Accession No

3281

Brief Description

pair of carbon disulphide prisms, by C. Baker, English, 19th Century

Origin

England; London; High Holborn

Maker

C. Baker

Class

optical

Earliest Date

1800

Latest Date

1900

Inscription Date

Material

wood; glass; paper; inorganic (carbon disulphide); hide (leather)

Dimensions

box height 170mm; breadth 164mm; depth 120mm

Special Collection

Provenance

Purchased from Peter Delehar, London, England, 1985.

Inscription

‘Carbon Disulphide
Prisms’ (label on outside of box)
‘C. BAKER
OPTICIAN
High Holborn
London’ (faded label in lid of box)

Description Notes

Fitted wooden box with brass hinges and hook fastener. Sides of box slide out to allow access to prisms. Each prism is a glas and carbon disulphide bottle with two straight edges and one curved; glass stopper. Leather cover for each stopper for protection in box. Parts of prisms have been painted black.

Condition fair; complete.

References

Events

Description
Prism
A prism consists of a translucent piece of glass or crystal, usually triangular in cross section, which is used to separate light into a spectrum of its separate colours.

The instrument works because different wavelengths of light are refracted (bent) by different amounts as they enter and leave the prism; the shorter wavelengths (towards the blue end of the spectrum) are refracted by the greatest amount, and the longer wavelengths (towards the red end) are refracted the least. This spreads out normal white light, which is a mixture of all the different colours, into its constituent parts and produces the rainbow effect of a spectrum.

18/10/2002
Created by: Saffron Clackson on 18/10/2002

FM:43466