| Description | Boxwood crystal models created by by Nathaniel John Larkin, comprising:
Two models 'F25' & 'F32' which belonged to a set which were created to illustrate Robert Jameson's 'A treatise on the external, chemical, and physical characters of minerals', 2nd edition (1816);
88 models showing the various crystallised forms of minerals, the structure and facets are marked following the system devised by René Haüy in his 'Traité de Minéralogie' (1801), comprising:
Augit [Augite] -8
Axenite - 2
Chrysolite - 6
Cross Stone - 4
Felspar - 12
Fluor spar - 10
Garnet - 5
Grenatite - 5
Hollow spar - 1
Hornblende - 6
Mesotype - 2
Mica - 4
Prehnite - 4
Quartz - 6
Sommite - 2
Spinel - 4
Topaz - 7 |
| Administrative History | Nathaniel John Larkin was born in London, 5 December, 1781. At the age of nineteen he went to the Orkney islands, to establish a straw-plat manufactory, which he superintended for some years. He subsequently returned to London, and became noted for his models of crystals, illustrating Hauy's 'Traite de Mineralogie', and likewise the views of Dr Wollaston, Professors Mohs and Jameson, and other writers of scientific eminence. He constructed a cube of spherical molecules, uniform with the tetrahedron and octahedron of Dr Wollaston, from whom he received much friendly encouragement and assistance. He also arranged a very complete and comprehensive set of Geometrical Solids, and published three books in explanation of them, the most important of which was his 'Introduction to Solid Geometry, and to the Study of Crystallography' a work which appeared in the year 1820. He was elected a Fellow of the Geological Society in 1816, to the President (G B Greenough, Esq) and other members of which he dedicated his book. He died on the 21st of October, 1855, being in the 74th year of his age. |
| CustodialHistory | The items (along with GSL/OB/5) are in a later box marked 'Box-wood models illustrating the Treatise on Crystallography by William Phillips, edited by H J Brooke and W H Miller, 1852'. However it more closely relates to William Phillips, 'An elementary introduction to mineralogy… ' 4th edition, London: Longman, 1837 which had been interleaved and annotated with reference to specimens in the Museum by Henry James Brooke in 1859. (GSL/MUS/2/1). All of the models are marked in pencil with locations of the actual mineral specimens in the old Museum.
The cannibalisation of the different model sets was likely done during one of the Special Museum Committees, late 1850s early 1870s. |
| ArchNote | Source: obituary, 'Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society', vol 13 (1857); Wilson, W E and J Kjellman, "Nathaniel Larkin (1781–1855) and John Richard Larkin (1818–1876): Early crystal model makers", 'Mineralogical Record', vol 46 (2015), pp269-276. Description by John Thackray, revised by Caroline Lam. |