Kaleidoscope
notes: label: Description
content: David Brewster, a noted Scottish scientist and inventor, coined the term “kaleidoscope” in 1817 and obtained a British patent on the form. The new instrument was soon popular in parlors and classrooms around the world. This example, with hexagonal tube, came from Colgate University in Hamilton, New York. It may date from around 1846 when the state issued a charter to the Collegiate Department of the Hamilton Literary & Theological Institution, the precursor institution.
label: Description
content: Ref: David Brewster, “new optical instrument called the ‘Kaleidoscope’ for exhibiting and creating beautiful Forms and Patterns of great use in all the ornamental Arts,” British patent #4136 (July 1817).
label: Description
content: David Brewster, <i>Treatise on the Kaleidoscope</i> (Edinburgh, 1819).
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
topic: label: Subject
content: Science & Scientific Instruments
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Physical Sciences
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Colgate University
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: PH.318737
label: catalog number
content: 318737
label: accession number
content: 234695
objectType: label: Object Name
content: kaleidoscope
physicalDescription: label: Measurements
content: overall: 2 3/8 in x 2 3/4 in x 9 13/16 in; 6.0325 cm x 6.985 cm x 24.92375 cm