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Applications to Chemical Apparatus

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How Glass Changed the World

Part of the book series: SpringerBriefs in Molecular Science ((BRIESFHISTCHEM,volume 3))

Abstract

As discussed in Chap. 1, glass has been used extensively in modern science, particularly in terms of laboratory glassware. In fact, the image of glass objects such as distillation heads, beakers, flasks, vials, and test-tubes has become mainstay in the public’s common view of chemical laboratories and the practice of chemical research. Even for the practitioner of science, it is hard to imagine what the chemical laboratory would be like without glass. After all, no other material can really match its combination of low cost, chemical stability, thermal durability, as well as freedom and versatility in the design of chemical apparatus for nearly any desired application. The importance of glass to the chemical arts was even highlighted by Neri in his Art of Glass.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    William E. S. Turner (1881–1963). In 1915, he was invited to become the Head of the new Department of Glass Technology at the University of Sheffield, a position which he held until 1945. Recognizing the importance of drawing together the various groups of people interested in glass into one organization, he founded The Society of Glass Technology in 1916. He served as president of the International Glass Society from 1933 to 1953. He never lost his interest in the historical aspects of glass and continued to publish as late as 1962 [13, 14].

  2. 2.

    Also known sometimes as Mary or Miriam, Maria the Jewess was an alchemist of the first century CE. Little is known about her other than writings ascribed to her, which survives only in quotations by the later alchemist Zosimos. She is also credited with the invention of the water-bath and the kerotakis apparatus. She is alleged by some to be the sister of Moses [2, 35, 36].

  3. 3.

    Alternate forms included alembik, alembyk, alembike, alembyke, alimbeck, alembeke, alimbecke, alimbeck, and limbick [8].

  4. 4.

    Salernus (d. 1167) was a physician of the School of Salerno and lived at Salerno between 1130 and 1160. His writings included a summary of pathology and therapeutics [3, 39–41].

  5. 5.

    Better known as Thaddeus Florentinus, Alderotti was born in Florence in 1223. He started teaching medicine at the University of Bologna in 1260 and thanks to his efforts the city authorities granted medical students and teachers the legal status enjoyed by students and teachers of law. A follower of Hippocrates, he was an author on anatomy and medicine and wrote on the medicinal value of alcohol in his De virtutibus aquae vitae. He died in Bologna, although the year of his dead is disputed, with reports of both 1303 and 1295 [3, 44].

  6. 6.

    Brunschwig (also given as Brunschwyck, Braunschweig, or Brunschwijg) was a German surgeon and a native of Strassburg. Most believe him to have been born ~1450, although others give earlier dates of 1430 or 1440. He was descended from the local Sauler (or Saler) family and studied medicine at Bologna, Padua and Paris. He is most well-known for his works on the art of distillation, most importantly Liber de arte distillandi de simplicibus (published May 8, 1500, commonly known as his Small book of distillation) and Liber de arte distillandi de Compositis (published February 23, 1512, commonly known as his Large book of distillation). He died at the age of 60, either the end of 1512 or the beginning of 1513. His death has also been reported as 1533 or 1534 [47–49].

  7. 7.

    Gesner, often referred to as Evonymus Philiater, was born in Zurich on March 26, 1516. Due to his father's death, he found himself destitute at an early age and had to take an assistant's position in Strassburg. In 1535, he took a teacher's post at Zurich and studied medicine, before becoming a professor of Greek philology at Geneva in 1537. He finally finished his medical study at Basel in 1541 and then returned to Zurich as a private physician and professor of physics and natural history. He was a voluminous writer and died on December 13, 1565 [46, 48].

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  1. Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, North Dakota State University, Fargo, ND, USA

    Seth C. Rasmussen

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Rasmussen, S.C. (2012). Applications to Chemical Apparatus. In: How Glass Changed the World. SpringerBriefs in Molecular Science(), vol 3. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-28183-9_5

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