The development of chemistry, like that of the other fields of science
and technology, has depended greatly upon the availability of
instruments. Accordingly, the study of the history of instrumentation is
a major area in any survey of the progress in this science. Recognizing
this fact, the Division of the History of Chemistry of the American
Chemical Society organized and held a very successful symposium on the
history of chemical instrumentation during the Washington, D.C. National
Meeting in 1979. Re arks, both formal and informal, made during this
symposium stressed points that soon become obvious to anyone who looks
at the ancestry of present-day instruments . In some cases, the total
history is measured in years, rather than in centuries . Chemical
instrumentation, by no means confined to the laboratory, is vital in
industry. There is a natural tendency to discard an item of any kind
when a newer version is acquired. Often, "to discard" means "to scrap".
If the item scrapped is an instrument that is unique - sometimes the
last of its kind - we have a permanent artefactual gap in the history of
science.