Copy 2

An explanatory dictionary of the apparatus and instruments employed in the various operations of philosophical and experimental chemistry. With seventeen quarto copper-plates / By a practical chemist.

  • Accum, Friedrich Christian, 1769-1838.
Date:
1824
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: An explanatory dictionary of the apparatus and instruments employed in the various operations of philosophical and experimental chemistry. With seventeen quarto copper-plates / By a practical chemist. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    heat produced by the lamp-furnace has the capital advantage of being easily regulated, it may at pleasure be suppressed instantly, or maintained for several hours at a constant and determinate intensity ; and all chemists are acquainted with the extended use of the portable universal furnace; by means of it we are enabled to perform with ease, in the closet, all those processes which demand the application of an intense heat. I shall now proceed to give a sketch of a well-fur- nished laboratory, for carrying on a general course of chemical experiments. | The pursuits of philosophical chemistry may be car- ried on in a common apartment, either on, or above, the ground floor. A room well lighted and ventilated, and having a common fire-place, may be made to answer exceedingly well. A laboratory on the ground floor is thought by many most convenient, for the sake of water, pounding, and washing; it certainly has these advan- tages, but it is also subject to great inconveniences, as constant moisture, though not very considerable and sensible, in many respects is a very great inconvenience in a chemical laboratory. In such a place, most salts and saline substances become moist in time, the gummed paper labels of bottles fall off, the bellows and many other articles rot and become mildewed, the scale-beams and metals rust, and every thing almost spoils; a room above the ground floor is therefore preferable. The only ad- vantage that can be derived from a ground floor is, the convenience of being easily supplied with water; but this is not at all counterbalanced by the inconvenience of dampness. A laboratory, therefore, is more advantage- ously situated above than below the ground, that it may be as dry as possible. Let there be placed in the middle of the room a heavy table, or kitchen dresser, with