TECHNOLOGY AND CULTURE Book Reviews 171 Brass Cf Glass: Scientific Instrument Making Workshops in Scotland as Illustrated by Instruments from the Arthur Frank Collection at the Royal Museum ofScotland. By T. N. Clarke, A. D. Morrison-Low, and A. D. C. Simpson. Edinburgh: National Museums of Scotland, 1989. Pp. xiii + 320; illustrations, notes, index. £25.00 (paper). This volume gives flesh and blood to the names of a host of Scottish scientific instrument makers. Over the past twenty years, the Royal Museum of Scotland has acquired numerous instruments collected by the optician Arthur Frank. These “objects in brass & glass,” to use Charles Dickens’s phrase, date from the 18th to the early 20th century, with a wide spectrum of vendors represented. T. N. Clarke, A. D. Morrison-Low, and A. D. C. Simpson have not only prepared a catalog of the Frank collection but also present accounts of the life and work of the makers and retailers represented. Instruments are grouped by vendor, the vendors by geographical location, and those from one area in roughly chronological order. A few Scots, like James Short, the famed 18th-century maker of telescope mirrors; Alexander Adie and his relatives, the 19th-century makers of drawing instruments and meteorological equipment; and James White and his family, who sold instruments designed by Lord Kelvin, were known internationally. The authors discuss the vendors’ firms in detail, giving accounts of several generations of makers where it is appropriate and tracing ties of apprenticeship and of acquain tanceship in institutions like the Royal Scottish Society of Arts. The book also presents a wealth of information about the other makers and retailers of instruments represented in the Frank collection. Thus, for example, one learns of David Stalker, a watch- and clockmaker in the port town of Leith who also occasionally sold nautical instruments, of the cutler Alexander Cameroon of Dundee, who sold and repaired scientific instruments on the side, and of Charles Gerletti, one of several Italians who sold looking glasses and barometers in 19th-century Glasgow. These and numerous other examples illustrate the widely different meanings of the names appearing on a scientific instrument. A name may be that of the firm that introduced the apparatus, it may be the mark of the maker of all or part of the instrument, or it may only be the mark of a retailer. These diverse meanings suggest useful comparisons between the role of instrument vendors in Scotland, who often relied on English suppliers, and those who sold apparatuses in countries like the United States, who also frequently obtained instruments elsewhere. This handsome volume is illustrated with photographs of both the instruments in the Frank collection and of appropriate portraits, drawings of workshops, and trade cards. Those trying to identify and date Scottish scientific instruments will find it an indispensable source. The book will also intrigue scholars interested in the business history of Scotland, in Scottish science in an era that boasted David Brewster, 172 Book Reviews TECHNOLOGY AND CULTURE Thomas Graham, and William Thomson, and in the general efflores cence of technical activity that accompanied the Industrial Revolu tion. More generally, the authors’ use of evidence provided by objects, of archival and legal records, of city directories and newspapers, and of the work of other historians offers a model for anyone exploring the social history of Scotland. Peggy Aldrich Kidwell Dr. Kidwell watches over the collection of mathematical instruments in the National Museum of American History. Her research interests include the history of astrophys ics, the role of women in science, and the history of computing devices. Science in Sweden: The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences 1739—1989. Edited by Tore Frangsmyr. Nantucket, Mass.: Science History Publications, 1989. Pp. vii + 291; illustrations, notes, appendix, index. $45.00. The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences is best known for its activities in connection with the Nobel Prizes. In Sweden the academy has played a leading role in the promotion of science and technology since it was founded in 1739. This semiofficial collection of essays, issued on the academy’s 250th birthday, analyzes some of the more important activities in its long history. Essays are by definition not comprehensive, and obviously one could suggest...
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Jan 1, 2001
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