Teddy Ruxpin is an animatronic children's toy in the form of a talking 'Illiop', a creature that looks like a bear. The bear's mouth and eyes move while "reading" stories played on an audiotape cassette deck built into…

Leeches have been used in medicine since ancient times. During the Victorian era, French physician Francois-Joseph-Victor Broussais sparked a boom in the leech trade with his popular theory that diet, bloodletting, and…

In the center of a large room, a surgeon in a red cap and apron kneels to apply a leech to the foot of his bearded patient. Scenes of bloodletting and leechcraft are common in such images of doctors' surgeries. The…

This type C medium-sized research microscope was manufactured by Ernst Leitz of Wetzlar, Germany. Featuring a black enamel horseshoe-shaped base and arm, this microscope also includes a reflecting mirror, eye piece,…

American Optical Corporation Sixty student model monocular microscope features American Optical Spencer objective lenses.

American Optical Corporation was a successor to the Spencer Lens Company, founded by Charles…

Developed in 1972, the HP-35 was Hewlett Packard's first pocket calculator and the first pocket calculator ever to have transcendental functions. Twenty HP engineers spent two years and approximately $1 million…

Modern reproduction of the first electric battery invented by Alessandro Volta in 1800. Base and top are wooden. Between the base and top rests a stack or pile of 46 copper-zinc cells. Electrodes used to tranfer the…

Soldiers are of various different designs; each seems to be hand painted.

William Henry Perkin depicted in his laboratory. Perkin, center, examines test dyeing of silk taffeta with mauve aniline dye. Left, his father, the backer of the plant, stands behind Perkin and admires the fabric. In…

Wooden grey-blue case that opens on a hinge. Inside, the left side of the case contains a sealed glass bottle of mounting cement, a sealed glass bottle of thinner, small cardboard boxes labeled "Microcraft Microscopy…

A bald alchemist stands at his furnace on the right, stirring the contents of his crucible while reading a small book. His young apprentice stands by, attentively looking to the alchemist for guidance. Books and other…

Robert Boyle in long curled wig, white neck cravat and sleeves, black coat; seated facing right with head turned three quarters left, looking out; turning page of book with left hand and gesturing toward book with…

A: Bulb containing mercury attached to a glass tube of narrow diameter. Thermometer has Celsius scale with 0-100 degree range.

B: Protective cardboard tube for the thermometer (not digitized).

Partial immersion…

While its mineral name is halite, this substance is also commonly known as rock salt. Rock salt is composed of sodium chloride, an essential compound the human body uses to absorb nutrients and maintain blood pressure.

Olivine is a mineral with a distinct green color and granular-shaped crystals. It is one of the first minerals to cool and crystallize from magma. Recently, olivine has been used as an alternative to silica sand and…

Calcite is one of the most widely used minerals. It is primarily composed of the chemical compound calcium carbonate. Calcite is also often used in demonstrations of double refraction, in which light is split into two…

Fluorite (also called fluorspar) is the crystal form of the inorganic compound calcium fluoride. The term "fluorescence," a type of luminescence by a substance that has absorbed light or radiation, is derived from this…

Barium (atomic symbol Ba) is an alkaline Earth metal. Barite (also spelled baryte) is a mineral composed of barium sulfate. It is used in paints, inks, paper, and rubber. It is also used in radiology for diagnostic…

Boron (atomic symbol B), a naturally occuring Earth element, was first isolated by Sir Humphry Davy and Joseph Louis Gay-Lussac and Louis Jacques Thénard in 1808. Tourmaline is a boron silicate. Opaque and black in…

Amazonite is a potassium-based blue-green variety of microcline feldspar. Its color may be an indication of the presence of iron or lead. Amazonite has been used as a decorative gemstone in statues and jewelry.

Celestine is a mineral with a light blue color. It is a source of the element strontium (atomic symbol Sr). Strontium compounds are commonly used in fireworks, fluorescent lights, and dyes and paints.

Used to create silicon ingots for use in the semiconductor industry, this crystal puller consists of two main parts, the furnace and the puller: the furnace is cylindrical and located at the bottom of the instrument, it…

Round silver aluminum necklace consisting of numerous triangular shaped pieces arranged in an overlapping pattern; hook and eye clasp are attached via thread to the main body of the necklace.

Distillation is a method of separating chemical substances based on differences in their volatilities in a boiling liquid mixture. A distilled beverage is a liquid meant for consumption containing ethyl alcohol…

Bowls like this one were used to catch the blood released by bleeding. The appearance of blood was a useful diagnostic tool for physicians, who examined it for clues about the body's internal state. This large bowl was…