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 came from Mercer University, and may date from around 1871 when that school relocated to Macon, Georgia.
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: Mercer University
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: PH.325570
label: accession number
content: 256847
label: catalog number
content: 325570
objectType: label: Object Name
content: kaleidoscope
physicalDescription: label: Measurements
content: overall: 12 1/4 in x 5 in x 10 in; 31.115 cm x 12.7 cm x 25.4 cm