The Arsenal of Eighteenth-Century Chemistry

The Laboratories of Antoine Laurent Lavoisier (1743-1794)
Erscheinungsjahr 2022
ISBN: 978-90-04-40869-2
Verlag: Brill

Buch, Englisch, Band 10, 454 Seiten, Format (B × H): 224 mm x 295 mm, Gewicht: 1588 g

Reihe: Nuncius Series

The substantial collection of Antoine Laurent Lavoisier’s apparatus is not the only surviving collection of eighteenth-century chemical apparatus and instrumentation, but it is without question the most important. The present study provides the first scientific catalogue of Lavoisier’s surviving apparatus. This collection of instruments is remarkable not only for the quality of many of them but, above all, for the number of items that have survived (ca. 600 items). Given such a wealth and variety of instruments, this study also offers the first comprehensive attempt to reconstruct the cultural and social context of Lavoisier’s experimental activities.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Beretta, Marco

Brenni, Paolo

Fachgebiete

• Interdisziplinäres Wissenschaften Wissenschaften: Allgemeines Geschichte der Naturwissenschaften, Formalen Wissenschaften & Technik
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Geschichtliche Themen Wissenschafts- und Universitätsgeschichte
• Medizin | Veterinärmedizin Medizin | Public Health | Pharmazie | Zahnmedizin Medizin, Gesundheitswesen Geschichte der Medizin
• Naturwissenschaften Chemie Chemie Allgemein Geschichte der Chemie
• Geisteswissenschaften Kunst Kunst, allgemein Ausstellungskataloge, Museumsführer
• Interdisziplinäres Wissenschaften Wissenschaften: Forschung und Information Forschungsmethodik, Wissenschaftliche Ausstattung

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Foreword

Robert G.W. Anderson

Preface

Marco Beretta, Paolo Brenni

Abbreviations

Part 1: Lavoisier’s Laboratory Networks

(Marco Beretta)

Introduction

1 The Chemical Laboratories in Paris (1743–1776)

1.1 Chemistry Comes to Paris

1.2 Rouelle’s Laboratory

1.3 Laboratory Life with Macquer and Baumé

2 Lavoisier’s Approach to Chemical Instrument Making

2.1 Lavoisier’s Early Education in Science

2.2 Chemical Instrument Making in Paris before 1770

2.3 Lavoisier and Chemical Instrument Making

2.4 Parisian Instrument Makers at the Arsenal

2.5 Second-Hand Instruments

2.6 The Laboratory Notebooks

Table of Lavoisier’s Laboratory Notebooks

3 Lavoisier’s Sites of Experimental Practice: From the Field to the Laboratory (1764–1794)

3.1 Sites of Experiments

3.2 The Arsenal

4 The Cost of Lavoisier’s Laboratory

4.1 Was Chemistry Cheap or Expensive?

4.2 The Cost of Lavoisier’s Laboratory

4.3 The Cost of Labour

4.4 Deconstructing the Legend

5 The Chemical Revolution on Stage: Lavoisier’s Collection of Instruments (1789–2020)

5.1 The Chemical Revolution on Show (1789–1836)

5.2 Instruments Enter French Politics: The Private and Public Fate of Lavoisier’s Collection (1836–1900)

5.3 The 1943 Exhibition: Lavoisier vs Nazi Germany

Appendix 1: Inventory of Lavoisier’s Residence and Laboratory on the Boulevard de la Madeleine (1796)

Appendix 2: Inventory of Lavoisier’s Laboratory by Nicolas Leblanc (1794)

Appendix 3: Inventory of Lavoisier’s Precision and Chemical Instruments (1794)

Appendix 4: Select Inventory of Marie Anne Lavoisier’s Residence in the Rue d’Anjou (1836)

Appendix 5: Inventory of Lavoisier’s Instruments Acquired by the Conservatoire des arts et métiers in 1864

Appendix 6: Biographical Dictionary of Lavoisier’s Instrument Makers and Suppliers of Chemicals

Part 2: Descriptive Catalogue of the Collection of Lavoisier’s Instruments in the Musée des Arts et Métiers

(Marco Beretta, Paolo Brenni)

Introduction to the Catalogue

Metrology

Measures of Length

Measures of Volume

Measures of Weight

Astronomy, Surveying, Drawing and Mathematics

Astronomy

Surveying Instruments

Drawing and Geometrical Models

Experimental Physics

Hydrostatics and Hydraulics

Acoustics

Pneumatics

Thermology

Optics

Magnetism and Electricity

Meteorology

Thermometers

Barometers

Miscellaneous

Chemistry

Furniture

Heating Apparatus and Common Laboratory Tools

Models

Chemical Apparatus

Chemical Glassware

Chemicals, Minerals and Various Substances

Miscellaneous

Fragments

General Bibliography

Index of Inventory Numbers

Index of Names

Über Autor(innen)

Marco Beretta, Ph.D. (1994), Uppsala University, is Professor of History of Science at the University of Bologna. He has primarily worked on the history of chemistry from antiquity to the early modern period. He has published several books and articles on Lavoisier.

Paolo Brenni (1954-2021) graduated in experimental physics at the University of Zürich. He then worked in Florence for the CNR, the Museo Galileo and the Fondazione Scienza e Tecnica. He restored various collections of historical instruments and wrote several articles on the history of scientific instruments.