Hydrometer
notes: label: Description
content: William Nicholson (1753-1815) was a science enthusiast in London who, in 1790, mentioned his attempt “to adapt the hydrometer to the general purpose of finding the specific gravity, both of solids and of fluids,” and published a picture of this instrument. In 1797, in the second issue of the first volume of the <i>Journal of Natural Philosophy, Chemistry and the Arts</i>—a publication that Nicholson established and edited—there was an article by the French chemist, Guyton de Morveau, describing a hydrometer that Nicholson had designed several years earlier. In time, Nicholson’s instrument would be termed a gravimeter, a portable balance, or a hydrostatic balance. This incomplete and unsigned example came from the University of Santa Clara.
label: Description
content: Ref: William Nicholson, <i>An Introduction to Natural Philosophy</i> (London, 1790), vol. 2, pp. 13-16, and fig. 123.
label: Description
content: Citizen Guyton, “Description of a Gravimeter, or Instrument for measuring the Specific Gravity of Solids and Fluids,” <i>Journal of Natural Philosophy, Chemistry and the Arts</i> 1 (June 1797): 110-119, and plate 6.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Physical Sciences
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: PH.325975
label: catalog number
content: 325975
label: accession number
content: 256489
objectType: label: Object Name
content: Hydrometer
physicalDescription: label: Measurements
content: overall: 11 in x 2 1/4 in; 27.94 cm x 5.715 cm
label: Measurements
content: overall: 10 1/2 in x 2 1/2 in; 26.67 cm x 6.35 cm