Interior View of the Laboratory in the Royal Institution

Description:

The Royal Institution was established in 1799 to advance scientific knowledge and promote the application of science to useful purpose. It was here that Humphrey Davy, young, brilliant and charismatic, began working 1801. In 1803, following a series of popular lectures and important experiments, he was promoted from assistant to professor of chemistry.

William Thomas Brande, who succeeded to the post in 1813, commissioned three images of the Royal Institution laboratory for his Manual of Chemistry (London, 1819). These were drawn by William Tite (1798-1873), a young English architect, and engraved by James Basire (1769-1822), a London artist. Plate I showed a floor plan of lecture hall and laboratory. Plate III showed the major pieces of apparatus. And Plate II showed an interior view of the laboratory. Our example, taken from the third (1830) edition of Brande’s book, is marked “Wm. Tite, del.” and " Is Basire, sc.” and “Published by John Murray, Albermarle Street, London, March 1830” and “PL II.”

The Royal Institution laboratory was, for a time, the best in Great Britain, if not the world. Brande explained that it comprised “all that can be required in the pursuit of experimental chemistry” and “may be well adapted to any public or private establishment. Most of the apparatus was furnished by “Mr. J. Newman, Philosophical Instrument-Maker to the Royal Institution, of Lisle-street, Leicester-square.”

Location: Currently not on view

Place Made: United Kingdom: England, London

Subject: Chemistry

Subject:

See more items in: Medicine and Science: Physical Sciences, Science & Mathematics, Prints from the Physical Sciences Collection

Exhibition:

Exhibition Location:

Data Source: National Museum of American History

Id Number: PH.319031Catalog Number: 319031Accession Number: 236080

Object Name: print

Physical Description: paper (overall material)Measurements: overall: 8 1/4 in x 10 1/2 in; 20.955 cm x 26.67 cmoverall: 13 1/2 in x 15 1/2 in x 1 in; 34.29 cm x 39.37 cm x 2.54 cm

Guid: http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ng49ca746aa-05b7-704b-e053-15f76fa0b4fa

Record Id: nmah_1167734

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