Experiment kits and instruction manuals around 1900 - continued...

Home laboratories

The requirements for complete instruction in experimentation were not limited to the laboratories and school desks. Individual work was expected outside of the classroom and students were encouraged to experiment at home and manufacture their own equipment (Baenitz 1883, 303). In addition to the collections designed for school instruction, Meiser & Mertig and the Leipziger Lehrmittel-Anstalt therefore offered experiment kits for home use.

Fig. 4.: "Experimentirkasten Physik" (Meiser & Mertig).

Point your mouse to the image to get an impression of the corresponding instruction manual: Meiser & Mertig, eds. 1895. Physik. 400 Versuche aus dem Gebiete der Mechanik, Akustik, Wärme, Optik, Elektricität. Uebungsbuch für den Experimentirkasten. 4th ed. Dresden: Selbstverlag.

Even in the smallest of spaces, these kits and their precisely tuned instruments could transform any table into a small laboratory. Under the names Der praktische Chemiker [The practical chemist], Der praktische Elektriker [The practical electrician], Der praktische Mikroskopierer [The practical microscopist], Experimentierkasten Magnetismus [Magnetism experiment kit] (Leipziger Lehrmittel-Anstalt) or Experimentirkasten 'Physik' ['Physics' experiment kit] (Meiser & Mertig), these kits were advertised both in corporate catalogs as well as in brochures, depicting well-dressed boys wearing a suit and white shirt, or in newspaper inserts, for example as the ideal Christmas gift.