GETTING THE
MESSAGE
ACROSS:
A VICTORIAN
INVENTOR AT
KING’S
EXHIBITION GUIDE
INTRODUCTION
Physicist, inventor and businessman, Sir Charles
Wheatstone (1802-75) was professor of
experimental philosophy at King’s College London
for over 40 years, during which time he invented
the electric telegraph, the stereoscope and a number
of musical instruments. He embodied in his career
and accomplishments the developing significance
of science as a discipline and its relationship to
society during the Victorian era. As both a scientist
and an engineer, Wheatstone was able to realise the
practical implications of scientific discoveries, such
as electromagnetism, in a way that a more original
scientist, such as Michael Faraday, could not. His
work on electricity, telegraphy, optics and acoustics
changed how people communicated, travelled,
worked and took their leisure. The historian Alison
Winter has pointed out the fundamental unity of his
approach to scientific problems, and that the
common factor which ‘linked his [Wheatstone's]
researches was a fascination with the substitution of
one sense for another, the mechanical production of
human qualities, and the displacement of sound and
thought through space’. The disembodiment of
communications, which Wheatstone's work
exemplified, entranced and disturbed the Victorian
public, which was avid for both entertainment and
instruction.
This exhibition aims to demonstrate the very
diverse nature of Wheatstone's interests through his
prototype inventions, personal papers and books.
These illustrate the breadth of his work, his
relations with his fellow scientists, and his long
connection with King’s. The Wheatstone
collections in the King’s Archives and the Foyle
Special Collections Library, from which all the
items displayed are taken, have recently been fully
catalogued as part of the project Scrambled
messages: the telegraphic imaginary, 1857-1900,
funded by the Arts and Humanities Research
Council. In the exhibition, the items from King's
Archives are designated ‘KCLA' and those from the
Foyle Special Collections Library are designated
‘FSCL'.
More scientific instruments from the Wheatstone
collection are on display in the Chapel Corridor of
the King’s Building, King’s College London,
Strand.
Exhibition curators: Brandon High and Frances
Pattman
Sir Charles Wheatstone: an outline of his life
1802
Born in Gloucester, the second child of
Beatta and William Wheatstone
1806
Wheatstone family moves to London
1813
Attends school in Vere Street,
Westminster
1816
Apprenticed in his uncle Charles’s
musical instrument making business,
Strand, London
1821
Conducts demonstrations of his
experiments in acoustics and the
transmission of sound
1823
Publishes first paper, ‘New experiments
in sound’, in Annals of philosophy
1826-7
Invents kaleidophone, a device for
making sound waves visible
1828
His first lecture delivered at the Royal
Institution, London, by his friend Michael
Faraday (Wheatstone loathed public
speaking)
1832
Invents stereoscope
1830-7
Conducts experiments to measure the
velocity of electricity
1834
Appointed professor of experimental
philosophy, King’s College London
1834-50 Researches electricity generation
1834
Publishes paper on the transmission of
electricity, based on experiments at
King’s
1836
Elected fellow of the Royal Society
ca 1836 Invents constant cell battery, a variant on
the Daniell cell
1837
With William Fothergill Cooke, registers
the first English electric telegraph patent
1838-9
Five needle telegraph installed,
Paddington-West Drayton railway line,
London
1843
Invents Wheatstone Bridge, a device for
measuring resistance
1844
Conducts pioneering experiments on
submarine telegraph cables, Swansea Bay
1858
Develops the first practical ABC
telegraph
1861
Establishes the Universal Private
Telegraph Company
1867
With Carl Wilhelm Siemens, jointly
invents the self-excited generator
1868
Knighted
1875
Dies in the Hôtel du Louvre, Paris.
Buried in Kensal Green cemetery
CASE 1
SOUND
1. English concertina with rosewood fretwork,
green leather bellows and 32 ivory keys, labelled
‘By His Majesty's Letters Patent, C Wheatstone,
Inventor, 20 Conduit Street, Regent Street London',
[1838-43].
KCLA Wheatstone K/PP107/11/5/1
2. John Isaac Hawkins. [Three handbills relating to
the exhibition of the claviole in Brighton in 1813].
John Isaac Hawkins (1722-1854) was an inventor,
engineer and phrenologist who patented many
devices, including an iron-framed upright piano and
a self-propelling pencil. His claviole looked a little
like a piano, but the strings were played by bows,
not struck.
FSCL Wheatstone Collection: PAMPH. BOX
ML697 HAW
3. Nail fiddle or violin designed by Wheatstone.
Probably played using a violin bow. [1832-75].
KCLA Wheatstone K/PP107/11/5/3
4. King’s College London syllabus for
Wheatstone’s lectures on sound, 1835.
KCLA Wheatstone K/PP107/5
5. Cutting from Cock’s musical miscellany of a
letter to the editor on the theory of ‘Grave
harmonics’ and a response citing Wheatstone’s
research on the subject. Also shown is
Wheatstone’s draft paper in which he discusses the
work of Wilhelm Weber, physicist and, in
particular, Gustavus Gabriel Hällström (17751844), physicist, who had used the organ in the
cathedral of Abo (Turku), Finland, for his
experiments before it was badly damaged by a fire
in 1827.
KCLA Wheatstone K/PP107/5
6. Letter from Henry Cole (1808-82), director of
the South Kensington Museum (now the V&A), on
behalf of the Committee of Council on Education,
asking Wheatstone to conduct a series of
experiments to test the acoustics of the new lecture
theatre at the Museum, 10 March 1869.
KCLA Wheatstone K/PP107/7/1
CASE 2
VISION
1. The photographic news. Volume 9, no. 362.
Friday, 11 August 1865. London: Cassell, Petter
and Galpin, 1865. This periodical was first
published in 1858, one of a growing number of
scientific publications aimed at a lay readership.
This item includes a testimonial from Wheatstone’s
contemporary, Charles Piazzi Smyth (1819-1900),
the astronomer royal for Scotland, on the use of
iodized collidion (an emulsion spread on a glass
plate) in the processing of photographs.
FSCL Wheatstone Collection
2. John Frederick William Herschel. On the
chemical action of the rays of the solar spectrum on
preparations of silver and other substances, both
metallic and non-metallic, and on some
photographic processes. London: printed by R and
JE Taylor, 1840. In addition to his pioneering
astronomical work, Sir John Frederick William
Herschel (1792-1871), son of the even more
famous astronomer Frederick William Herschel
(1738-1822), was one of the pioneers of
photography, and invented much of the vocabulary
(‘positive’, ‘negative’, ‘snapshot’, and
‘photography’ itself) which is associated with it
today. The pamphlet displayed here is inscribed by
Herschel to Wheatstone. Herschel had a long
acquaintance with Wheatstone after they were
introduced by the Danish physicist Hans Christian
Oersted, who is credited with having discovered
electromagnetism in 1820.
FSCL Wheatstone Collection PAMPH. BOX
TR400 HER
3. Facsimile of photographs [1853-60] taken by
William Crookes (1832-1919), chemist and
physicist, showing the spectra of various metals. In
1853 Crookes published a paper in the Journal of
the Photographic Society, ‘On the application of
photography to the study of certain phenomena of
polarisation’; Crookes was working with
Wheatstone at this time.
KCLA Wheatstone K/PP107/4/1/71-74
4. Charles Wheatstone. Contributions to the
physiology of vision. Part the second. On some
remarkable, and hitherto unobserved, phenomena
of binocular vision (continued). London: printed by
Richard Taylor, 1852. In 1832 Wheatstone
founded the science of stereoscopy, when he
investigated the phenomenon of binocular vision,
and had two stereoscopes manufactured for use as
scientific instruments. Wheatstone found that the
solidity and distance which is seen naturally by the
human eye could also be produced artificially by
making two drawings from slightly different
viewpoints and presenting each to the appropriate
eye, giving the impression of a solid threedimensional object. From 1854, stereoscopic
photographs were produced commercially. In this
article, first published in the Philosophical
transactions of the Royal Society, Wheatstone
describes several new forms of the stereoscope, and
another of his inventions, the ‘pseudoscope’, an
instrument which enables the observer to see the
‘converse’ of an actual object.
FSCL Wheatstone Collection PAMPH. BOX
QP475 WHE
5. Draft notes written by Wheatstone regarding
binocular vision in which he describes an
experiment conducted in the gallery of St James
Hall, Piccadilly, using the railings to frame, view
and compare different perspectives, [1850-75].
KCLA Wheatstone K/PP107/4/7/34
6. Letter to Charles Wheatstone, dated 10 July
1875, from Ross & Co, optical and photographic
instrument manufacturer and retailer, enclosing the
cutting for Woodward’s Solar Camera (David
Acheson Woodward, 1823-1909, American portrait
painter and inventor) from Atkinson’s List of
photographic specialities.
KCLA Wheatstone K/PP107/4/7/53
CASE 3
STEREOSCOPY
1. David Brewster. Description of several new and
simple stereoscopes for exhibiting as solids, one or
more representations of them on a plane. [1849].
This pamphlet has been inscribed by Sir David
Brewster (1781-1868), physicist and historian of
science, to Wheatstone. At the time of its
publication they were on amicable terms; seven
years later Brewster publicly disputed Wheatstone’s
invention of the stereoscope. In the words of Sir
John Herschel, ‘Wheatstone was the inventor of the
stereoscope; Brewster invented a way of looking at
stereoscopic pictures’. With the invention of
photography, the stereoscope came into its own as a
means of mass entertainment and instruction,
initiating a global craze from the Great Exhibition
of 1851 onwards. In 1849 Brewster improved and
simplified the stereoscope, so that it became a box
with two lenses, through which two photographs set
side by side could be viewed, creating the illusion
of three-dimensional perspective.
FSCL Wheatstone Collection PAMPH. BOX
QC373.S8 BRE
2. Right and left aspects of a stereoscopic
photograph of Gilberto Govi, professor of physics,
University of Turin, 1862-78, taken by Jules
Duboscq (1817-86), pioneer of stereoscopic
photography. Mounted for Wheatstone’s
stereoscope.
KCLA Wheatstone K/PP107/8/47-48
3. Right and left aspects of a stereoscopic
photograph of the marble statue ‘The Greek slave’
by Hiram Powers (1805-73), American sculptor, at
the Great Exhibition, 1851. Mounted for
Wheatstone’s stereoscope.
KCLA Wheatstone K/PP107/8/65a-66a
4. Right and left aspects of a mounted stereoscopic
photograph, probably of the interior of the Crystal
Palace, Hyde Park, [1851], showing exhibits
including a lighthouse lens, monumental fountain
and aviary, in process of assembly or disassembly.
Mounted for Wheatstone’s stereoscope.
KCLA Wheatstone K/PP107/8/73-74
5. Pair of stereo photographs showing a small
steam engine, mounted on white cards for a
commercial viewer, [1850-70].
KCLA Wheatstone K/PP107/9/37
6. Pairs of stereoscopic images of star-shaped
geometric patterns, probably perspective test cards
for a commercial viewer, [1850-70].
KCLA Wheatstone K/PP107/9/40
7. Pair of stereo photographs of a man and woman
on the lawn of Pitville House, Cheltenham,
mounted on card for a commercial viewer, [18501900].
KCLA Wheatstone K/PP107/9/42
8. Pair of stereo photographs of a marble statue of a
woman captioned 'The [London] International
Exhibition of 1862, 61: The sleep of sorrow the
dream of joy, R[afaello] Monti', Italian sculptor.
Produced by the London Stereoscopic and
Photographic Company, mounted on card for a
commercial viewer.
KCLA Wheatstone K/PP107/9/43
CASE 4
EXHIBITIONS AND
AWARDS
1. Spencer, Browning and Co. Instruments
exhibited by Spencer, Browning and Co.,
111 Minories, London, EC. [1862], [facsimile]. The
firm of Spencer, Browning and Co. was founded in
the late 18th century, and soon established itself as a
leading maker of navigational instruments.
Wheatstone kept many printed leaflets and flyers
like this one, often re-using the blank side for his
own notes.
FSCL Wheatstone Collection PAMPH. BOX
QC876.6 SPE
2. London International Exhibition. Ceremonial to
be observed at the state opening of the
International Exhibition, on Monday, 1st May,
1871. London: JM Johnson and Sons, 1871. This
copy of the official programme for the state
opening of the International Exhibition includes the
order of procession and lists of invitees, including
many of Wheatstone’s eminent scientific colleagues
and other dignitaries. It also includes the
programme for an accompanying concert at the
Royal Albert Hall, which featured choral works by
Charles Gounod and Sir Arthur Sullivan.
FSCL Wheatstone Collection PAMPH. BOX
T695.D9 L65
3. The Queen’s medal awarded by the Royal
Society to Wheatstone in 1843 for his paper An
account of several new instruments and processes
for determining the constants of a voltaic circuit
and a medal awarded ‘for services’ by the London
International Exhibition 1873 in recognition of his
‘labours in establishing the first electric telegraph’.
KCLA Wheatstone K/PP107/11/6
4. A certificate awarded to Wheatstone by the
Natural Science Research Society, Basel,
Switzerland in 1839.
KCLA Wheatstone K/PP107/7/1
5. Post Office telegram from Paris congratulating
Wheatstone on his election as a Foreign Associate
of the French Academy of Sciences in 1873.
KCLA Wheatstone K/PP107/7/1
6. Letter from the Brazilian Legation informing
Wheatstone that His Majesty the Emperor of Brazil
had appointed him a commander of His Imperial
Order of the Rose, 29 March 1873, and his medal.
KCLA Wheatstone K/PP107/7/1 and K/PP107/11/6
7. Letter from Henry Cole (1808-82), director of
the South Kensington Museum (now the V&A)
inviting Wheatstone, on behalf of Her Majesty’s
Commissioners for the Paris Exhibition 1867, to be
an associate commissioner advising on
mathematical instruments and apparatus for
teaching science.
KCLA Wheatstone K/PP107/7/1
CASE 5
TELEGRAPHY
1. William Fothergill Cooke. The electric
telegraph: was it invented by Professor
Wheatstone? A reply to Mr. Wheatstone’s answer.
London: printed for the author, and sold by WH
Smith and Son, 1856. In 1840 a dispute arose
between Wheatstone and the businessman William
Fothergill Cooke (1806-79), the joint patentee of
the electric telegraph, because Cooke asserted that
Wheatstone had claimed too much of the credit for
its invention. Although the matter was formally
settled by arbitration in 1841, both parties
continued to feel aggrieved. When Cooke read an
anonymous article in the Quarterly review which
referred to Wheatstone’s part in the telegraph’s
invention, he was prompted to reiterate his claims
in this pamphlet. Without Wheatstone’s
understanding of physics and his ability to
overcome technical problems, the telegraph would
not have been practicable; equally, without Cooke’s
business acumen Wheatstone’s invention might not
have been commercially exploited. Cooke,
however, could not accept that he lacked scientific
expertise, which was the foundation of their
quarrel.
FSCL Wheatstone Collection TK5118.C7 COO
2. & 3. The Universal Private Telegraph
Company. [Prospectus] [1861] and The Universal
Private Telegraph Company. Professor
Wheatstone’s patents. Glasgow: printed by William
Mackenzie, [1861]. These items mark the legal
incorporation of the Universal Private Telegraph
Company in 1861, established in order to exploit
two of Wheatstone’s 1858 telegraph patents. It
used Wheatstone’s newly patented ABC telegraphs
and offered direct telegraph services between
particular points. They could be operated on private
premises without Morse operators or any special
training, which enabled costs to be kept to a
minimum. The printing apparatus used ordinary
alphabetical language; and the telegraph did not
need a voltaic battery, thus making it safe to use;
other telegraph companies could not offer this. It
was therefore popular and profitable. When the
company was nationalised in 1869, the
compensation paid to shareholders was an
estimated 20 years’ worth of profits.
FSCL Wheatstone Collection PAMPH. BOX
HE7761 UNI and TK5491 WHE
4. & 5. Wheatstone's Universal telegraph, patented
in 1858, was based on his ABC telegraph from
1840. The transmitter and receiver where
combined to form one instrument. This example
has a ‘coconut’ receiver and a ‘communicator’, as
Wheatstone called them, with two compact dials
which indicated individual letters and numbers by
means of the rotating needles. It was a portable and
versatile device made for the Universal Private
Telegraph Company and marked a step towards
personal telephony.
KCLA Wheatstone - K/PP107/11/1/10-11
CASE 6
TELEGRAPHY
1. Prototype telegraph transmitter, [1850-75], based
on a concertina with 30 ivory keys each
representing a letter or number and operating a
make and break contact to send pulses of current
down the line to a receiver.
KCLA Wheatstone K/PP107/11/1/7
2. Werner Siemens and Charles Siemens. Outline of
the principles and practice involved in dealing with
the electrical conditions of submarine electric
telegraphs. London: printed by Taylor and
Greening, [1860]. Brothers Sir William Siemens
(originally Carl Wilhelm or Charles William, 182383) and Ernst Werner von Siemens (1816- 92), both
made important contributions to the development of
telegraphy. Werner von Siemens invented a method
of insulating wires using gutta percha (rigid natural
latex, derived from a type of Malaysian tree),
described in this pamphlet. This insulation made
possible the laying of telegraph cables underwater;
the first cable across the Atlantic was laid in 1858,
seven years after Wheatstone’s own submarine
experiments in Swansea Bay and from Dover to
Calais. This pamphlet is inscribed by the Siemens
brothers to Wheatstone.
FSCL Wheatstone Collection PAMPH. BOX
TK5621 STE
3. Three samples of trans-Atlantic submarine
telegraph cable manufactured by Siemens Brothers
& Co. They were given to John Cutler (1839-1925),
professor of English law and jurisprudence at
King's College London, 1865-1915, as a souvenir
by Alexander Siemens (1847-1928), cousin of
William Siemens and electrical engineer at Siemens
Brothers in 1898.
KCLA Wheatstone K/PP107/11/1/18
4. Notes by Wheatstone regarding telegraphic
communication between remote parts of London,
suggesting telegraph cables should be included
alongside gas and water pipes in the proposed
Thames embankments.
KCLA Wheatstone K/PP107/1/4/50
5. Automatic telegraph printing receiver devised by
Wheatstone, [1858-67]. Impulses of current from
the sender caused the electromagnet to operate two
brass wire armatures. Ink was pushed by the
armatures from a brass tray through two small holes
creating dots on paper tape fed underneath.
KCLA Wheatstone K/PP107/11/1/9
6. Notes describing a recording telegraph using a
moving stylus, [1835-69].
KCLA Wheatstone K/PP107/1/4/47
7. Photograph of Wheatstone’s automatic telegraph
transmitter taken by Monsieur Louis, 374 Euston
Road, [1863-4].
KCLA Wheatstone K/PP107/1/4/6
8. Colour drawing of Wheatstone’s automatic
telegraph transmitter, [1858]. The transmitter is on
display in the Chapel Corridor, King’s Building,
King’s College London, Strand.
KCLA Wheatstone K/PP107/1/4/46
CASE 7
WHEATSTONE
AND HIS
CONTEMPORARIES
1. Francesco Zantedeschi. Le leggi del magnetismo
nel filo congiuntivo percorso dalla corrente
voltiana. Venezia: coi tipi di Guiseppe Antonelli,
1843. Francesco Zantedeschi (1797-1873), whose
discoveries in electromagnetism may have
foreshadowed those of Faraday and Maxwell, was
professor of physics at the universities of Venice
and Padua. He inscribed this pamphlet to William
Sturgeon (1783-1850), a scientific lecturer and
maker of scientific instruments, who was
responsible for an important improvement in the
design of the electromagnet. Sturgeon may have
become acquainted with Wheatstone through John
Frederic Daniell (see case 9).
FSCL Wheatstone Collection PAMPH. BOX
QC760 ZAN
2. ‘Barlow’s Wheel’ designed by physicist Peter
Barlow (1776-1862) to demonstrate the principles
of the electric motor. A current passed through the
wheel into a mercury reservoir creating a magnetic
force that reacted with a U-shaped magnet, causing
the wheel to turn. Made by J Newman, Regent St
and used by Wheatstone for teaching, [1834-7].
KCLA Wheatstone K/PP107/11/3/8
3. Wheatstone’s handwritten extract from An essay
on magnetic attraction (2nd ed, London, 1822),
Peter Barlow (1776-1862), mathematician and
physicist, [1834-75].
KCLA Wheatstone K/PP107/3/3/271
4. Michael Faraday. The physical character of the
lines of magnetic force. [From the
‘Philosophical magazine’ for June 1852]. This
pamphlet, inscribed by Michael Faraday (17911867) to Wheatstone, testifies to the intertwining of
both their professional careers and scientific ideas.
Faraday’s discoveries in electromagnetism laid the
foundation for the practical uses of electricity.
Without Faraday’s research Wheatstone’s work in
telegraphy would have been impossible. Similarly,
Wheatstone’s research on sound, in which he
showed vibrations could produce symmetrical
arrangements of particles, encouraged Faraday to
consider magnetism as a means of inducing an
electric current. This pamphlet describes Faraday’s
later research on magnetism as a universal property
of matter, and his exploration of magnetic lines of
force. This theory was later expressed in
mathematics by Lord Kelvin and James Clerk
Maxwell.
FSCL Wheatstone Collection PAMPH. BOX
QC753 FAR
5. Draft notes by Wheatstone on an ‘Experiment to
prove or disprove Faraday’s theory of induction’,
[Michael Faraday (1791-1867), natural
philosopher], [1836-72].
KCLA Wheatstone K/PP107/1/1/7
6. William Thomson (Lord Kelvin) The Bakerian
lecture: on the electro-dynamic qualities of metals.
[London: Royal Society, 1856]. William Thomson
(1824-1907), first Baron Kelvin, was one of the
founders of modern physics as a science firmly
grounded in mathematics. The Kelvin as a unit of
measurement for temperature is named after him.
His research on the conductivity of metals was
crucial to the first successful transatlantic telegraph
cable in 1866. Thomson believed that a fast rate of
signalling could be achieved only through low
voltages (high voltages rendered the cable useless),
and that this required sensitive detection equipment,
such as his mirror galvanometer. A Thomson
galvanometer is on display in the Chapel Corridor,
King’s Building, King’s College London, Strand.
FSCL Wheatstone Collection PAMPH. BOX
QC173.458.M33 KEL
CASE 8
WHEATSTONE
AND HIS
CONTEMPORARIES
1. WW Whitmore. A letter to the agriculturists of
the county of Salop. London: Houlston and
Stoneman, 1841. This pamphlet is inscribed by the
eminent mathematician Charles Babbage (17921871) to Wheatstone. Babbage, now remembered
for his invention of the ‘difference engine’ and the
‘analytical engine’, the precursors of the computer,
shared some of Wheatstone’s scientific interests.
He was engaged in public affairs, endeavoured to
persuade successive governments to support
science financially, advocated the decimalisation of
the currency, foresaw the use of tidal power for
energy, and was a Whig parliamentary candidate
twice in the 1830s. This probably accounts for the
subject of this pamphlet: the Corn Laws.
FSCL Wheatstone Collection PAMPH. BOX
HD595 WHI
2. William Barton Rogers. Some experiments on
sonorous flames, with remarks on the primary
source of their vibration. New Haven: printed by E
Hayes, 1858. William Barton Rogers (1804-82), a
pioneering geologist who undertook research on
coal deposits in the Appalachian Mountains, was
the first president of the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology, and was influential in devising its
scientific and engineering curricula. This
pamphlet, inscribed by the author to Wheatstone, is
concerned with the production of a musical sound
by a small flame of hydrogen gas burning within a
tube, a subject close to Wheatstone’s heart. He
conducted an experiment on this subject which used
a revolving mirror.
FSCLWheatstone Collection PAMPH. BOX
QC241 ROG
3. Wheatstone’s rotating mirror apparatus or
photometer, used to measure the velocity of light.
It consists of a clockwork mechanism surmounted
by a dial in a circular glass and brass case with a
turret containing the revolving mirror, [1836-65].
KCLA Wheatstone K/PP107/11/4/2
4. Envelope from Edwin Chadwick (1800-90),
social reformer. The back was used by Wheatstone
to make notes on measuring the electro-motive
forces of metals, [1834-43]. Very little in the way
of correspondence survives in Wheatstone’s papers
and evidence of his connection with his
contemporaries can often only be pieced together
from the scraps of paper he re-used for his notes.
KCLA Wheatstone K/PP107/2/1/32
5. James Clerk Maxwell. Illustrations of the
dynamical theory of gases. [From the
‘Philosophical magazine’, June and July 1860].
James Clerk Maxwell (1831-79), professor of
natural philosophy at King’s from 1860 to 1865,
along with Lord Kelvin, developed physics as a
mathematical subject. His emphasis on the precise
measurement of electric qualities and resistances
was crucial to the successful development of
submarine telegraphy. Maxwell’s laboratory at
King’s undertook these experiments with the ohm,
as the standard of measurement came to be called.
FSCL Wheatstone Collection PAMPH. BOX
QC175 MAX
6. Letter to Wheatstone from James Clerk Maxwell
regarding a calculation of the amount of electricity
needed for charging a particular wire, 4 March
1862.
KCLA Wheatstone K/PP107/1/4/7
CASE 9
WHEATSTONE AT
KING’S COLLEGE
LONDON
1. Letter from William Otter (1768-1840), principal
of King’s College London, to Wheatstone
informing him of his appointment as professor of
experimental philosophy, 1834.
KCLA Wheatstone K/PP107/7/1
2. Printed syllabus for Wheatstone’s experimental
philosophy course of eight lectures of the
‘Measures of sound, light, heat, magnetism and
electricity’, 1837.
KCLA Wheatstone K/PP107/5/2
3. Herbert Mayo. Outlines of human physiology.
London: Burgess and Hill, 1833. Herbert Mayo
(1796-1852) was appointed the first professor of
anatomy at King’s in 1830. He established his
scientific and medical reputation in the study of the
nervous system. He shared Wheatstone’s interest in
the relationship between mind, sensation and
perception including stereoscopy (see case 2).
Mayo’s passage concerning the stereoscope, as
shown here, is the earliest published allusion to it, a
fact which Wheatstone himself acknowledged.
FSCL Wheatstone Collection QP34 MAY
4. Notes made by Wheatstone from Outlines of
human physiology, Herbert Mayo.
KCLA Wheatstone K/PP107/4/7/48
5. Notes on experiments undertaken at King’s
College London to determine electromotive force
using resistance coils, 27 June 1843.
KCLA Wheatstone K/PP107/2/1/2
6. Henry Moseley. On the theory of the equilibrium
of bodies in contact. Cambridge: printed at the Pitt
Press, by John William Parker, 1838. The
mathematician and clergyman Henry Moseley
(1801-72) was appointed the first professor of
natural and experimental philosophy and astronomy
at King’s, where he was also the chaplain for two
years, from 1831 to 1833. He played an important
role in establishing the department of practical
science and engineering. In 1834 Moseley
relinquished his responsibilities in experimental
philosophy, thus creating a new post which
Wheatstone filled. This pamphlet is inscribed by
Moseley to Wheatstone.
FSCL Wheatstone Collection PAMPH. BOX
TA660.A7 MOS (2)
7. William Allen Miller. On the photographic
transparency of various bodies, and on the
photographic effects of spectra obtained by means
of the electric spark. London: Royal Society, 1862.
William Allen Miller (1817-70), who was a
colleague of John Frederic Daniell, succeeded him
to the chair of chemistry at King’s. Miller
pioneered the use of spectroscopic analysis in
chemistry and its application to photography. This
had obvious relevance to Wheatstone’s own work
in stereoscopy and photography (see case 2). He
subsequently extended his studies to planetary and
stellar spectra, and was one of the first scientists to
investigate the chemical composition of the stars
thoroughly. The plate shown here demonstrates the
spectra of various gases. This pamphlet is inscribed
by Miller to Wheatstone.
FSCL Wheatstone Collection PAMPH. BOX
QC476.6 MIL
8. John Frederic Daniell. Fifth letter on voltaic
combinations, with some account of the effects of a
large constant battery. London: Royal Society,
1839. John Frederic Daniell (1790-1845) was the
first professor of chemistry at King’s. His
researches embraced several fields, including gas
generation and meteorology. In a similar way to his
colleagues William Allen Miller and Wheatstone
himself, his career was enmeshed in the practical,
naval and commercial applications of science. He is
best known for his invention of the Daniell cell,
which lasted longer than earlier batteries, a crucial
function for the development of the early telegraph.
This pamphlet is inscribed by Daniell to
Wheatstone.
FSCL Wheatstone Collection PAMPH. BOX
QC601 DAN
9. Pyrometer designed by John Frederic Daniell
used to determine high temperatures by measuring
the expansion of metal. This example was possibly
used by Wheatstone for teaching.
KCLA Wheatstone K/PP107/11/3/3
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