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Description: | none MANU Unsigned. 20th century This rather crudely made and erroneous copy of an alembic and curcubit is quite modern. Unlike the original devices, which were probably invented by the ptolomeic Greeks of Alexandria, this distillation apparatus has no means to charge it convieniently. In the original earthenware device the round bottomed flask or curcubit (from a gourd or squash) had a short neck and was quite independent of the long spout, the alembic from the arabic for a pelican, the head and bill of which it supposedly resembled. Vapours from boiling liquids in the flask condensed at the top of the neck and dripped down the spout. In Europe the earthenware became replaced by glass which possibly accounts for the error in making the apparatus in one piece. Also later versions were made in one piece with a stoppered port in the top of the "circubit" through which it could be charged. The object was presumably included in the exhibition in order to alludes to Professor John Ferguson (1837-1916) Scottish chemist and bibliographer who was professor of Chemistry at the University of Glasgow from 1874 to 1915.
John Ferguson was born at Alloa, Clackmannanshire, Scotland, son of William, a merchant. John was educated at the High School of Glasgow and studied at Glasgow University from 1855-1864 . He obtained a BA in 1861 and an MA in the following year. He won a number of prizes at University including the Ewing Gold Medal for his essay "Historical Account of the Papacy as a temporal power in Europe", the Gartmore Gold Medal for "The Advantages & Disadvantages of Federal Government" and he twice won the Watt prize for essays entitled "On Cohesion" and "Electricity & Magnetism from the Middle of the Last Century".
John Ferguson studied Natural Philosophy under Professor William Thomson, Lord Kelvin, and Chemistry with Professor Thomas Anderson whilst studying medicine. Ferguson was Professor Anderson's private assistant from 1864 until 1868 when he was appointed as a University Assistant with charge of tutorial classes and laboratory supervision. In 1869 , Professor Anderson was taken seriously ill and Ferguson undertook the general running of the department until November 1870 when Anderson returned.
It was during this time that the University moved from the High Street to Gilmorehill and Ferguson was largely responsible for the outfitting of the new Chemistry Laboratories. Anderson never fully recovered from his illness and died in 1874.
Ferguson wrote widely on Chemistry and particularly on the history of the subject often being published in the Proceedings of the Royal Philosophical Society of Glasgow, for which he was president of the Chemical Section. He was elected President of the Society from 1892-1895 .
One of the historical works for which he will be remembered is Bibliotheca chemica: a catalogue of the alchemical, chemical and pharmaceutical books in the collection of the late James Young (Glasgow, 1906). James "paraffin" Young (1811-1883), Ferguson's interest in alchemy and the occult lead him to collect a large number of books, about, 2,500, on the subject.
His nickname "Soda" is said to have derived from his personality, which is said to have been a little caustic. Besides holding the office of President of the Royal Philosophical Society of Glasgow, Ferguson was President of the Glasgow Archaeological Society from 1892 until 1893 , a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 1888, the Society of Antiquaries in 1890 , the Chemical Society 1872 and the Institute of Chemistry in London in 1878 . He was awarded an LLD by St Andrews University, Scotland, in 1887 . He belonged to several learned societies in Europe and was an honorary member of the Imperial Military Academy of Petrograd. Throughout his life, John "Soda" Ferguson had been connected with Glasgow University, his last position being as Honorary Curator of the Hunterian Library. | License: | http://www.hmag.gla.ac.uk/spirit/rights/ | Publisher: | Hunterian Museum and Art Gallery, University of Glasgow | Rights holder: | Hunterian Museum and Art Gallery, University of Glasgow | Subjects: | SCIENTIFIC COLLECTION : | Source: | Hunterian Museum | Creator: | Hunterian Museum and Art Gallery, University of Glasgow | Identifier: | http://www.huntsearch.gla.ac.uk/cgi-bin/... | Language: | en-GB | Go to resource |
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