000-100-104-267-C
© National Museums Scotland |
|
Instruction book, for set of specific gravity beads
This instruction book was printed in Edinburgh in 1805. It is for a set of specific gravity beads made in Edinburgh by Isabella Lovi, the widow of a scientific instrument maker, Angelo Lovi, who emigrated to Scotland from Milan in 1772.
Mrs Lovi patented her improvements to the glass 'philosophical bubbles' in 1805, and issued this short book entitled 'A short introduction to the use of the Patent Aerometrical Beads; with some remarks on other instruments that have been employed to ascertain the strengths of spirituous liquors.'
The set features 363 specific gravity beads, together with two slide rules, a thermometer, six glass rods and this instruction book. The set could have been used for a variety of purposes: from ether to concentrated sulphuric acid, which is why there are so many individual glass 'beads', each marked with their respective specific gravity. The Highland Society of Scotland were keen to see it applied to testing the quality of milk, and awarded Mrs Lovi a premium in 1816.
Record details
To search on related items, click any linked text below.
| Online ID: |
000-100-104-267-C |
| Image Rights Holder: |
National Museums Scotland |
| Project: |
0098: National Museums Scotland
Project description | View all records in project |
| Ref: |
National Museums Scotland T.1979.95 |
| Date: |
1805
|
| Material: |
Inscription: A short introduction to the use of the Patent Aerometrical Beads; with some remarks on other instruments that have been
|
| Dimensions: |
150 mm x 230 mm
|
| What: |
Bead, gravity / bubble, philosophical / pamphlet
|
| Subject: |
22. PHYSICS, Hydrostatics (Departmental Classification)
|
| Who: |
Frances Marshall and Sons (Seller of instruments described in the pamphlet)
Mrs Lavi (Seller of instruments described in the pamphlet)
|
| Where: |
Scotland, Midlothian, Edinburgh
|
| Event: |
|
| Description: |
Printed pamphlet describing the use of philosophical bubbles, published in Edinburgh in 1805
|
| References: |
- For Mrs Lovi, see A.D. Morrison-Low, Women in the Nineteenth-Century Scientific Instrument Trade, in Marina Benjamin (ed.), Science & Sensibility: Gender and Scientific Enquiry 1780-1945, Oxford, 1991, p. 103.
- I. Lovi and J.R. Irving, British Patent 2826, 9 March 1805, 'Apparatus for determining the specific gravity of fluid bodies'. I. Lovi, Directions for Using the Patent Aerometric Beads, Edinburgh, 1813.
- T.C. Hope, 'Report of a Committee of the Highland Society appointed to examine the Beads for Ascertaining the Specific Gravity of Liquids Invented by Mrs Lovi and the application of them to discover the richness of milk, Transactions of the Highland Socie
|
| Translations: |
|
| Related Records: |
|
