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Glass
Two sets of three pieces of coloured glass stuck together in a box.
This glass comes from a 15-drawer cabinet found in the Herschel family home in the 1950s. The contents of this and a similar cabinet seem to suggest that they were used by successive generations of the family to store specimens, material and apparatus for carrying out experiments.
The handwritten note on the box reads: 'A box of coloured glasses taken to Spain when Alick went there for the total eclipse in 18?? alas - it came onto rain 1/4 hour before the eclipse'. Alick is Alexander Stewart Herschel. The eclipse could have either been that of 18 July 1860 or that of 22 December 1870 (in both cases totality was visible from Spain in Alexander's lifetime).
This glass comes from a 15-drawer cabinet found in the Herschel family home in the 1950s. The contents of this and a similar cabinet seem to suggest that they were used by successive generations of the family to store specimens, material and apparatus for carrying out experiments.
The handwritten note on the box reads: 'A box of coloured glasses taken to Spain when Alick went there for the total eclipse in 18?? alas - it came onto rain 1/4 hour before the eclipse'. Alick is Alexander Stewart Herschel. The eclipse could have either been that of 18 July 1860 or that of 22 December 1870 (in both cases totality was visible from Spain in Alexander's lifetime).
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