Deborah Warner Replicating Historic Scientific Instruments Museums that prioritize art tend to disda in replicas and models while museums that pri- oritise stories embrace them eagerly. Indeed, the mantra of many history museums seems to be 'with this object we can tell that story.' Replicas , in this usage, aim to represent the originals in size, shape, material, function, etc., while models 'represent objects which are unattainable, or from their magnitude or minuteness, unavailable.' I The Special Loan Collection held in London in 1876 was the first maj or display of historic scientific instruments, and when it closed, replicas of sixteen items were made for what would soon become the Science Museum, London 2 One of these was an astronomical quadrant commissioned by Wilhelm IV, the Landgrave of Hesse, in the late sixteenth- century. Samuel Pierpont Langley, an astro- physicist with a passing interest in the history of science who was then serving as Secretary of the Smithsonian Institut ion, visited the Sci- ence Museum in 1893, admired this replica, and ordered a similar one for display in Wash- ington (Fig. I) [PH.181130]. At about the same time, the Smithsonian commissioned a half-sized replica of a Franklin-type electro- static machine reliably associated wi th Frank- lin [EM.18 I 50 I]. A charming diorama repre- Fig. I Wilhelm IV (J 532- 1592), Landgrave ofH esse, established an astronomical observatory senting Otto von Guericke 's dramatic vacuum with the aim ofp roducing a new star catalogue. One instrument there was a brass and experiment in Magdeburg in the 1650s, made iron azimuth quadrant, associated in some way with the Danish astronomer, Tycho Brahe. for the Smithsonian display at the Sesquicen- The Royal Museum in Kassel sent that historic quadrant to the Special Loan Collection of tennial Exhibit ion of 1926, is a reminder of Scientific Instruments held in London in /876. At the close oft he show, Elkington & Co., an a continuing flirtation with the history of sci- important metal workingfirm in Birmingham, made a replicafor the Science Museum. And it ence [PH.308465 .02]. These three pieces are made this replica, presumably from the same moulds, for the Smithsonian in the early 18900 still in the collections. The numbers in brack- [PH 1811 30j. ets indicate current museum identifications. Robert P. Multhauf, an historian sporting a and technology, Americans were throwing technology, Multhauf organised and oversaw recent Ph.D. from the Un iversity of Califor- money at science education and apprecia- exhibits that, in his words, would 'attempt to nia , joined the Smithsonian staff in 1954. His tion. For the Smithsonian,. this meant a new characterize through instruments (chiefly rep- timing was good. In the face of Cold War con- National Museum of History and Technology licas) the scientific revolution of the seven- cerns about Soviet achievements in science (N .M.H.T.). As head curator of science and teenth century, in which such instruments as Opera, Race and Field Glasses, and other R US, an instrument for ascertaining the local 36. International Exhibition 1862, Jurors' Re- optical, philosophical, mathematical, survey- attraction of a vessel on her compass, either ports (London, 1862), class 13 , p. 15 . ing and standard meteorological instruments in port or at sea. Invented by Lieut. FRIE D, 37. For example - United States Hydrograph- (London, 1873), 16. See also International R. . F.R.S. '. There were wider sales through ic Office, American Practical Navigator: an Exhibition of 1862, Official Illustrated Cata- agents - see in North & South Shields Gazelle epitome of navigation and nautical astrono- logue, Vol. 2 (1862), Class 13, p. 33. frequently from 18 xii 1856 to 2 iv 1857: my (Washington 1936), 23-4; R.K. Hubbard, ' FRIEND' S PATE T PELORUS, a simple 32. The Intellectual Observer: Review of Boater s Bowditch: the small craft American and efficient Instrument by which Captains of Natural HistolY, Microscopic Research and Practical Navigator (New York, 2000), p. 46. Ships can ascertain the amount of Local at- Recreative Science, 3 (1863), p . 66. traction and the Binnacle Compasses. To be 38. S.T.S . Lecky, 'Wrinkles' in practical navi- 33. http ://adb.anu.edu .au/biography/friend- had of JOHN TWIZZEL & SO TS, Agents.' gation (London, 1884), p. 81. matthew-curling-2069 - accessed 20 x 2020. 35. International Exhibition of 1862, The Il- 34. Shipping & Mercantile Gazelle, 15, 18, 20 lustrated Catalogue of the IndUSTrial Depart- Author s email address: xi 1856. To their more general advertisement ment, British Division, Vol. 2 (London 1862), davidbly den@phonecoop.coop for nautical instruments - Shipping & Mercan- class 13, p . 35- 'Telescopes, Crooke's spec- tile Gazelle, 19 xi 1856 - Spencer, Browning troscopes, pocket and improved aneroid ba- & Co. , added: 'NB. - Patentees of the PELO- rometers, and nautical instruments.' 10 Bulletin of the Scientific Instrumen Society ~o. 1 - 1 (2021) sity, produced by the Laboratory instrument makers [EM.318205 et al]. And also, the replica of Justus Liebig's chemical apparatus constructed by instrument makers affiliated with the Deutsches Museum [CH.316710 and CH.316711j. Eichner's mate to a Joseph Priestley burning mirror in the Smithsonian collection appears true to form [CH.316959j. So too does his replica of a eudiometer that was designed by Robert Hare, professor in the Medical Depart- ment of the University of Pennsylvania. In this instance, Multhauf arranged for Eichner to have access to an actual example in the collections of Transylvania College, as well as the description and illustration in Hare 's Compendium of the Course of Chemical In- struction (Ph iladelphia, 1840) [CH.316886]. Some replicas were produced by their original makers, or their successors . One such repre- sents the cash register devised by the Ritty brothers in Dayton, Ohio; the successor firm, the ational Cash Register Co. , showed the replica at the St. Louis World 's Fair of 1904 Fig. 2 (a) Thefirstfunctioning British air pump - produced by Robert Hooke, working with [MA.316700j. Another represents the Comp- andfor Robert Boyle, in Oxford in the late 1750s- no longer exists. This roughly half-sized tometer, a key-driven adding machine devised replica was made from Boyle s published description and illustration. The picture was taken by Dorr E. Felt in the 1880s. The replica was without the globe [PH. 314816j; and (b) Engraving oft he original air pumpfroin Robert made by the Felt & Tarrant Co. , apparently for Boyle, New experiments physico-mechanical, touching the air (Oxford, 1660). display at the Chicago World's Fair of 1933. In both instances, the replicas closely resemble the originals [MA.311192 and MA.323646]. the microscope, telescope, thermometer and Snell, a Dutch scientist famous for having ob- air pump were very far from insignificant. ' 3 tained the first modem estimate of the size of When the original item no longer exists, the earth; and that resembled one described replicators rely on texts and perhaps impres- Multhauf had little experience with museums by the Danish astronomer, Tycho Brahe. sionistic images as well. And here, as with Al- or collections before arriving at the Smithso- Multhauf saw the original in the Leiden Ob- brecht Durer 's image of a rhinoceros, errors nian, but he learned quickly. Derek Price, a servatory-he was tagging along as his li - are inevitable. A good example is a half-size British historian of science who had recently brarian wife Lettie was touring astronomical replica of Robert Boyle 's first air pump. After gained fame with his reconstruction of a me- libraries-and commissioned the Observa- Eichner let it be known that the illustration dieval astronomical instrument, served as a tory instrument makers to make a copy for the in Abraham Wolf's HistOlY of Science, Tech- consultant to the Smithsonian before landing Smithsonian [PH.326989j. nology, and Philosophy in the 16th and 17th a professorship at Yale.4 Laurits C. Eichner, a Centuries (New York, 1935) was ' not too ac- Danish-American craftsman and history buff, Equally reliable is the replica of a small bal- curate in its perspective', Multhauf obtained a was also influential ,S as was Frank Taylor, the ance that was used by the eighteenth-century copy of the illustration and description from technological enthusiast who served as the Scottish chemist, Joseph Black, and that Boyle 's New Experiments Physico-Mechani- founding director of the N .M.H.T. And so too ended up in the National Museum of Scot- call (1699) in the Library of Congress. And were the Deutsches Museum displays of the land (now the Royal Scottish Museum). Cu- as to size, he found that the cavity of the glass history of science and technology, that relied rators responsible for this balance informed was ' large enough to contain about 60 lb. of on replicas when the originals could not be Multhauf that they made a 'scrupulous ' com- water, allowing XVI [ounces j to each pound ' . had6 parison of the original and the replica, and Eichner then worried about what wood was found a few small problems that were quickly The most attractive scientific display in the suitable for the stand and was there a foundry fixed; adding, however, that the replica did N .M.H.T.-in the sense that it attracted the that could make 'old fashioned ' yellow brass. not show the evidence of wear and tear of most attention from visitors-was a Foucault And, presuming that American glassmakers the original [CH.316202j. The Smithsonian 's pendulum swinging in the centre hall , knock- could not produce a suitable globe, he sought replica of the Fleming diode of 1904-in- ing over a circle of pegs, and demonstrating out Danish craftsmen who could make ' the vented by the British physicist, John Ambrose the earth 's daily rotation on its axis . This inferior glass which was used in that day ' . Fleming, and now seen_as an early example of pendulum was not a replica, but rather a re- Multhaufwas pleased with the result (Fig. 2), a vacuum tube-was copied from an original creation of a remarkable experiment. deeming it much more authentic looking than in the Science Museum, London. The deputy the full-sized replica he had recently seen in Replicas can be quite good, especially when keeper of that collection described the two Oxford, and expecting it to ' attract much fa- replicator had talent as well as access to the items as indistinguishable from one another vourable attention from students of the history original. One such is the large mural quadrant [EM.318014j. The same might be said of the of science ' 7 [PH.314816j. that was made by the Dutch artisan, Willem several replicas of physics apparatus from the Janszoon Blaeu; that was used by Willebrord Cavendish Laboratory at Cambridge Univer- The largest scientific replica in the Museum Bulletin of the Scientific Instrument Society No. 151 (2021) II In order to represent items that no longer ex- ist, and for which there are no reliable de- scriptions or images, one might use replicas of contemporary and presumably similar things. Such is the case with a 'replica' of the standard rain gauge (Fig. 5) designed for the Smithsonian meteorological network in the 1850s [PH.315898]. Some replicas are essentially generic. One such is a porcelain alchemical furnace of un- known fonn and date, made by the Coors Por- celain Co. [CH.320316]. Another is a copper alembic and a moor's head, made by Eichner and based on seventeenth-century illustrations [CH.32366I and CH.323662]. Yet another is a bunch of glass receivers , alembics and alu- dels made by the Kimble Glass Company and based on sixteenth-century illustrations. For this project, Kimble chemists analysed some old glass of unknown provenance, provided by Multhauf, and made a new batch of similar composition II [CH.323343 and CH.323344 and CH.323345] . Some replicas provide, at best, a rough sense of the original. The seismoscope devised by Zhang Heng, a remarkable Chinese scien- tist/statesman, c. 132 C.E., was apparently massive, complex, and ornate. Our repli - ca- though here model is probably the bet- ter term- was copied from a small and very much simplified example devised in Tokyo in modem times l2 [PH.321329]. Some replicas are the right foml but the wrong stuff. Such is the case with two water current meters made of aluminium, a substance not widely avail- Fig. 3 Replica ofTycho Brahe S latge equatorial armillary sphere made by the talented able when the originals were designed and de- Danish-American artisan and instrument maker, Laurits Christian Eichnel; and sold to scribed 13 [PH.31 7670 and PH.317671]. And the Smithsonian. [PH.321 830j. some replicas, such as that representing an represents Tycho Brahe's great annillary complete description and incontestable docu- early photographic barograph, are largely fan- sphere (Fig. 3). Eichner reported having ob- mentation have survived.' With seven faces tasy. Here, in the absence of clear instructions, tained his infonnation for this from Tycho's displaying the motions of the sun, moon, and Eichner 'aimed at making an instrument such Astronomiae instauratae mechanica (1 598), a five inner planets, it was also 'one of the most as might be made in a university laboratory copy of which he found in the New York Pub- complicated clockworks known to have been shop; designed by the professor and made by lic Library. He said nothing, however, about produced until recent t imes,9 [ME.319999]. him and his mechanic. In other words: with a his decisions as to size, material , or other somewhat 'home-made ' 100k l4 [PH.319425]. 8 In one of his first forays into the history of details Eichner had become fascinated with scientific instruments, Multhauf called atten- Most of the questions that curators ask about Tycho during his student days at the Odense tion to the oceanic depth sounder (Fig. 4) that replicas concern appearance, which is appro- Technical School. And later, having learned Robert Hooke presented to the Royal Society priate if replicas are made primarily for exhi- of plans to restore Tycho 's observatory on the in 1663. Since England's defence and pros- bition. But should we not sometimes be some- island of Hven, he decided to replicate some perity depended heavily on mastery of the what concerned with function? We know, for of his instruments. Military contracts took pri- seas, it is not surprising that an organisation instance, that Robert Boyle worried more ority during the War, but by 1946 Eichner was recently established by royal charter promot- about the quality of the seals of his air pump able to send several replicas to Copenhagen, th ed projects pertaining to navigation. Nor is it than about the form of the legs. 15 Likewise, for an exhibit celebrating Tycho 's 400 birth- surprising that the Royal Society's first Cura- the tubes and mounts of early optical instru- day. The armillary sphere came to the Smith- tor of Experiments understood that to know ments are replicated with relative ease, but the sonian in the early 1960s. Eichner's replica of the depth of the sea may be 'of good use, both optical elements are more problematic. Eich- Tycho 's smaller astronomical quadrant came Naval and Philosophical. ' For Multhauf, how- ner's copy of the small reflecting telescope later [PH.32 1830 and PH.333622]. ever, the sounder and its improvements 'ex- that Isaac Newton sent to the Royal Society Another amazing replica represents the as- emplify the curiously incidental way in which in 1671 closely resembles the one believed to trarium that was designed by Giovanni di ' scientific instruments emerged out of the pre- be the original. But what about the eyepiece Dondi , a fourteenth-century Italian physician! occupation of the scientist at that time with and objective mirror,)16 [PH.314610] Similar astronomer/engineer, and that was deemed experience (observation) and measurement' 10 questions might be asked of the many Leeu- the ' earliest clockwork of which an almost PH.31 6644]. wenhoek microscope replicas in museums 12 Bulletin of the Sci/emific Instrument Society No. 151 (2021) Fig. 5 Museums sometimes represent items that no longer exist, andfor which there are no reliable descriptions or images, with replicas ofp resumably similar things from , the period in question. Such is the case with this 'replica' of the standard rain gauge designedfor the Smithsonian meteorological network in the 18505. [PH. 315898]. Fig. 4 Robert Hooke presented his first depth finder to the Royal Society in September 1663, at a time when several founding fellows were discussing ways to improve oceanic navigation. Correspondence in the accession file indicates that Eichner made this replica to look 'weather beaten and aged. ' [PH. 316644]. and in circulation [MG.M-09840 and MG.M- Notes and References 1598); translated and edited by Hans Raeder, 121 87]. A replica of the Charles Babbage I. George Brown Good, The Principles of Elis Stromgren and Bengt Stromgren (Ko- Difference Engine o. 1, a gift from I.B.M., Museum Administration, (New York, 1895), benhaven, 1946) . See also correspondence in looks great but has no innards [MA.323584]. p. 45. Here, however, the words replica and N .M.A .H . accession files 215541 and 210759. Multhauf was not heavily invested in the aura model are often used interchangeably. For an 9. Silvio A. Bedini and Francis R. Maddi- associated with (or attributed to) authentic- account of a museum that contains only repli- son, ' Mechanical Universe: The Astrarium ity.17 Nor was he, in museum parlance, a good cas and models, see Yakup Betkas and Roger of Giovanni di ' Dondi ', Transactions of the looker. That is, he never got much from look- Sherman, 'A Bold New Enterprise: The Is- American Philosophical Society, 56 ( 1966), ing at objects, or even expect to do so. He did, tanbul Museum of the History of Science and pp.I -69 . however, believe that objects, either real or Technology in Islam ', Technology and Cul- 10. Robert P. Multhauf, ' The Line-less replica, could stimulate interest in what they ture, 54 (2013), pp. 6 19-639 . .,. Sounder: An Episode in the History of Sci- did or were supposed to do, how 'well they 2. South Kensington Museum, Handbook entific Instruments ' , Journal of the HistolY of operated, and the people involved in their to the Special Loan Collection of SCientific Medicine and Allied Sciences, 15 (1960), pp. design, manufacture, and use. And, while Apparatus (London, 1876) . Robert Bud, ' 390-398. Multhauf may never have claimed that objects 'Responding to Stories: The 1876 Loan Col - 11. '17 th Century Glassware Copied ', New ' tell ' a story, he often said that objects provide lection of Scientific Apparatus and the Sci- York Times (Aug. 20, 1962), pp. 33-34. hooks on which curators and other historians ence Museum ', Science Museum Group 12. Toshio Asanuma and Iwao Sensui, ' An- can hang the stories they wish to tell. To put Journal, Issue I (Spring 2014) . http://dx .doi. cient Chinese Seismoscope Made by Chang it another way, museum visitors will gravitate org/ I 0.151 801l 40 I 04/ Heng', Natural Science and Museums (1960), towards attracti ve objects and perhaps linger 3. Robert P. Multhauf, ' A Museum Case His- pp. 13-19. Andre Wegener Sleeswyk and Na- long enough to read the accompanying label. tory: The Department of Science and Tech- than Siv in, 'Dragons and Toads: The Chinese The National Museum of H istory and Tech- nology of the ational Museum of History Seismoscope ofA .D. 132 ', Chinese Science, 6 nology became the ational Museum of and Technology', Technology and Culture, 6 (Nov. 1983), pp. 1- 19. American History in 1980, the new name in- (1 965), pp. 47-58. 13. Arthur Frazier, William Gunn Price and dicating an intention to pay more attention to 4 . Seb Falk, 'The Scholar as Craftsman: Der- the Price Water Current Meter (Washington, social and cultural history, especially of the ek de Solla Price and the Reconstruction of a D.C. , 1967). Frazier, Water Current Meters in United States, and less to science and technol- Medieval Instrument' , Notes and Records of the Smithsonian Collections of the National ogy and the European antecedents thereof. In the Royal Society of London , 68 (2014), pp. Museum of History and Technology (Wash- connection with this transformation, most of 111 - 124. ington, D .C. , 1974) . the scientific replicas were put into storage, 5. Robert P. Multhauf, Laurits Christian Eich- 14. Robert P. Multhauf, 'The Introduction out of sight and largely out of mind. ner Craftsman, 1894- 1967 (Washington, of Self-Registering Meteorological Instru- Some instruments and replicas, however, D.C. , 197 1) . ments ', Contributions from the Museum of have been lent to museums still interested in 6. Robert P. Multhauf, ' European Science HistolY and Technology (Washington, D.C. , the history of science. Some point to social Museums ', Science, 128-3323 (Sept. 5, 1958), 1961 ) . and cultural diversity: my ' Women in Sci- pp. 512-519. Wolf Peter Felhammer and Wil- 15. Steven Shapin and Simon Shaffer, Levia- ence ' exhibit, from many years ago, was an helm Fuessl , 'The Deutsches Museum. Idea, than and the Air Pump: Hobbes, Boy le, and early example of the genre. And some, as this Realization and Objectives ' , Technology and the Experimental Life (Princeton, 1985) . essay suggests, help remind us of where we Culture, 41 (2000), pp. 51 7-520. 16. A. Rupert Hall and A. D. C. Simpson, ' An have been, and consider the value of our col- 7. See correspondence in N .M.A.H. accession Account of the Royal Society's Newton Tele- lection objects, real and replica . file 210759. scope' , No tes and Records of the Royal Soci- 8. George H. Waltz, Jr. , ' Star Studded Hob- ety ofL ondon, 50 (1996), pp. I- II. Keywords: instrument replicas, models, by ', Los Angeles Times (Sept. I, 1946), p . E7. 17. Walter Benjamin, The Work of Art in the astronomical quadrant, Elkington & Co., Tycho Brahe 's Description ofH is Instruments Age ofM echanical Reproduction ( 1936). Boyle, air pump, Tycho Brahe, Robert and SCientific Work as Given in Astrono- Author 's email address: Hooke's depthfindel: miae Instauratae Mechanica (Wandesburge, warnerd@Si.edu Bulletin of the Scientifi c Instrument Society No. 151 (202 1) 13