| Administrative History | William Gregory's inspiration for setting up a well-equipped laboratory for his teaching seems likely to have stemmed from his friendship with Baron Justis von Liebig (1803 -1873).
Liebig made several important contributions to organic chemistry and pioneered laboratory-based scientific education. He studied in Paris under the chemist, Gay-Lussac, who demonstrated to him the importance of accurate experiments in chemistry. On returning to Germany to take up a post at the University of Giessen, he turned Gay-Lussac's ideas into practice by setting up a fully-equiped chemical research laboratory, which was emulated by his contempories and successors. |
| Description | Account of expenses for apparatus etc. incurred in setting up as a teacher of chemistry...beginning Martinmas 1829, 1829 - 1830.
Items purchased are split into several categories which include the following:
Books including Faraday's Chemical Manipulation and Reid's Practical Chemistry
Brass Apparatus including stands made with transferable rings and a balance
Glass Apparatus including specie jars, thin tube retorts, measures, glass rods, flasks and funnels
Porcelain Apparatus including two nests of Wedgewood's basins, one Wedgewood's mortar and stoneware baths
Miscellaneous items including coke, cartage and porterage, filtering paper, sugar, bungs, sieves, wood, sand and charcoal
Laboratory and Classroom equipment including a case of drawers with a table and shelves, a brass nameplate and a servant's wages
Chemicals and specimens including litharge, powdered gum arabic, logwood chips, plaster of paris, copper beads, native sulphate of baryta, native carbonate of strontiae, zinc, black oxide of manganese, iron filings, litmus paper, limewater, oil of turpentine and sugar for oxalic acid
Platinum and Silver Apparatus including a platinum spatula
Hardware including a vice, a chisel, cutting pliers, a hammer, a spatula, shears, wire (iron and copper), anvil, files, bellows and a melting ladle. |