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To: rete@maillist.ox.ac.uk
From: Brian Whatcott <betwys1@sbcglobal.net>
Subject: Re: [rete] Passevin
At 02:45 PM 6/23/2004, Pierre Lauginie, you wrote:
My answer does not refer to History of Science, but only to a modern (?)
way for the "passvin" :
A glass of red wine, full exactly up to the upper edge.
A second glass similarly full of water. A sheet of paper is put just on
the surface, in contact with the edge and with water.
Take the second glass in your right hand, maintain the paper sheet in
place with your left hand, and turn it over, while preventing the water
to flow outside the glass with the paper sheet. Put delicately the turned
over water glass on the first one, exactly edge against edge.
Then, very, very slowly, pull the paper sheet towards you in order to
remove it completely.
Then, very progressively, you see the diffusion of the red wine towards
the upper glass, while it is replaced by water in the lower one. After
some minutes, the upper glass is full of wine, and the lower is quite
clear ! It is really amazing.
P. Lauginie
Welcome [Jonas]!
The website for Hauch's Cabinet describes the passevin as
a slight of hand, whereby the lower container, disguised in a
wood shell, is filled with red wine. This lower container
connects to the upper flask by a slim passage.
When water is added to the flask, the hidden wine takes its
place, drop by drop.
<http://www.awhauch.dk/>
Brian Whatcott
At 09:36 AM 6/14/2004, you wrote:
Dear retians!
I´m a new member of the rete mailing list, and thought I´d try it out, and
at the same time take the opportunity to introduce myself. I´m a paper
conservator working at the Center for History of Science, the Royal Swedish
Academy of Sciences, in Stockholm. My responsibilities are (of course) the
care and conservation of the collections of the Academy. In September I will
attend the XXIII SIS i Dresden together with the assistant director of CFHS,
Dr Karl Grandin.
And now for some inquiries:
During the last months me and my colleagues have come across two somewhat
insignificant, but nonetheless interesting objects.
The first is a simple apparatus from the 18th century for the
demonstration of the physical principle of the specific weight of fluids. It
has apparently been known in Scandinavia as the "Passevin" or "Passe de vin"
and consists of a double-bodied glass vessel partly hidden in a wooden box.
We have already found enough information to explain its function and use
(e.g. Nolet´s Lecons de Physique (1754) vol.II, p.280), but it would be
interesting to know how many more of this little apparatus there are out
there. We are especially interested in what it might be called in other
languages.
The second object is a pair of "double" bellows, with two separate
bellows, and a thin tube, and is used as a life-saving device for drowned or
apparently dead people. In swedish it´s called "Lifs-pusten", which can be
translated to "The Breath of life", and is said to be originally an english
invention by a Mr Grocy(?). If anyone has ever seen or heard of this device
before, we would very much like to know.
Pictures of the objects may be found on CFHS´s new website at:
><http://www.center.kva.se/svenska/samlingar/ursamlingarna.htm>
Looking forward to my first scientific instrument symposium.
Best regards!
Jonas Häggblom,
Conservator,
Center for History of Science,
The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences
Brian Whatcott Altus OK Eureka!
Pierre LAUGINIE
Maître de Conférences honoraire
GHDSO - Université Paris-Sud
Centre d'Orsay. Bat 407
F-91405 Orsay Cedex
GHDSO : tel. 33-(0)1 69 15 61 79 or - 43 99 (secretary)
fax 33-(0)1 69 15 43 98
Home : tel. 33-(0)1 69 07 07 24