania laboratory. Priestley, the noted chemist whose accomplishments include the discovery of oxygen, was born in England. He lived and worked in Birmingham for many years, but his views as a Dissenter and an advocate of the French Revolution incited an angry mob into burning down his house and laboratory. In 1794 he fled to America, eventually settling in Northumberland, near Philadelphia. His great-great-granddaughter, Frances Priestley, donated his surviving laboratory ware to the Smithsonian in 1883.
Source:
National Museum of American History Accession File #13305
Location
Currently not on view
used by
Priestley, Joseph
ID Number
CH.315356.24
accession number
13305
catalog number
315356.24

Calorimotor (Replica)

Following the work of Luigi Galvani in the early 1790s, several scientists experimented with galvanic electricity and developed ever more powerful batteries. Allesandro Volta introduced the electric pile.
Description
Following the work of Luigi Galvani in the early 1790s, several scientists experimented with galvanic electricity and developed ever more powerful batteries. Allesandro Volta introduced the electric pile. William Cruickshank designed a trough battery that was essentially a Voltaic pile turned on its side. Humphry Davy used large batteries to isolate new elements. James Woodhouse, an American chemist who went to England and returned home with a Cruickshank battery, shared his enthusiasm for galvanic work with Robert Hare (1781–1858), his student at the University of Pennsylvania.
As professor of chemistry in the Medical Department of the University of Pennsylvania, Hare developed what was widely regarded as the best equipped lecture room in the world, and demonstration experiments suitable for very large classes. His galvanic instrument, introduced in 1817, consisted of 20 copper plates that connected with one another, 20 zinc plates that connected with one another, and a wooden box filled with a weak acid. It generated heat as well as electricity, and so Hare called it a calorimotor.
The calorimotor that Hare gave the Smithsonian in 1848 was destroyed in the Institution’s fire of 1865. The replica shown here was made in anticipation of the opening of the National Museum of History and Technology in 1964.
Ref: Robert Hare, A New Theory of Galvanism supported by some Experiments and Observations made by means of the Calorimotor (Philadelphia, 1819).
Robert Hare, “A New Theory of Galvanism, supported by some Experiments and Observations made by means of the Calorimotor,” American Journal of Science 1 (1819): 413-426, and plate.
“Dr. Hare’s Calorimotor,” in Benjamin Pike, Jr., Illustrated Descriptive Catalogue of Optical, Mathematical, and Philosophical Instruments (New York, 1856), vol. 1, pp. 328-330.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
early 1960s
originator
Hare, Robert
ID Number
CH.319426
catalog number
319426
accession number
237914

Bell Jar

Joseph Priestley (1733–1804) used this bell jar in his Northumberland, Pennsylvania laboratory. Priestley, the noted chemist whose accomplishments include the discovery of oxygen, was born in England.
Description (Brief)
Joseph Priestley (1733–1804) used this bell jar in his Northumberland, Pennsylvania laboratory. Priestley, the noted chemist whose accomplishments include the discovery of oxygen, was born in England. He lived and worked in Birmingham for many years, but his views as a Dissenter and an advocate of the French Revolution incited an angry mob into burning down his house and laboratory. In 1794 he fled to America, eventually settling in Northumberland, near Philadelphia. His great-great-granddaughter, Frances Priestley, donated his surviving laboratory ware to the Smithsonian in 1883.
The transparent glass bell jar provided a useful shape for trapping and observing gases. A chemical sample could be suspended in the jar and ignited by passing a beam of focused light or heat through the glass. Any gases emitted from its burning would be collected for further study.
Glassmaker William Parker of 69 Fleet St., London or his son Samuel likely made this bell jar. The Parkers supplied Priestley with laboratory glassware free of charge, even after his move to the United States from London. Priestley wrote in a letter to Rev. Samuel Palmer, of his new home in Northumberland, Pennsylvania: “I have more advantages [in respect to experiments] than you could easily imagine in this remote place. I want hardly anything but a glass house.” Indeed, without a local supplier, getting glassware to Northumberland was quite a challenge. A letter to Samuel Parker dated January 20, 1795 details Priestley’s plan to have his most recent shipment brought from Philadelphia to Northumberland via a sleigh, “which is our best method of conveyance in winter.”
Source:
Badash, Lawrence. 1964. “Joseph Priestley’s Apparatus for Pneumatic Chemistry.” Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences XIX (2): 139–55. doi:10.1093/jhmas/XIX.2.139.
National Museum of American History Accession File #13305
Priestley, Joseph, and John Towill Rutt. 1817. The Theological and Miscellaneous Works of Joseph Priestley. Vol. I Part 2. [London : Printed by G. Smallfield. http://archive.org/details/theologicalmisce0102prie.
Location
Currently not on view
used by
Priestley, Joseph
ID Number
CH.315344
accession number
13305
catalog number
315344

Flask

Joseph Priestley (1733–1804) used this flask in his Northumberland, Pennsylvania laboratory. Priestley, the noted chemist whose accomplishments include the discovery of oxygen, was born in England.
Description (Brief)
Joseph Priestley (1733–1804) used this flask in his Northumberland, Pennsylvania laboratory. Priestley, the noted chemist whose accomplishments include the discovery of oxygen, was born in England. He lived and worked in Birmingham for many years, but his views as a Dissenter and an advocate of the French Revolution incited an angry mob into burning down his house and laboratory. In 1794 he fled to America, eventually settling in Northumberland, near Philadelphia. His great-great-granddaughter, Frances Priestley, donated his surviving laboratory ware to the Smithsonian in 1883.
Source:
National Museum of American History Accession File #13305
Description
This dark green glass flask belonged to Joseph Priestley (1733-1804), the accomplished and controversial English chemist and natural philosopher, and was undoubtedly made after his immigration to the United States in 1794.
Location
Currently not on view
used by
Priestley, Joseph
ID Number
CH.315354
catalog number
315354
accession number
13305

Burning Mirror (replica)

Joseph Priestley (1733–1804) used this reflector in his Northumberland, Pennsylvania laboratory. Priestley, the noted chemist whose accomplishments include the discovery of oxygen, was born in England.
Description
Joseph Priestley (1733–1804) used this reflector in his Northumberland, Pennsylvania laboratory. Priestley, the noted chemist whose accomplishments include the discovery of oxygen, was born in England. He lived and worked in Birmingham for many years, but his views as a Dissenter and an advocate of the French Revolution incited an angry mob into burning down his house and laboratory. In 1794 he fled to America, eventually settling in Northumberland, near Philadelphia. His great-great-granddaughter, Frances Priestley, donated his surviving laboratory ware to the Smithsonian in 1883.
To study the gas given off from a burning material, Priestley required a way to heat or ignite a sample while it was enclosed in a glass vessel, thus trapping the emitted gas for study. His preference seems to have been to use a burning glass (see object CH*319022) to focus sunlight into a hot beam. However, sunlight could not always be relied upon, particularly in England’s dreary weather. On an overcast day, he would have needed an alternate way to generate focused heat, and likely would have relied on this reflector. A pair of these reflectors, raised to the same height and separated by a distance of about ten to fifteen feet, could be used, with the help of a heat source, to ignite a sample. The heat source (say a red hot ball of iron on a stand) would be placed in the focus of one reflector and the sample to be ignited placed in the focus of the second reflector. Heat from the iron would reflect off of the first reflector and onto the second, from which it was next reflected onto the sample. A mid-20th century catalogue of scientific instruments describes the heat generated by this set-up as sufficient to ignite phosphorous.
This set-up, however, does not seem to be explicitly mentioned by Priestley. Rather than a pair of burning mirrors, he tends to refer to a single mirror. He notes the drawback of the mirror in Experiments and observations on different kinds of air, Vol. II: “. . . the nature of this instrument is such, that it cannot be applied, with effect, except upon substances that are capable of being suspended, or resting on a very slender support. It cannot be directed at all upon any substance in the form of powder, nor hardly upon anything that requires to be put into a vessel of quicksilver; which appears to me to be the most accurate method of extracting air from a great variety of substances.”
This particular reflector is a replica, commissioned by the museum in 1960 as a mate for object CH*316959.
Sources:
Badash, Lawrence. “Joseph Priestley’s Apparatus for Pneumatic Chemistry.” Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences 19, no. 2 (1964): 139–55. doi:10.1093/jhmas/XIX.2.139.
Benjamin, Benjamin Pike. Pike’s Illustrated Descriptive Catalogue of Optical, Mathematical and Philosophical Instruments: Manufactured, Imported, and Sold by the Author; with the Prices Affixed at Which They Are Offered in 1848 ... The author.
National Museum of American History Accession File #13305
National Museum of American History Accession File #229395
Priestley, Joseph. Experiments and Observations on Different Kinds of Air. 2d ed., 1775. cor. ... London,. http://hdl.handle.net/2027/nyp.33433079424671.
———. 1781. Experiments and Observations on Different Kinds of Air ... /. The third edition corrected. London : http://hdl.handle.net/2027/ucm.532738264x.
Priestley, Joseph, and John Towill Rutt. 1817. The Theological and Miscellaneous Works of Joseph Priestley. Vol. I Part 2. [London : Printed by G. Smallfield. http://archive.org/details/theologicalmisce0102prie.
Location
Currently not on view
originator
Priestley, Joseph
ID Number
CH.316959
catalog number
316959
accession number
229395

Burning Mirror

Joseph Priestley (1733–1804) used this reflector in his Northumberland, Pennsylvania laboratory. Priestley, the noted chemist whose accomplishments include the discovery of oxygen, was born in England.
Description
Joseph Priestley (1733–1804) used this reflector in his Northumberland, Pennsylvania laboratory. Priestley, the noted chemist whose accomplishments include the discovery of oxygen, was born in England. He lived and worked in Birmingham for many years, but his views as a Dissenter and an advocate of the French Revolution incited an angry mob into burning down his house and laboratory. In 1794 he fled to America, eventually settling in Northumberland, near Philadelphia. His great-great-granddaughter, Frances Priestley, donated his surviving laboratory ware to the Smithsonian in 1883.
To study the gas given off from a burning material, Priestley required a way to heat or ignite a sample while it was enclosed in a glass vessel, thus trapping the emitted gas for study. His preference seems to have been to use a burning glass (see object CH*319022) to focus sunlight into a hot beam. However, sunlight could not always be relied upon, particularly in England’s dreary weather. On an overcast day, he would have needed an alternate way to generate focused heat, and likely would have relied on this reflector. A pair of these reflectors, raised to the same height and separated by a distance of about ten to fifteen feet, could be used, with the help of a heat source, to ignite a sample. The heat source (say a red hot ball of iron on a stand) would be placed in the focus of one reflector and the sample to be ignited placed in the focus of the second reflector. Heat from the iron would reflect off of the first reflector and onto the second, from which it was next reflected onto the sample. A mid-20th century catalogue of scientific instruments describes the heat generated by this set-up as sufficient to ignite phosphorous.
This set-up, however, does not seem to be explicitly mentioned by Priestley. Rather than a pair of burning mirrors, he tends to refer to a single mirror. He notes the drawback of the mirror in Experiments and observations on different kinds of air, Vol. II: “. . . the nature of this instrument is such, that it cannot be applied, with effect, except upon substances that are capable of being suspended, or resting on a very slender support. It cannot be directed at all upon any substance in the form of powder, nor hardly upon anything that requires to be put into a vessel of quicksilver; which appears to me to be the most accurate method of extracting air from a great variety of substances.”
Sources:
Badash, Lawrence. “Joseph Priestley’s Apparatus for Pneumatic Chemistry.” Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences 19, no. 2 (1964): 139–55. doi:10.1093/jhmas/XIX.2.139.
Benjamin Pike. Pike’s Illustrated Descriptive Catalogue of Optical, Mathematical and Philosophical Instruments: Manufactured, Imported, and Sold by the Author; with the Prices Affixed at Which They Are Offered in 1848 ... The author.
National Museum of American History Accession File #13305
National Museum of American History Accession File #229395
Priestley, Joseph. Experiments and Observations on Different Kinds of Air. 2d ed., 1775. cor. ... London,. http://hdl.handle.net/2027/nyp.33433079424671.
———. 1781. Experiments and Observations on Different Kinds of Air ... /. The third edition corrected. London : http://hdl.handle.net/2027/ucm.532738264x.
Priestley, Joseph, and John Towill Rutt. 1817. The Theological and Miscellaneous Works of Joseph Priestley. Vol. I Part 2. [London : Printed by G. Smallfield. http://archive.org/details/theologicalmisce0102prie.
Location
Currently not on view
used by
Priestley, Joseph
ID Number
CH.315351
catalog number
315351
accession number
13305

Bell Jar

Joseph Priestley (1733–1804) used this bell jar in his Northumberland, Pennsylvania laboratory. Priestley, the noted chemist whose accomplishments include the discovery of oxygen, was born in England.
Description (Brief)
Joseph Priestley (1733–1804) used this bell jar in his Northumberland, Pennsylvania laboratory. Priestley, the noted chemist whose accomplishments include the discovery of oxygen, was born in England. He lived and worked in Birmingham for many years, but his views as a Dissenter and an advocate of the French Revolution incited an angry mob into burning down his house and laboratory. In 1794 he fled to America, eventually settling in Northumberland, near Philadelphia. His great-great-granddaughter, Frances Priestley, donated his surviving laboratory ware to the Smithsonian in 1883.
The transparent glass bell jar provided a useful shape for trapping and observing gases. A chemical sample could be suspended in the jar and ignited by passing a beam of focused light or heat through the glass. Any gases emitted from its burning would be collected for further study.
Glassmaker William Parker of 69 Fleet St., London or his son Samuel likely made this bell jar. The Parkers supplied Priestley with laboratory glassware free of charge, even after his move to the United States from London. Priestley wrote in a letter to Rev. Samuel Palmer, of his new home in Northumberland, Pennsylvania: “I have more advantages [in respect to experiments] than you could easily imagine in this remote place. I want hardly anything but a glass house.” Indeed, without a local supplier, getting glassware to Northumberland was quite a challenge. A letter to Samuel Parker dated January 20, 1795 details Priestley’s plan to have his most recent shipment brought from Philadelphia to Northumberland via a sleigh, “which is our best method of conveyance in winter.”
Source:
Badash, Lawrence. 1964. “Joseph Priestley’s Apparatus for Pneumatic Chemistry.” Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences XIX (2): 139–55. doi:10.1093/jhmas/XIX.2.139.
National Museum of American History Accession File #13305
Priestley, Joseph, and John Towill Rutt. 1817. The Theological and Miscellaneous Works of Joseph Priestley. Vol. I Part 2. [London : Printed by G. Smallfield. http://archive.org/details/theologicalmisce0102prie.
Location
Currently not on view
used by
Priestley, Joseph
ID Number
CH.315345
accession number
13305
catalog number
315345

Retort

This object is a retort made by Josef Kavlier. Retorts are among the oldest forms of glassware used in chemistry. With their bulbs and long necks, they are suitable for distillation—the separation of one material from another through heating.
Description (Brief)
This object is a retort made by Josef Kavlier. Retorts are among the oldest forms of glassware used in chemistry. With their bulbs and long necks, they are suitable for distillation—the separation of one material from another through heating. The bulb containing the sample is heated and the resulting gases travel along the neck to a second collecting vessel.
The chemical glassware of Josef Kavalier (1831–1903) of Bohemia was considered to be among the best available for the lab in the mid- to late- 19th century. The Kavalier brand started with Josef’s father Frantisek Kavalir (1796–1853) (the family later added an “e” to make the name easier for international customers). In the 1830s Frantisek developed a very hard, resistant glass which he used to produce chemical glassware at his glassworks in Sázava. He worked with renowned Swedish chemist Jons Jacob Berzelius (1779–1848) to design new forms and shapes to replace earlier flasks and alembics, and became one of the first exporters of specially made chemical glass. Frantisek’s sons, including Josef, continued the business after his death.
Sources:
Langhamer, Antonín. The Legend of Bohemian Glass: A Thousand Years of Glassmaking in the Heart of Europe. Tigris, 2003.
Description
Frantisek Kavalir (1796–1853) was a glassworker in Sázava, Bohemia, who developed a hard and chemically-resistant glass in the 1830s and, working with the Swedish chemist, Jons Jacob Berzelius, began making glassware suitable for chemical work. His son, Josef Kavalier (1831–1903), continued the business. This retort, which came from the Stevens Institute of Technology, has the blue logo of the Kavalier firm.
Location
Currently not on view
maker
Kavalier, Josef
ID Number
CH.316874.10
catalog number
316874.10
accession number
222983

Separating and Delivery Vessel

Joseph Priestley (1733–1804) used this separating and delivery vessel in his Northumberland, Pennsylvania laboratory. Priestley, the noted chemist whose accomplishments include the discovery of oxygen, was born in England.
Description (Brief)
Joseph Priestley (1733–1804) used this separating and delivery vessel in his Northumberland, Pennsylvania laboratory. Priestley, the noted chemist whose accomplishments include the discovery of oxygen, was born in England. He lived and worked in Birmingham for many years, but his views as a Dissenter and an advocate of the French Revolution incited an angry mob into burning down his house and laboratory. In 1794 he fled to America, eventually settling in Northumberland, near Philadelphia. His great-great-granddaughter, Frances Priestley, donated his surviving laboratory ware to the Smithsonian in 1883.
Source:
National Museum of American History Accession File #13305
Location
Currently not on view
used by
Priestley, Joseph
ID Number
CH.315356.27
accession number
13305
catalog number
315356.27

Movie Costumes, R2-D2 and C-3PO

In the fictional universe of George Lucas' Star Wars films, robots called droids (short for android) come in many shapes and served many purposes. Two droids—R2-D2 and C-3PO—have won enormous popularity for their supporting roles in all six of the series.
Description
In the fictional universe of George Lucas' Star Wars films, robots called droids (short for android) come in many shapes and served many purposes. Two droids—R2-D2 and C-3PO—have won enormous popularity for their supporting roles in all six of the series. In the collections of the National Museum of American History are costumes of R2-D2 and C-3PO from Return of the Jedi, released in 1983 and the third film in the Star Wars series.
Designed from artwork by Ralph McQuarrie in 1975, R2-D2 looks more like a small blue-and-white garbage can than a human being. In the films, R2-D2 is the type of droid built to interface with computers and service starships--a kind of super technician suited for tasks well beyond human capability. By turns comic and courageous, this helpmate communicates with expressive squeals and head spins, lumbers on stubby legs, and repeatedly saves the lives of human masters.
Several R2-D2 units, specialized according to function and edited into a final composite, were used for making a single movie scene. Some units were controlled remotely. Others, like this one, were costume shells, in which actor Kenny Baker sat and manipulated the droid movements.
R2-D2's sidekick and character foil, also based on art by Ralph McQuarrie, is C-3PO. Termed a protocol droid in the films, C-3PO can speak six million languages and serves the diverse cultures of Lucas' imaginary galaxy as a robotic diplomat and translator. Where R2 is terse, 3PO is talkative. Where R2 is brave, 3PO is often tentative and sometimes downright cowardly. Where R2 looks like a machine, 3PO—in spite of the distinctive gold "skin"—more closely resembles a human in movements, vision, and intelligence.
In each of the films, actor Anthony Daniels wore the C-3PO costumes. Like the R2-D2 units, more than one C-3PO costume was used for each movie.
The Star Wars films are much more than pop entertainment. Since the first of the series was released in 1977, they have been so immensely popular that they have become cultural reference points for successive American generations. And like other popular works of science fiction, they play a powerful role in shaping our vision of the future.
Likewise, the droids are more than movie stars in these influential films. They are also indicators of the place of robots in the American experience. Conceived at a time when more robots inhabited the imaginative worlds of science fiction than the real world, R2-D2 and C-3PO represent the enduring dream of having robots as personal servants, to do things we will not or cannot do for ourselves. Today, real robots are more numerous. They mostly work on industrial production lines, but researchers are working to extend the use of robots for tasks not humanly possible. It is likely we will see more of them in the future—as aids for medicine and surgery, for military and security, and even for exploring, if not a galaxy far away, at least the far reaches of our own solar system.
Location
Currently not on view
Associated Name
LUCASFILM Ltd.
ID Number
COLL.DROIDS.006000
accession number
1984.0302
catalog number
1984.0302.01
1984.0302.02

Filtering flask

This object is a modifed 250 mL Erlenmeyer flask made of Pyrex glass. The Erlenmeyer flask is named for Emil Erlenmeyer (1825–1909), a German organic chemist who designed the flask in 1861.
Description (Brief)
This object is a modifed 250 mL Erlenmeyer flask made of Pyrex glass. The Erlenmeyer flask is named for Emil Erlenmeyer (1825–1909), a German organic chemist who designed the flask in 1861. The flask is often used for stirring or heating solutions and is purposefully designed to be useful for those tasks. The narrow top allows it to be stoppered, the sloping sides prevent liquids from slopping out when stirred, and the flat bottom can be placed on a heating mechanism or apparatus.
Pyrex has its origins in the early 1910s, when American glass company Corning Glass Works began looking for new products to feature its borosilicate glass, Nonex. At the suggestion of Bessie Littleton, a Corning scientist’s wife, the company began investigating Nonex for bakeware. After removing lead from Nonex to make the glass safe for cooking, they named the new formula “Pyrex”—“Py” for the pie plate, the first Pyrex product. In 1916 Pyrex found another market in the laboratory. It quickly became a favorite brand in the scientific community for its strength against chemicals, thermal shock, and mechanical stress.
Sources:
Dyer, Davis. The Generations of Corning: The Life and Times of a Global Corporation. Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press, 2001.
Jensen, William B. “The Origin of Pyrex.” Journal of Chemical Education 83, no. 5 (2006): 692. doi:10.1021/ed083p692.
Kraissl, F. “A History of the Chemical Apparatus Industry.” Journal of Chemical Education 10, no. 9 (1933): 519. doi:10.1021/ed010p519.
Ridley, John. Essentials of Clinical Laboratory Science. Cengage Learning, 2010.
Sella, Andrea. “Classic Kit: Erlenmeyer Flask,” July 2008. http://www.rsc.org/chemistryworld/Issues/2008/July/ErlenmeyerFlask.asp.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1917-1930
maker
Corning Incorporated
ID Number
CH.316056.091
catalog number
316056.091
accession number
217523

Gas Collecting Flask

Joseph Priestley (1733–1804) used this gas collecting flask in his Northumberland, Pennsylvania laboratory. Priestley, the noted chemist whose accomplishments include the discovery of oxygen, was born in England.
Description (Brief)
Joseph Priestley (1733–1804) used this gas collecting flask in his Northumberland, Pennsylvania laboratory. Priestley, the noted chemist whose accomplishments include the discovery of oxygen, was born in England. He lived and worked in Birmingham for many years, but his views as a Dissenter and an advocate of the French Revolution incited an angry mob into burning down his house and laboratory. In 1794 he fled to America, eventually settling in Northumberland, near Philadelphia. His great-great-granddaughter, Frances Priestley, donated his surviving laboratory ware to the Smithsonian in 1883.
Source:
National Museum of American History Accession File #13305
Description
This glass flask belonged to Joseph Priestley (1733-1804), the accomplished and controversial English chemist and natural philosopher, and was made after his immigration to the United States in 1794. It might have been used for collecting gases over a pneumatic trough.
Location
Currently not on view
used by
Priestley, Joseph
ID Number
CH.315352
accession number
13305
catalog number
315352

Distillation flask

This distillation flask was made by Schott & Genossen. The distilling flask, also known as a fractional distillation flask or fractioning flask, is a vessel with a round bottom and a long neck from which a side arm protrudes.
Description (Brief)
This distillation flask was made by Schott & Genossen. The distilling flask, also known as a fractional distillation flask or fractioning flask, is a vessel with a round bottom and a long neck from which a side arm protrudes. It is primarily used for distillation, the process of separating a mixture of liquids with different boiling points through evaporation and condensation. Liquids with lower boiling points vaporize first and then rise through the neck and into the side arm, where they recondense and collect in a separate container.
In this way, the distillation flask serves a similar purpose to the retort. It offers certain advantages over the retort, however, because its vertical neck makes it easier to add liquids. The neck also allows a thermometer to be inserted, if desired, to record boiling temperatures. The placement of the side arm along the neck varies depending on the characteristics of the solution to be distilled. The higher the boiling point of a substance, the lower the side arm should be on the neck, giving vapors a shorter distance to rise and less chance to recondense before reaching the side arm.
Glastechnisches Laboratorium Schott und Genossen (Glass Technology Laboratory, Schott & Associates), later the Jenaer Glasswerk Schott & Gen. (Jena Glassworks, Schott & Associates), was founded in 1884 by Otto Schott (1851–1935), Ernst Abbe (1840–1905), Carl Zeiss (1816–1888), and Zeiss' son Roderick.
In 1881 Schott, a chemist from a family of glassmakers, and Abbe, a physicist with an interest in optics, formed a research partnership. Together they hoped to perfect a chemical glass formula for lenses in optical instruments like microscopes and telescopes. Their original goal was to develop glasses of high quality and purity with consistent optical properties. As their research expanded, they eventually developed the first borosilicate glasses. Their strength against chemical attack and low coefficient of thermal expansion made them better suited to the harsh circumstances of the chemical laboratory than any other glass.
Jena Glass quickly became a success among the scientific community, widely considered the best on the market until World War I.
This object was used at the Chemistry department at the University of Pennsylvania. Chemistry has been taught at the University since at least 1769 when doctor and signer of the Declaration of Independence, Benjamin Rush (1746–1813), became Professor of Chemistry in the Medical School. A Chemistry department independent of the Medical School was established by 1874.
Sources:
“A Brief History of the Department of Chemistry at Penn.” University of Pennsylvania Department of Chemistry. Accessed March 20, 2015. https://www.chem.upenn.edu/content/penn-chemistry-history.
Baker, Ray Stannard. Seen in Germany. Chautauqua, N. Y.: 1908. http://hdl.handle.net/2027/nyp.33433043165608.
Cauwood, J.D., and W.E.S. Turner. “The Attack of Chemical Reagents on Glass Surfaces, and a Comparison of Different Types of Chemical Glassware.” Journal of the Society of Glass Technology 1 (1917): 153–62.
Findlay, Alexander. Practical Physical Chemistry. London: Longmans, Green and Co., 1917. https://archive.org/details/cu31924031196615.
Gatterman, Ludwig. Practical Methods of Organic Chemistry. New York: The Macmillian Company, 1901. https://archive.org/details/practicalmethods00gatt.
Hovestadt, Heinrich. Jena Glass and Its Scientific and Industrial Applications. London, New York: Macmillan, 1902.
Pfaender, H. G. Schott Guide to Glass. Springer Science & Business Media, 2012.
Walker, Percy H. Comparative Tests of Chemical Glassware. Washington, D.C.: 1918. http://hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp.39015086545707.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
after 1884
maker
Jena Glasswork, Schott & Associates
ID Number
CH.315835.043
catalog number
315835.043
accession number
217523

Retort

Joseph Priestley (1733–1804) used this retort in his Northumberland, Pennsylvania laboratory. Priestley, the noted chemist whose accomplishments include the discovery of oxygen, was born in England.
Description (Brief)
Joseph Priestley (1733–1804) used this retort in his Northumberland, Pennsylvania laboratory. Priestley, the noted chemist whose accomplishments include the discovery of oxygen, was born in England. He lived and worked in Birmingham for many years, but his views as a Dissenter and an advocate of the French Revolution incited an angry mob into burning down his house and laboratory. In 1794 he fled to America, eventually settling in Northumberland, near Philadelphia. His great-great-granddaughter, Frances Priestley, donated his surviving laboratory ware to the Smithsonian in 1883.
Retorts are among the oldest forms of glassware used in chemistry. With their bulbs and long necks, they are suitable for distillation-- the separation of one material from another through heating. The bulb containing the sample is heated and the resulting gases travel along the neck to a second collecting vessel.
A 1791 inventory of Joseph Priestley’s lab notes over nine dozen retorts, varying in size from two quarts to one ounce. Priestley likely used these retorts as part of a pneumatic trough, a laboratory apparatus used to trap gases. In it, the neck of the retort is placed into a tank of water. Gases escaping from the retort’s neck bubble up through the water and into a vessel—such as a bell jar—which rests on a shelf with a hole placed several inches below the water’s surface. Gases are trapped in the jar for further study.
Glassmaker William Parker of 69 Fleet St., London or his son Samuel likely made this retort. The Parkers supplied Priestley with laboratory glassware free of charge, even after his move to the United States from London. Priestley wrote in a letter to Rev. Samuel Palmer, of his new home in Northumberland, Pennsylvania: “I have more advantages [in respect to experiments] than you could easily imagine in this remote place. I want hardly anything but a glass house.” Indeed, without a local supplier, getting glassware to Northumberland was quite a challenge. A letter to Samuel Parker dated January 20, 1795, details Priestley’s plan to have his most recent shipment brought from Philadelphia to Northumberland via a sleigh, “which is our best method of conveyance in winter.”
Sources:
Badash, Lawrence. 1964. “Joseph Priestley’s Apparatus for Pneumatic Chemistry.” Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences XIX (2): 139–55. doi:10.1093/jhmas/XIX.2.139.
National Museum of American History Accession File #13305
Priestley, Joseph, and Henry Carrington Bolton. 1892. Scientific Correspondence of Joseph Priestley. Ninety-Seven Letters Addressed to Josiah Wedgwood, Sir Joseph Banks, Capt. James Keir, James Watt, Dr. William Withering, Dr. Benjamin Rush, and Others. Together with an Appendix: I. The Likenesses of Priestley in Oil, Ink, Marble, and Metal. II. The Lunar Society of Birmingham. III. Inventory of Priestley’s Laboratory in 1791. New York: Privately printed [Philadelphia, Collins printing house]. http://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/001486336.
Priestley, Joseph, and John Towill Rutt. 1817. The Theological and Miscellaneous Works of Joseph Priestley. Vol. I Part 2. [London : Printed by G. Smallfield. http://archive.org/details/theologicalmisce0102prie.
Location
Currently not on view
used by
Priestley, Joseph
ID Number
CH.315343
accession number
13305
catalog number
315343

Bell Jar

Joseph Priestley (1733–1804) used this bell jar in his Northumberland, Pennsylvania laboratory. Priestley, the noted chemist whose accomplishments include the discovery of oxygen, was born in England.
Description (Brief)
Joseph Priestley (1733–1804) used this bell jar in his Northumberland, Pennsylvania laboratory. Priestley, the noted chemist whose accomplishments include the discovery of oxygen, was born in England. He lived and worked in Birmingham for many years, but his views as a Dissenter and an advocate of the French Revolution incited an angry mob into burning down his house and laboratory. In 1794 he fled to America, eventually settling in Northumberland, near Philadelphia. His great-great-granddaughter, Frances Priestley, donated his surviving laboratory ware to the Smithsonian in 1883.
The transparent glass bell jar provided a useful shape for trapping and observing gases. A chemical sample could be suspended in the jar and ignited by passing a beam of focused light or heat through the glass. Any gases emitted from its burning would be collected for further study.
Glassmaker William Parker of 69 Fleet St., London or his son Samuel likely made this bell jar. The Parkers supplied Priestley with laboratory glassware free of charge, even after his move to the United States from London. Priestley wrote in a letter to Rev. Samuel Palmer, of his new home in Northumberland, Pennsylvania: “I have more advantages [in respect to experiments] than you could easily imagine in this remote place. I want hardly anything but a glass house.” Indeed, without a local supplier, getting glassware to Northumberland was quite a challenge. A letter to Samuel Parker dated January 20, 1795 details Priestley’s plan to have his most recent shipment brought from Philadelphia to Northumberland via a sleigh, “which is our best method of conveyance in winter.”
Source:
Badash, Lawrence. 1964. “Joseph Priestley’s Apparatus for Pneumatic Chemistry.” Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences XIX (2): 139–55. doi:10.1093/jhmas/XIX.2.139.
National Museum of American History Accession File #13305
Priestley, Joseph, and John Towill Rutt. 1817. The Theological and Miscellaneous Works of Joseph Priestley. Vol. I Part 2. [London : Printed by G. Smallfield. http://archive.org/details/theologicalmisce0102prie.
Location
Currently not on view
used by
Priestley, Joseph
ID Number
CH.315348
catalog number
315348
accession number
13305

Distillation Tube

Glinksy’s distilling tube (or dephlegmator) dates from 1875, a time when the burgeoning field of organic chemistry led to a proliferation of distillation apparatus designed for the laboratory.
Description (Brief)
Glinksy’s distilling tube (or dephlegmator) dates from 1875, a time when the burgeoning field of organic chemistry led to a proliferation of distillation apparatus designed for the laboratory. Distillation is the process of separating a mixture of liquids with different boiling points through evaporation and condensation. Liquids with lower boiling points vaporize first, rise through the distillation apparatus, and recondense to be collected in a separate container.
A dephlegmator uses separate chambers to promote multiple condensations and vaporizations, leading to a more efficient separation of the components. Glinksy’s dephelgmator features spherical glass beads as separations between its chambers.
Sources:
Glinsky, G. “Ein Verbesserter Apparat Zur Fractionirten Destillation.” Justus Liebig’s Annalen Der Chemie 175–76 (1875): 381–82.
Krell, E. Handbook of Laboratory Distillation. Elsevier, 1982.
Lintern, A.C. 2006. “Dephlegmator.” A-to-Z Guide to Thermodynamics, Heat and Mass Transfer, and Fluids Engineering: AtoZ. http://www.thermopedia.com/content/691/.
Young, Sydney. “The Relative Efficiency and Usefulness of Various Forms of Still-Head for Fractional Distillation, with a Description of Some New Forms Possessing Special Advantages.” Journal of the Chemical Society 75 (1899): 679–709.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
after 1875
ID Number
CH.315820
catalog number
315820
accession number
217523

Bell Jar

Joseph Priestley (1733–1804) used this bell jar in his Northumberland, Pennsylvania laboratory. Priestley, the noted chemist whose accomplishments include the discovery of oxygen, was born in England.
Description (Brief)
Joseph Priestley (1733–1804) used this bell jar in his Northumberland, Pennsylvania laboratory. Priestley, the noted chemist whose accomplishments include the discovery of oxygen, was born in England. He lived and worked in Birmingham for many years, but his views as a Dissenter and an advocate of the French Revolution incited an angry mob into burning down his house and laboratory. In 1794 he fled to America, eventually settling in Northumberland, near Philadelphia. His great-great-granddaughter, Frances Priestley, donated his surviving laboratory ware to the Smithsonian in 1883.
The transparent glass bell jar provided a useful shape for trapping and observing gases. A chemical sample could be suspended in the jar and ignited by passing a beam of focused light or heat through the glass. Any gases emitted from its burning would be collected for further study.
Glassmaker William Parker of 69 Fleet St., London or his son Samuel likely made this bell jar. The Parkers supplied Priestley with laboratory glassware free of charge, even after his move to the United States from London. Priestley wrote in a letter to Rev. Samuel Palmer, of his new home in Northumberland, Pennsylvania: “I have more advantages [in respect to experiments] than you could easily imagine in this remote place. I want hardly anything but a glass house.” Indeed, without a local supplier, getting glassware to Northumberland was quite a challenge. A letter to Samuel Parker dated January 20, 1795 details Priestley’s plan to have his most recent shipment brought from Philadelphia to Northumberland via a sleigh, “which is our best method of conveyance in winter.”
Source:
Badash, Lawrence. 1964. “Joseph Priestley’s Apparatus for Pneumatic Chemistry.” Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences XIX (2): 139–55. doi:10.1093/jhmas/XIX.2.139.
National Museum of American History Accession File #13305
Priestley, Joseph, and John Towill Rutt. 1817. The Theological and Miscellaneous Works of Joseph Priestley. Vol. I Part 2. [London : Printed by G. Smallfield. http://archive.org/details/theologicalmisce0102prie.
Location
Currently not on view
used by
Priestley, Joseph
ID Number
CH.315346
catalog number
315346
accession number
13305

Leveling Bulb

Joseph Priestley (1733–1804) used this leveling funnel bulb in his Northumberland, Pennsylvania laboratory. Priestley, the noted chemist whose accomplishments include the discovery of oxygen, was born in England.
Description (Brief)
Joseph Priestley (1733–1804) used this leveling funnel bulb in his Northumberland, Pennsylvania laboratory. Priestley, the noted chemist whose accomplishments include the discovery of oxygen, was born in England. He lived and worked in Birmingham for many years, but his views as a Dissenter and an advocate of the French Revolution incited an angry mob into burning down his house and laboratory. In 1794 he fled to America, eventually settling in Northumberland, near Philadelphia. His great-great-granddaughter, Frances Priestley, donated his surviving laboratory ware to the Smithsonian in 1883.
Source:
National Museum of American History Accession File #13305
Location
Currently not on view
used by
Priestley, Joseph
ID Number
CH.315356.26
accession number
13305
catalog number
315356.26

Beaker

In chemical parlance, a beaker is a cylindrical vessel, usually of glass, with a flat bottom. This example has a small beak (or pouring spout).
Description (Brief)
In chemical parlance, a beaker is a cylindrical vessel, usually of glass, with a flat bottom. This example has a small beak (or pouring spout). It was made by Schott & Genossen, a firm in Jena that was founded in 1884 by Otto Schott (1851–1935), Ernst Abbe (1840–1905), Carl Zeiss (1816–1888), and Zeiss' son Roderick.
In 1881 Schott, a chemist from a family of glassmakers, and Abbe, a physicist with an interest in optics, formed a research partnership. Together they hoped to perfect a chemical glass formula for lenses in optical instruments like microscopes and telescopes. Their original goal was to develop glasses of high quality and purity with consistent optical properties. As their research expanded, they eventually developed the first borosilicate glasses. Their strength against chemical attack and low coefficient of thermal expansion made them better suited to the harsh circumstances of the chemical laboratory than any other glass.
Jena Glass was widely considered the best on the market until World War I.
Sources:
“A Brief History of the Department of Chemistry at Penn.” University of Pennsylvania Department of Chemistry. Accessed March 20, 2015. https://www.chem.upenn.edu/content/penn-chemistry-history.
Baker, Ray Stannard. Seen in Germany. Chautauqua, N. Y.: 1908. http://hdl.handle.net/2027/nyp.33433043165608.
Cauwood, J.D., and W.E.S. Turner. “The Attack of Chemical Reagents on Glass Surfaces, and a Comparison of Different Types of Chemical Glassware.” Journal of the Society of Glass Technology 1 (1917): 153–62.
Hovestadt, Heinrich. Jena Glass and Its Scientific and Industrial Applications. London, New York: Macmillan, 1902.
Langhamer, Antonín. The Legend of Bohemian Glass: A Thousand Years of Glassmaking in the Heart of Europe. Czech Republic: Tigris, 2003.
Pfaender, H. G. Schott Guide to Glass. Springer Science & Business Media, 2012.
Walker, Percy H. Comparative Tests of Chemical Glassware. Washington, D.C.: 1918. http://hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp.39015086545707.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
after 1884
maker
Jena Glasswork, Schott & Associates
ID Number
CH.316050.078
catalog number
316050.078
accession number
217523

Flask

Joseph Priestley (1733–1804) used this flask in his Northumberland, Pennsylvania laboratory. Priestley, the noted chemist whose accomplishments include the discovery of oxygen, was born in England.
Description (Brief)
Joseph Priestley (1733–1804) used this flask in his Northumberland, Pennsylvania laboratory. Priestley, the noted chemist whose accomplishments include the discovery of oxygen, was born in England. He lived and worked in Birmingham for many years, but his views as a Dissenter and an advocate of the French Revolution incited an angry mob into burning down his house and laboratory. In 1794 he fled to America, eventually settling in Northumberland, near Philadelphia. His great-great-granddaughter, Frances Priestley, donated his surviving laboratory ware to the Smithsonian in 1883.
Source:
National Museum of American History Accession File #13305
Description
This spherical, clear glass flask belonged to Joseph Priestley (1733-1804), the accomplished and controversial English chemist and natural philosopher, and was undoubtedly made after his immigration to the United States in 1794.
Location
Currently not on view
used by
Priestley, Joseph
ID Number
CH.315355.21
catalog number
315355.21
accession number
13305

Kjeldahl flask

This Kjeldahl flask was made by Schott & Genossen. In 1883 Danish chemist Johan Kjeldahl (1849–1900) published the Kjeldahl method.
Description
This Kjeldahl flask was made by Schott & Genossen. In 1883 Danish chemist Johan Kjeldahl (1849–1900) published the Kjeldahl method. It was the first accurate, simple, and speedy way to determine nitrogen content in organic matter.
Kjeldahl’s employer, Carlsberg Laboratory, had been established as a place for scientific research to perfect the process of beer making. Later, the laboratory took on a broader mission to contribute to pure research. The need for the Kjeldahl method grew from his analysis of the protein content of grains for beers at different stages—from germination to fermentation as beer wort. Analyses of nitrogen content can be used to quantify the amount of protein in a sample, and protein content of grains influences the volume of beer they produce.
The Kjeldahl method proved to have wide-ranging applications and was quickly adopted by scientists from a variety of fields. In the mid-2010s, the method (with minor modifications) was still in use for purposes ranging from analysis of protein in foods to nitrogen content in soil samples. To “Kjeldahl” a sample has become a verb in chemical parlance.
Kjeldahl’s name also became attached to a piece of laboratory equipment he developed in 1888. The long-necked, round-bottomed flask was ideal for avoiding splashback when heating solutions. Splashback was a threat during the first step of the Kjeldahl method—which requires heating the sample in concentrated sulfuric acid.
Glastechnisches Laboratorium Schott und Genossen (Glass Technology Laboratory, Schott & Associates), later the Jenaer Glasswerk Schott & Gen. (Jena Glassworks, Schott & Associates), was founded in 1884 by Otto Schott (1851–1935), Ernst Abbe (1840–1905), Carl Zeiss (1816–1888), and Zeiss' son Roderick.
In 1881 Schott, a chemist from a family of glassmakers, and Abbe, a physicist with an interest in optics, formed a research partnership. Together they hoped to perfect a chemical glass formula for lenses in optical instruments like microscopes and telescopes. Their original goal was to develop glasses of high quality and purity with consistent optical properties. As their research expanded, they eventually developed the first borosilicate glasses. Their strength against chemical attack and low coefficient of thermal expansion made them better suited to the harsh circumstances of the chemical laboratory than any other glass.
Jena Glass quickly became a success among the scientific community, widely considered the best on the market until World War I.
Sources:
Baker, Ray Stannard. Seen in Germany. Chautauqua, N. Y.: 1908. http://hdl.handle.net/2027/nyp.33433043165608.
Burns, D. Thorburn, and W. I. Stephen. “Kjeldahl Centenary Meeting.” Analytical Proceedings 21, no. 6 (1984): 210–20. doi:10.1039/AP9842100210.
Cauwood, J.D., and W.E.S. Turner. “The Attack of Chemical Reagents on Glass Surfaces, and a Comparison of Different Types of Chemical Glassware.” Journal of the Society of Glass Technology 1 1917): 153–62.
Hovestadt, Heinrich. Jena Glass and Its Scientific and Industrial Applications. London, New York: Macmillan, 1902.
Pfaender, H. G. Schott Guide to Glass. Springer Science & Business Media, 2012.
Sáez-Plaza, Purificación, Tadeusz Michałowski, María José Navas, Agustín García Asuero, and Sławomir Wybraniec. “An Overview of the Kjeldahl Method of Nitrogen Determination. Part I. Early History, Chemistry of the Procedure, and Titrimetric Finish.” Critical Reviews in Analytical Chemistry 43, no. 4 (2013): 178–223. doi:10.1080/10408347.2012.751786.
Sella, Andrea. 2008. “Classic Kit: Kjeldahl Flask.” Chemistry World. http://www.rsc.org/chemistryworld/Issues/2008/May/KjeldahlFlask.asp.
Walker, Percy H. Comparative Tests of Chemical Glassware. Washington, D.C.: 1918. http://hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp.39015086545707.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
after 1884
maker
Jena Glasswork, Schott & Associates
ID Number
CH.316441
catalog number
316441
accession number
223721

Retort

Joseph Priestley (1733–1804) used this retort in his Northumberland, Pennsylvania laboratory. Priestley, the noted chemist whose accomplishments include the discovery of oxygen, was born in England.
Description (Brief)
Joseph Priestley (1733–1804) used this retort in his Northumberland, Pennsylvania laboratory. Priestley, the noted chemist whose accomplishments include the discovery of oxygen, was born in England. He lived and worked in Birmingham for many years, but his views as a Dissenter and an advocate of the French Revolution incited an angry mob into burning down his house and laboratory. In 1794 he fled to America, eventually settling in Northumberland, near Philadelphia. His great-great-granddaughter, Frances Priestley, donated his surviving laboratory ware to the Smithsonian in 1883.
Retorts are among the oldest forms of glassware used in chemistry. With their bulbs and long necks, they are suitable for distillation-- the separation of one material from another through heating. The bulb containing the sample is heated and the resulting gases travel along the neck to a second collecting vessel.
A 1791 inventory of Joseph Priestley’s lab notes over nine dozen retorts, varying in size from two quarts to one ounce. Priestley likely used these retorts as part of a pneumatic trough, a laboratory apparatus used to trap gases. In it, the neck of the retort is placed into a tank of water. Gases escaping from the retort’s neck bubble up through the water and into a vessel—such as a bell jar—which rests on a shelf with a hole placed several inches below the water’s surface. Gases are trapped in the jar for further study.
Glassmaker William Parker of 69 Fleet St., London or his son Samuel likely made this retort. The Parkers supplied Priestley with laboratory glassware free of charge, even after his move to the United States from London. Priestley wrote in a letter to Rev. Samuel Palmer, of his new home in Northumberland, Pennsylvania: “I have more advantages [in respect to experiments] than you could easily imagine in this remote place. I want hardly anything but a glass house.” Indeed, without a local supplier, getting glassware to Northumberland was quite a challenge. A letter to Samuel Parker dated January 20, 1795, details Priestley’s plan to have his most recent shipment brought from Philadelphia to Northumberland via a sleigh, “which is our best method of conveyance in winter.”
Sources:
Badash, Lawrence. 1964. “Joseph Priestley’s Apparatus for Pneumatic Chemistry.” Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences XIX (2): 139–55. doi:10.1093/jhmas/XIX.2.139.
National Museum of American History Accession File #13305
Priestley, Joseph, and Henry Carrington Bolton. 1892. Scientific Correspondence of Joseph Priestley. Ninety-Seven Letters Addressed to Josiah Wedgwood, Sir Joseph Banks, Capt. James Keir, James Watt, Dr. William Withering, Dr. Benjamin Rush, and Others. Together with an Appendix: I. The Likenesses of Priestley in Oil, Ink, Marble, and Metal. II. The Lunar Society of Birmingham. III. Inventory of Priestley’s Laboratory in 1791. New York: Privately printed [Philadelphia, Collins printing house]. http://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/001486336.
Priestley, Joseph, and John Towill Rutt. 1817. The Theological and Miscellaneous Works of Joseph Priestley. Vol. I Part 2. [London : Printed by G. Smallfield. http://archive.org/details/theologicalmisce0102prie.
Location
Currently not on view
used by
Priestley, Joseph
ID Number
CH.315342
catalog number
315342
accession number
13305

Absorption apparatus

This absorption apparatus was used at the Chemistry department at the University of Pennsylvania.
Description (Brief)
This absorption apparatus was used at the Chemistry department at the University of Pennsylvania. Chemistry has been taught at the University since at least 1769 when doctor and signer of the Declaration of Independence, Benjamin Rush (1746–1813), became Professor of Chemistry in the Medical School. A Chemistry department independent of the Medical School was established by 1874.
Sources:
“A Brief History of the Department of Chemistry at Penn.” University of Pennsylvania Department of Chemistry. Accessed March 20, 2015. https://www.chem.upenn.edu/content/penn-chemistry-history.
Location
Currently not on view
ID Number
CH.316244
catalog number
316244
accession number
217523

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