Images Dated 8th August 2005

Florence Nightingale in her carriage in the Crimea, 1856

Florence Nightingale in her carriage in the Crimea, 1856. Known as Florrie's Trolley it was described as ... a homely vehicle corresponding to the womanly simplicity of her whom it was employed to convey'. In 1854, during the Crimean War (1853-1856), Sidney Herbert, Secretary of State for War, appointed the English nurse Florence Nightingale (1820-1910), a family friend, to introduce female nurses into the British military hospitals in the Crimea. Until the end of the war she worked tirelessly to improve conditions. From The Illustrated London News. (London, 30 August 1856)

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Booklet of instructions for a Fantascope, 1833. Artist: Thomas Mann Baynes

Booklet of instructions for a Fantascope, 1833. The Fantascope or Phenakistoscope was an optical toy depending on persistence of vision for its effect. By spinning a disc picture-side towards a mirror, and looking through the slits which act as shutters, you briefly see the reflection of each successive picture and they appear to move. This title page of a booklet issued with the toy shows scenes from the discs. From Fantascope published by Ackermann and Co. (London, 1833)

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Joules apparatus for determining the mechanical equivalent of heat, 1881

Joule's apparatus for determining the mechanical equivalent of heat, 1872. A vessel of water, oil or mercury encloses vanes attached to a spindle. Cord is wound round the cylinder and drum. The weight descending against the scale rotates the spindle and vanes. Raising and lowering the weight raises the temperature of the fluid. From the rise in temperature and the distance travelled, the energy used can be calculated. British physicist James Prescott Joule (1818-1889) determined the mechanical equivalent of heat. The unit of energy called the joule is named after him

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