| Description | Boxwood crystal models to illustrate Robert Jameson's 'A treatise on the external, chemical, and physical characters of minerals', 2nd edition (1816), by Nathaniel John Larkin. The models show the various crystallised forms that a number of minerals take, the structure and facets are marked following the system devised by René Haüy in his 'Traité de Minéralogie' (1801).
Comprises:
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
Geometrical models - 2 |
| 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 | Confusingly, the items are in a later box which has been marked 'Box-wood models illustrating the Treatise on Crystallography by William Phillips, edited by H J Brooks and W H Miller, 1852', however John Thackray, the previous archivist, has identified them as being the original Larkin models. It is true that the models are marked in pencil with the museum location of the mineral types, which can be seen also in the archival copy of William PHILLIPS, 'An elementary introduction to mineralogy… ' 4th edition, London: Longman, 1837, later interleaved and annotated with reference to specimens in the Museum by Henry James Brooke, 1859 (GSL/MUS/2/1), but whilst the illustrations within the volume show similarities, they are based on H J Brooke's notation which is likely to derive from Haüy's system. |