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Galvanic electrical apparatus

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probably made in Edinburgh

Postcard of Galvanic electrical apparatus.
000-180-001-006-C
© National Museums Scotland

Galvanic electrical apparatus

These two pieces of early galvanic electrical apparatus appear to both have belonged to the professor of chemistry at the University of Edinburgh, Thomas Charles Hope (1766-1844). Hope was the son of the Professor of Botany and Materia Medica at Edinburgh, and managed to obtain a lectureship in chemistry at the University of Glasgow. Subsequently, in 1795, he accepted the joint chair of Chemistry at Edinburgh with Joseph Black, whose health was failing and who died in 1799.

The voltaic pile (on the left of the photograph) consists of 56 silver coins, 45 copper discs, and 57 felt pads, which would have been soaked in water or another liquid, to form an early form of battery. The voltameter (to the right) was developed to demonstrate the decomposition of water by an electric current, and measure the volumes of gasses produced. This example predates those described by Michael Farady in 1834.

Hope's career at Edinburgh was marked by the popularity of the chemistry course in which attendance figures rose from 221 in 1795 to an unprecedented 553 in 1823. However, no practical chemistry was taught; Hope demonstrated and lectured. As a result, there grew up a body of independent lecturers, offering private and practical classes. It was probably Hope's failure to encourage practical work and research from 1823 which led to the decline of Edinburgh from its leading position in Europe as the centre for the study of chemistry.


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Online ID: 000-180-001-006-C
Image Rights Holder: National Museums Scotland
Project: 0504: National Museums Scotland Part 2
Project description | View all records in project
Ref: National Museums Scotland  
Date: Pile: around 1800; voltameter: around 1830
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References:
  • Anderson, R.G.W. The Playfair Collection and the teaching of Chemistry at the University of Edinburgh, 1713 -1858. Edinburgh, 1978, pp 91-93; 96-98. 
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