Hidden Histories: Junior Praestantia Lantern

Junior Praestantia Lantern
Photo by Esther Lie

A significant amount of work has been carried out recently on documenting and researching our magic lanterns and slide collections, and it therefore seemed appropriate to reflect this in the 2013 Hidden Histories display. While this Junior Praestantia Lantern might not be as visually interesting as some of the other lanterns in our collection, it demonstrates specific aspects of the history of these instruments and the heritage of the University.

Magic lanterns are considered a predecessor to the modern slide projector. They function by using a condenser lens to focus artificial light (e.g. candle light, limelight or later electric light) onto a glass slide, the light rays then passing through an objective lens system which projects an enlarged version of the slide’s image onto a screen or wall.

Lens Arrangement in A Magic Lantern
Source: http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/magiclantern/optics.html

The historical development of these instruments dates back to at least the 17^th century, with the Dutch scientist Christiaan Huygens often being cited as a key figure in their invention. The peak of their production was during the second-half of the nineteenth century. They provided a popular form of entertainment in both public and domestic settings. Combining slide projection with live narration, music and other special effects, magic lanternists delivered highly successful entertainment spectacles, including phantasmagoria (gathering of ghosts) shows. Slides could have moving parts, and the use of two lanterns in conjunction with pairs of slides could produce ‘dissolving’ (transforming) effects.

It was this ability to produce projection effects that in the days before moving film would have appeared miraculous to audiences that gave magic lanterns this moniker. In scientific or educational settings however it was more common to refer to them as optical lanterns, or simply lanterns. After the moving picture was introduced in the late nineteenth century the popularity of magic lanterns began to decline, but in educational settings their use continued for longer; we think that the use of magic lanterns continued in the Biology department at the University of Leeds until as late as the 1960s. They provided a convenient way of displaying images to a large audience. Ready-made educational slides featuring a wide range of topics could be ordered from catalogues, or lecturers could have them specially produced using images of their own work.

This particular lantern previously belonged to the collection of the Museum of the History of Education which used to exist at the University of Leeds. Before this it was used in lessons at Thornton School in Bradford. It was sold by the Riley Brothers, also of Bradford, who sold lanterns, slides and readings from the 1880s until 1914. The Riley Brothers also gave Bradford its first ever cinema performance on 6^th April 1896, at the People’s Palace theatre, on the site where the National Media Museum now stands.

Praestantia Lantern Advert, Ashburton Guardian, 2nd May 1894

‘Praestantia’ is a Latin term used to denote superiority and excellence. While this lantern has previously been dated to 1914, models of this sort were available earlier than this, as evidenced by this newspaper advert from 1894. The advert also shows that it was targeted towards schools and churches, rather than professional entertainers or lecturers in larger educational establishments like Universities, who would use larger lanterns with more complex features.

Educators in the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries were growing increasingly interested in the value of sensory perception in aiding the process of obtaining and retaining knowledge, and the use of visual aids was common. In school classrooms, a popular way of incorporating these was to give each pupil a lantern slide and ask them to prepare a talk about it, which they delivered while the image was projected. This activity therefore also helped develop oral communication and presentation skills. It was also thought the element of fun provided by this hybrid of entertainment and education would be conducive to learning. This “school-room” method contrasted with the “lecture-room” method, where the slides served as accompanied the instructor’s lecture. In churches, lanterns were used during services or Sunday school classes, to display biblical stories and hymn lyrics, and to warn people of the dangers of various ‘immoral’ activities. They were also popular with travelling missionaries, who could use illustrations on lantern slides as a way of overcoming language barriers.

One of the main reservations schools and small institutions had about using lanterns was the cost involved, and this is addressed in the advertisement above, which emphasises low-prices and the ability to hire equipment or pay in monthly instalments. Other concerns included the need to train teachers how to use this new technology. However, as mentioned in a previous blog post, we think that the particularly successful use of lanterns by professors at the University of Leeds and its predecessor the Yorkshire College may have inspired primary and secondary schools in the area to take up the use of this educational tool with an unusually high level of enthusiasm.

Currently displayed alongside this lantern are two c.1880 rack and pinion turning slides by Newton & Co, London. These coloured slides would have been used to teach pupils and public audiences about phenomena such as the rising and setting of the sun. Turning the handle rotates one sheet of painted glass over the other, moving one part of the slide’s image in relation to the rest and allowing such phenomena to be demonstrated ‘in action’.

Newton & Co rack and pinion slide, c.1880
Digitised by Liz Stainforth

Sources:

Anon. “How to Utilise the Magic Lantern; Some Valuable Hints for Teachers”, The Review of Reviews, May 1890, pg.404

Riley Brothers, “Advertisment: Improved Praestantia Lantern”, Ashburton Guardian, Volume XV, Issue 3268, 2nd May 1894, p.3

Greenacre, D., “Optical Systems in Magic Lanterns”, http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/magiclantern/optics.html

Newton & Co, “New School Lanterns for Class-Work”, in Newton & Co, Catalogue of Lantern Slides Part II., London, 1906, p.901

Lucerna: The Magic Lantern Web Resource, “Organisation: Riley Brothers, slide manufacturer and dealer”, http://www.slides.uni-trier.de/organisation/index.php?id=1000433

San Diego State University, “Peabody Magic Lantern Collection, Online Presentation”, 2010, http://library.sdsu.edu/exhibits/2009/07/lanterns/index.shtml

Special Collections, J.B. Priestly Library, “The Joseph Riley Archive: Collection Description”, University of Bradford, 2008

University of Leeds Museum of the History of Education Catalogue

Visual Studies Workshop – Exhibition Monograph, “Travels in the Limelight: Projections of the World Through the Magic Lantern, 1880-1930”, in The Magic Lantern Bulletin, Vol. 8, No. 1, April, 1988, pp. 9-12 (http://library.sdsu.edu/pdf/scua/ML_Bulletin/MLBvol18no01.pdf)

Yorkshire Film Archive, “Film No. 3428, Bradford Town Hall Square. Context.”, http://www.yfaonline.com/sites/yorkshirefilmarchive.com/files/node_pdfs/node_7615_context.pdf

For a bibliography of further reading on the use of magic lanterns in education, see The Magic Lantern Bulletin, Vol. 8, No. 1, April, 1988, p. 7. (http://library.sdsu.edu/pdf/scua/ML_Bulletin/MLBvol18no01.pdf)

Further reading on the Riley Brothers:

Copeland, D.M., “Joseph, William, Herbert, Arnold and Bernard Riley”, Who’s Who of Victorian Cinema, http://www.victorian-cinema.net/riley, 2013

Gordon, C., By Gaslight in Winter: A Victorian family history through the magic lantern, London: Elm Tree, 1980

Further blog entries on our lanterns and slides:

http://hpsmuseumleeds.wordpress.com/2013/04/30/leeds-a-leading-light-in-lanterns/

http://hpsmuseumleeds.wordpress.com/2013/01/14/national-media-museum-magic-lantern-research-trip/

http://hpsmuseumleeds.wordpress.com/2012/10/10/beneath-the-scratched-surface-of-a-glass-plate-we-see/

http://hpsmuseumleeds.wordpress.com/2012/09/07/magic-lantern-and-light-night-project/

Hidden Histories: ‘Hawksbee Air Pump, 1850’- A history of science icon

The 18th century was a wealth of knowledge, investigation and fast growing technology. In the university’s collection is a double-barrelled pump, in the style of instrument maker Francis Hauksbee, representing the ‘state of the art’ of 18th century vacuum technology in Britain. The history of science witnessed a varied range of air pumps, yet Hauksbee’s double-barrelled constructions are of the earliest surviving. More can be found in the Royal Scottish Museum, the Oxford Museum of Science and London’s Science Museum. Despite the dating of this pump (1850), it mirrors Hauksbee’s designs from 1703-1709, as from then on commercial pumps underwent minimal modification.

The vacuum air pump was one of the six instruments invented in the 17th century that had a profound impact on experimental science. Others include the pendulum clock, telescope, thermometer, barometer and microscope. After the news of German scientist Otto von Guericke’s air pump experiments spread through Europe, the first English air pump, an improvement of von Guericke’s, was designed and built by the acclaimed Robert Boyle during 1658-9. With a rack and pinion (small metal wheel) to move the solid piston (component moving up and down to create power), and a single brass barrel, it stood on a strong wooden tripod, mouth turned downwards. Teeth were cut onto the piston-rod, so as to form a rack moved by a toothed wheel, and turned by a handle, as in later air-pumps. The only valve was a hole bored into the side.

In the mid 1670s the commercial market for air pumps developed. In 1676, the double-barrelled air pump arose from the work of Robert Boyle and French inventor Denis Papin, with pistons and self-acting valves in cylinders. Used for experiments, these designs relied on piston-rods suspended at opposite ends of a cord passing over a pulley.

Historian of science Henry Guerlac suggested that after air-pumps became cheaper and more widely available between 1670-1680, Boyle and Papin’s air pump techniques were transmitted to Francis Hauksbee (1660–1713). Hauksbee was an English scientist known for his work on electricity, beginning his research at the Royal Society for Isaac Newton in 1703. In 1704, Hauksbee perfected the double cylinder air pump, combining the rack and pinion of the first and second air pumps, with two barrels, twin pistons, and self-acting valves. As Brundtland asserted, Hauksbee’s competence as an exceptional maker of air pumps developed between 1699 and 1703, as a result of his experience with the construction and manufacturing of cupping-glasses (which created suction on the skin often by heat, by a partial vacuum, to mobilise blood flow). Hauksbee developed a new design, in which syringes were used to evacuate the glasses. These syringes, claimed to be small air pumps, were made larger, allowing a transition from the cupping-syringe to an air pump for Hauksbee’s use in natural philosophy. This design included two cylinders with pistons balanced against each other, driven in opposite directions by the rack and pinion.

How did it work? By setting the pump in motion, air was excavated from the glass bulb, creating what we now consider to be a vacuum. Two pistons were worked by rack and pinion, arranged such that as one descended, the other ascended.

In terms of its use, Hauksbee’s air pumps- with interchangeable glasses depending on the purpose- were mainly for laboratory demonstrations, as well as granting the public access to curious and elaborate experiments. Until Hauksbee perfected his double barrelled air pump around 1704, most of the Royal Society’s experiments were of a mundane nature, with Boyle focusing mainly on the properties of air. Hauksbee was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society for his skill in conducting experiments with his novel apparatus.

Air pumps made an important contribution to science, but throughout this period they were widely used as a source of entertainment and instruction, as vacuum was a new and fascination subject. Joseph Derby’s 1768 painting An Experiment on a Bird in the Air Pump depicts people watching, some with horror, the demonstration of an air pump by a traveling scientist. A bird slowly suffocates within. The scientist forms a vacuum by withdrawing air from a glass containing a white cockatoo, yet the painting does not entirely concern scientific invention, instead a human drama in a night-time setting. There is a wide range of reactions, some scared that the bird will die, and others curious and reflecting the coming age of science. Further, this painting illustrates the presentation of 18th century scientific learning, heavily dependent on the techniques of observation. Hauksbee’s air pump, with its transportable size allowing it to reach different settings and locations, most likely aroused a similarly diverse range of reactions. The air-pump became a resource for the ‘business of experimental philosophy.’ Hauksbee’s design was largely maintained for 150 years, with later pumps developed only in their ease of use, and with decreased ultimate pressure.

Notably, historians of science Shapin and Schaffer, in their 1985 influential book Leviathan and the Air-Pump: Hobbes, Boyle, and the Experimental Life, documented the debate between Boyle and Hobbes on Boyle’s air pump experiments of the 1660s. By raising the question of ‘why do experiments lead to truth?’, the two historians investigated the issue of acceptable methods of knowledge production, and the societal factors that led to them. The book also reveals the air pump’s significance as Boyle argued that ‘facts should be manufactured by machines like the air pump, so that gentlemen could witness the experiments, and produce knowledge that everyone agreed on.’ Contrastingly, Hobbes viewed experiments as artificial and unreliable, produced by an exclusive organisation. The air pump was a metaphorical device representing an approach to natural philosophy.

Further, Shelagh Stephenson’s 1999 play An Experiment with an Air Pump, set in 1799, portrayed a house buzzing with scientific experiments (as well as romance and farce). In the world of scientific chaos, Stephenson questioned, at what point does the end result of greater knowledge or the development of a treatment, justify the means used to get there? Highlighting which scientific methods are ethically acceptable, Stephenson drew a link between the bird in the air pump, and human, claiming that we too were reduced to a mere experiment. It is obvious that the air pump was an influential object in the debates over the production of scientific knowledge, and the position of man in natural philosophy, in the 18th century.

In this specific object identified in the University of Leeds History of Education catalogue, Hauksbee is only the style of the air pump. The origins of this replica are a London firm, Horne and Thornthwaite, who also traded in chemistry, photography and optics. However, the use of the air pump can be located back to Bootham School, an independent Quaker boarding school in York, in which many Quaker teachers maintained a keen interest in natural history. Influencing their students, the air pump was most likely used in science lessons. After opening in 1823, Bootham became distinguished for studies in Natural History, its herbarium, and by 1853 its observatory for astronomical studies- thus they placed a heavy emphasis on science. To early Quakers, the physical universe- God’s creation- was infused with religious meaning. The schoolmaster recommended Quaker children should be taught to ‘read the Nature, Use and Service of Trees, Birds, Beast, Fish, Serpents, Insects, Earths, Metals, Salts, Stones Vulgar…’ Moreover, since Quakerism was born in defiance of the Church of England, and Quakers were excluded as ‘dissenters’ from Oxbridge whose curriculum was dominated by classical studies, this allowed Bootham to strengthen their scientific studies. The use of scientific instruments would allow, as Quaker astrophysicist Jocelyn Bell Burnell claimed, students ‘to readily revise what you hold to be the truth, as in both Quakerism and science.’ This serious interest in science at Bootham encouraged the production of a number of distinguished scientists in many areas.

From 1850 to the turn of the century, intense activity in the development of vacuum technology emerged, driven by the needs of scientific research and demands of the incandescent lamp industry. This air pump is only a replica, and subsequently we should guard against the notion that because many air-pumps look the same, no improvements have been made since Boyle or Hauksbee’s day.

Esther Lie

Bibliography

Brundtland, T. 2008. From medicine to natural philosophy: Francis Hauksbee’s way to the air-pump. The British Journal for the History of Science. 41: 2. 209-40.

Brundtland, T. 2012. Francis Hauksbee and his air pump. Notes & Records of The Royal Society. 1743-0178

De Bolla, P. 2003. The Education of the Eye: Painting, Landscape, and Architecture in Eighteenth-Century Britain. Stanford University Press, Stanford, CA.

Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Volume 2. Dec 1844- April 1850. Edinburgh: Printed by Neill and Company. MDCCCLI.

Redhead, P.A. 1999. HISTORY OF VACUUM DEVICES. National Research Council, CAS – CERN Accelerator School : Vacuum Technology. Snekersten, Denmark, Ottawa, Canada. pp.281-290

Shapin, S & Schaffer, S. 1985. Leviathan and the Air-Pump: Hobbes, Boyle, and the Experimental Life. Princeton University Press: Oxford & New Jersey

Swain, K. 2011. An Experiment with an Air Pump: medical ethics staged. CultureLab: Newscientist. [Accessed 5 May 2013] Available from: http://www.newscientist.com/blogs/culturelab/2011/10/experimenting-with-medical-ethics-on-stage.html

Websites
Quakers in Britain. Quakers and Science. [online] [Accessed 5 May 2013]. Available from: http://www.quaker.org.uk/quakers-and-science

The National Gallery. An Experiment on a Bird in the Air Pump: 1768, Joseph Wright ‘of Derby’ [online] [Accessed 5 May 2013]. Available from: http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/joseph-wright-of-derby-an-experiment-on-a-bird-in-the-air-pump

The Royal Society. Air pump. [online] [Accessed 5 May 2013]. Available from: http://royalsociety.org/exhibitions/350years/air-pump/

Hidden Histories 2013

A couple of years ago we, the museum group, collectively put together a case of objects designed purely to show of the diverse range of artefacts our university holds.  Everyone chose an object, wrote a blog post, filmed a youtube video and wrote a label.  Put together and it gave a hint of our interests and knowledge, of how objects might lead you to interesting questions, and how varied yet largely uncelebrated was the University’s history.

That was two years ago.  Now the team has changed, and our knowledge of the collections has grown.  Also, for conservation reasons and to keep people looking at the case, its time for a revamp.  As before, everyone is choosing an object and writing about it.  Research has begun.  Here is my contribution.

Batteries.

Perhaps not the most promising display item you might think, but these two, both from school classrooms in the late 19th-early 20th centuries, are pretty beautiful I think.  The first:

Image copyright DK

The Poggendorff Cell nicely shows the basic workings of a cell.  Its comprises a glass bottle and electrodes.  When working it would be filled with dilute sulphuric acid saturated with potash bichromate which for obvious reasons have been removed for display purposes.  The electrodes are made of carbon (+) and zinc (-).  It was invented by Poggendorff in 1842 and if you’ve ever made a ‘battery’ (or more accurately a cell) from a lemon or a potato then you can probably work out how it works.  When the electrodes are lowered into the acid, the positive electrode attracts ions in the acid, combines and releases electrons which are then attracted to the negative electrode and so it goes on.  The flow of electrons is electricity.

The dry cell:

Image copyright DK

Came along a little later than the Poggendorff cell but works on a similar principle except that it uses a paste instead of liquid acid.  Although this Siemens Brothers dry cell looks rather large to us, it is otherwise very similar to the ones we all have running various gadgets in our homes.

From a safety point of view, you can see, when you look at the Poggendorff battery why many people were apprehensive about allowing electricity into their homes in the early days.  The first homes to install electric lights and so on did so in the 1880s.  By the 1950s there were still homeowners who didn’t trust it preferring to use gas.  For more on this story see our Lights on at Lotherton! collaborative project with Lotherton Hall (on going) based on research by Prof. Graeme Gooday published in his book Domesticating Electricity.

 

Leeds a Leading Light in Lanterns?

The lanterns in the Museum’s collection date from the early 20th century, and were once used for teaching. It was thought that using visual aids would improve memory retention in students, and lanterns and slides provided a convenient way of producing images and displaying them to a large audience. In educational and scientific settings magic lanterns were more commonly referred to as ‘optical lanterns’.

More interesting still, a short article in the Review of Reviews (1890) reveals that Leeds may have been quite pioneering in its uptake of the magic lantern for use in lectures. The article, entitled ‘How to Utilise the Magic Lantern; Some Valuable Hints for to Teachers’, cites ‘The Optical Lantern as an Aid to Teaching’ by C.H. Bothamley, which gives details about the use of the lantern in classrooms at the Yorkshire College, now the University of Leeds. Bothamley refers to Professor Miall (then Professor of Biology), who promoted the use of the magic lantern for teaching students, and was able to demonstrate its successful use even in day-lit rooms. According to this article, “In the Yorkshire College almost every department has its lantern”, used to illustrate lectures on a range of “widely different subjects”. The educational slides in the Museum’s collection are representative of this variety, covering a wide range of topics, including the sciences, engineering, history, art, architecture, industries, geography and travel.

The optical lantern was of particular value to subjects such as biology and engineering because lectures on these subjects were highly dependent on illustrations. Furthermore, in science lectures, small specimens could be easily viewed by a large audience if they were projected using a lantern. Microscope attachments meant that even micro-organisms and microscopic structures could be seen. For example, in the Department of Textile Industries at the Yorkshire College, lanterns were used to display micro-photographs of fibres. Some specially designed scientific lanterns featured an open space in front of the condenser, so that live scientific experiments could be conducted and projected. There was also a second optical system that projected light upwards before projecting it forwards. This allowed specimens in flat dishes to be projected. Special ‘tank slides’ were used for displays requiring liquids, such as crystallised solutions, or to show creatures like tadpoles swimming in water.

The aforementioned Review of Reviews article states that “The example of Leeds has been followed on a smaller scale, but with very gratifying results, in several High Schools in the district” (Review of Reviews, 1890, p404). However, it is unclear if these examples are indicative of the wider use of lanterns in teaching primary and secondary level education. While the use of the magic lantern in school was much written about in education journals of the late nineteenth century, Elizabeth Foster has cited an article in The Teachers’ Aid that highlights “the lack of progress which was made in realising in schools the full potential of photography and projection”. Reasons given for this lack of progress include the conservatism of the teaching profession, the unwillingness of publishers and photographic firms to engage with the school market and the reluctance of teachers to embark on the necessary learning associated with the technology.

Nevertheless, the museum’s collection does contain some slides and equipment that once belonged to local secondary schools. The Carpenter & Westley astronomical slides, which were the subject of the ‘Shedding Light’ post, were used at Bradford Grammar School to teach pupils about planets and the solar system, and the Newton & Co. rack and pinion slides may have been used for similar purposes. These have now been digitised (see below) and we hope to eventually make them available throught the University’s Digital Library repository.

This post is adapted from an excerpt of the now completed magic lantern and slides object history files by Kiara White and Liz Stainforth.

Bragg Day

Saturday 23rd March 2013 was Bragg day at the University of Leeds.

In preparation for this day of activities and lectures we brought together academics with an interest in X-ray crystallography from across the University – from history of science, our museum, the University art gallery, from chemistry, physics, engineering, the Astbury Centre, SPEME (School of Process, Environmental and Materials Engineering), and School of Design – to advise, run workshops and give lectures.  The library digitised parts of their collection and brought us a touch screen kiosk on which visitors could view these images.  We worked with ACE (Access and Community Engagement) to ensure our events tied in with the Leeds Festival of Science.  We worked with the University’s communications team to find ways to promote this and future Bragg events through the media.  We worked with the University’s X-ray crystallographers and external picture libraries to add pictures to our publicity material.  And we worked with the University designers to produce leaflets and banners. We were helped out on the day by some wonderful STEM ambassadors and our own museum volunteers.  The physics department too was incredibly helpful, lending us their Bragg objects for the day and bringing them over to the Centenary gallery for us.

The end result (so far) was an enjoyable day of lectures (now all available on YouTube – http://www.youtube.com/user/hpsmuseumleeds) and family friendly workshops and activities.  Unfortunately there were blizzards on the 23rd March, but nonetheless, we still had around 80 visitors, all of whom told us in person or stated on their feedback forms that they’d had a good day.

There will be another chance to see and join in on some of the workshops and activities from this day at the Leeds City Museum on 12 July 2013.  Other Bragg events coming up include a musical, a plaque unveiling, and a public lecture.  For detail see: http://www.leeds.ac.uk/info/125160/bragg_centenary_2013 Thanks to everyone who has and will be involved.

Visit from the ‘Leeds City College (over 60s) Local History Group’

On 8th February 2013, Rita Berry from Leeds City College brought her local history group to visit our museum.

They were a very nice group, all interested and well informed, and tolerant of the enormous amount of walking required on a visit to a museum with displays scattered across a large campus.  After the visit I sent them evaluation forms to fill in, and this is what they told us:

Only 1 in this group of 13 had heard of the museum before. All claimed to have enjoyed their visit and would recommend the museum to others. In terms of the length of the tour (approx 2 hours), 9 thought it ‘just right’, 1 thought it too long, another too short. 2 gave no answer.

On our tour we visited, in the following order:

1. The museum’s store

2. The Earth and Environment Case

3. The Biology foyer displays

4. The Dentistry corridor

5. Bragg in Physics

6. Hidden Histories case

Sadly the Gillinson Room was in use all the time they were with us, so couldn’t feature in the tour.  Of the places they visited, the store rated highest (8 votes) as people’s favourite, followed by the Braggs (5 votes), then Hidden Histories (3 votes), Biology and Dentistry tied (1 vote each), and sadly Earth and Environment came last (0 votes).

When asked to name their least favourite, many tactically declined to answer.  Of those who did, the store, biology, dentistry and hidden histories all tied with 2 votes each.

Perhaps the most revealing question was when they were asked what, if anything they had learnt from the visit.  A resounding 10 people put some variation on the statement that they had not previously known about the Braggs, their Nobel Prize or that it had all happened at Leeds.  The other main theme to come out of these answers was that there were more hidden treasure in the University than they realised.  Specifically, they wrote:

‘There is much more to the University than I thought.’

‘How many fascinating and relevant historical artefacts each department is able to put on display.’

‘That you have quite a lot of artefacts displayed in various areas.  Put them together where possible.’ [Same person also added 'I did not know Bragg had a Nobel Prize.  More needs to be done to advertise this fact'.]

‘How much is ‘hidden’ from the general public and how much more could be enjoyed by more.’

When asked if the visited had prompted them to visit the website, 4 said yes, 8 said no.  Of those 8, 1 qualified it by saying ‘not yet’, 2 more said they did not have a computer.

When asked if any additional material would be of interest to them, 5 expressed an interest in a short booklet on the history of the University (this was an idea that was suggested by one of the group while on the tour), none were interested in a downloadable podcast, but 11 wanted a leaflet detailing highlights of the collection and where to find them.

The final question asked if they had visited any other part of the university after the tour.  At the end of the tour I pointed out where they could find ULITA, the M&S Archive, and the Newlyn-Philips machine, I also directed them to the Art Gallery and the cafe.  Only one had stayed on, and only to go to the cafe.  Of the rest, 5 expressed an intention of coming back at a later date, one specifically to see ULITA, another for the M&S Archive and the rest for a general visit. 4 others just said no.  3 said nothing.

In conclusion, I think the visit went very well, it seemed fairly well pitched for the audience and the ratings for different sites give a guide as to where the tour could be cut for shorter tours.  There also seems to be a strong suggestion that we are moving in the right direction – their interest in Bragg suggests our year of centenary events is well chosen, similarly, their interest in the leaflet indicates this too will have a ready audience.

Endangered Specimens, Endangered Skills: Core Principles of Fluid Collection Conservation

On 5^th February 2013, Mark and I, along with Pat Harkin (Associate Director of Student Support in the School of Medicine, University of Leeds), attended a three-day course at the Hunterian Museum, Royal Collections of Surgeons, London to learn how to preserve and care for anatomical and pathological wet specimens. The University of Leeds currently holds approximately 1,000 human pathological wet specimens, largely dating from the 1920s and 1930s, as well as several hundred anatomical specimens and approximately 500 wet zoological specimens. Unfortunately, these collections, once vital to University teaching, are now in need of much care and attention. Yet, without the time, resources or expertise to conduct the necessary conservation work, these collections continue to deteriorate. The technical and scientific expertise required to care for such specimens are dwindling on a frightening scale across the world as collections are replaced with other teaching tools and as the number of specialist curators is decreasing. The opportunity to spend three days at the Hunterian to learn from experienced conservators at the Museum’s Conservation Unit, a centre of excellence for preserving natural specimens with one of the world’s most significant collection, was therefore too good to miss.

The course itself focused on the maintenance of collections within glass jars. We found it incredibly interesting to learn that there is no standardised way of doing this because there is no perfect single preservative, sealant or container for preservation. Specimens deteriorate and do so for any number of reasons.  However, we were also reminded of the key rule of conservation of any specimen or object: follow the methods and materials originally used to make/prepare the specimen as best as possible, which is very difficult to do because all jars appear at first glance to look the same and few historical specimens have accompanying records.

Interestingly, many specimens prepared by John Hunter in the eighteenth century were the most stable and best preserved undoubtedly due to his skill in preparation. He used glass jars, which he covered with pigs’ bladders and layers of tin and lead as a sealant. This type of sealant was later replaced with a substance called ‘pitch’, consisting of asphalt and gutta-percha, while glass remains a common material for jars, alongside newer materials such as acrylic.

The course was incredibly useful and the new knowledge and skills we now possess will be invaluable in developing a plan for Leeds’ wet specimen collection. We hope to procure funding to allow us to purchase the necessary preservation equipment but also to enable us to develop our own conservation training programme for volunteers of the Museum of the History of Science, Technology and Medicine. The benefit of such collections for medicine is clear: specimens are a greater aid to understanding the form of the body than any other type of source. Even with technology capable of producing high quality three dimensional images, there is no substitute for ‘the real thing’. So, while public audiences often find such specimens fascinatingly macabre, medical students take the knowledge acquired from their study and apply it to their everyday and future practice. Collections like this then make a considerable contribution to medical science today and it is therefore vital that they are preserved for future generations. With suitable care and attention, the collection at Leeds might prove to be as useful to medical students as the one at Hunterian Museum.

Claire Jones