This mezzotint print portrait of Jesse Ramsden was produced by printmaker John Jones after a painting by Robert Home at the Royal Society. Ramsden (1735–1800) was an English mathematician, and an astronomical and…

Seated at a table, a well-dressed medical alchemist examines a flask he holds aloft. Opposite, a young man and woman anxiously await his diagnosis. Urinoscopy, or the visual examination of urine for diagnosis, was a…

A portrait of a seated Matthew Boulton (1728–1809), a British industrialist and entrepreneur. He is seated in front of a window, holding a magnifying glass and a coin. In the background is a large building.

An oval bust-length portrait of Francis Lord Bacon (1561–1626), the English philosopher, lawyer, statesman, author, and scientist. Beneath is a rectangular image of a man seated on the left and standing figures on the…

In this small copy in the style of David Teniers II (artist unknown), an elderly, bearded alchemist closely reads an open book with an expression of absorbed contemplation. He is seated at his desk beside a skull and…

A bearded alchemist wearing a fur-trimmed top coat and cap is carefully weighing ingredients with a balance. On top of his table is an exotic carpet covered with papers, a copper pitcher, and ceramic jar. Resting on a…

An oval bust-length portrait of D. Alexander Nicolaus Scherer.

An oval bust-length portrait of the German chemist, physicist, and biologist Franz Karl Achard (1753–1821).

Originally published in Vanity Fair on January 8, 1887, this chromolithograph depicts Louis Pasteur holding two white rabbits.

This engraving shows Dutch mathematician and physicist Jean Henri van Swinden (1746–1823) demonstrating the generation of electricity to the Felix Meritis Society in Amsterdam. The Felix Meritis Society was founded in…

This engraving, by the French printmaker Jean Baptiste Fosseyeux, reproduces an original painting by Gerrit Dou. The work, titled "The Dropsical Woman," shows a young but finely-robed doctor examining the urine of a…

This profile portrait claims to provide a likeness of Paracelsus, the famed Swiss-German physician, botanist, and alchemist. A champion of chemical medicines, Paracelsus criticized established medical institutions for…

A portrait of a man (possibly Athalante Legrand, a French mathematician) in academic dress seated with his right arm on a ledge, pointing to a geometric diagram.

This small painting on metal is a copy of Gerrit Dou's (also known as Gerrit Douw or Dow) [artist unknown] popular dentist scene in Dresden. Through the illusionistic frame of a large window, we see a dentist in a red…

In this copy after Gerrit Dou's (also known as Gerrit Douw or Dow) popular "The School Master" composition (artist unknown), the old man at the window niche sharpens his pen while his pupils are busy at work in the…

Hand-colored engraving by J. Pass after the drawing by Henry Lascelles for the section on "Chemistry." From Volume 4 of the Encyclopaedia Londinensis; or, Universal Dictionary of Arts, Sciences, and Literature,…

Hand-colored engraving by J. Pass after the drawing by Henry Lascelles for the section on "Chemistry." From Volume 4 of the Encyclopaedia Londinensis; or, Universal Dictionary of Arts, Sciences, and Literature,…

Hand-colored engraving by J. Pass after the drawing by Henry Lascelles for the section on "Chemistry." From Volume 4 of the Encyclopaedia Londinensis; or, Universal Dictionary of Arts, Sciences, and Literature,…

Hand-colored engraving by J. Pass after the drawing by Henry Lascelles for the section on "Chemistry." From Volume 4 of the Encyclopaedia Londinensis; or, Universal Dictionary of Arts, Sciences, and Literature,…

A bust-length portrait facing left in profile of Professor Joseph Black (1728–1799) in an octagonal format.

Hand-colored engraving by J. Pass after the drawing by Henry Lascelles for the section on "Chemistry." From Volume 4 of the Encyclopaedia Londinensis; or, Universal Dictionary of Arts, Sciences, and Literature,…

Hand-colored engraving by J. Pass after the drawing by Henry Lascelles for the section on "Chemistry." From Volume 4 of the Encyclopaedia Londinensis; or, Universal Dictionary of Arts, Sciences, and Literature,…

Hand-colored engraving by J. Pass after the drawing by Henry Lascelles for the section on "Chemistry." From Volume 4 of the Encyclopaedia Londinensis; or, Universal Dictionary of Arts, Sciences, and Literature,…

Hand-colored engraving by J. Pass after the drawing by Henry Lascelles for the section on "Chemistry." From Volume 4 of the Encyclopaedia Londinensis; or, Universal Dictionary of Arts, Sciences, and Literature,…

The scene, from an episode in Samuel Butler's mock-heroic epic, "Hudibras," shows the title character as he confronts the astrologer Sidrophel in a clandestine laboratory. Angry at the truths of his past which the…