Marum, and it has therefore been decided that it will be presented to the Trustees in the name
of the Society.”40
All this meant that, when it began to transpire that there was actually a considerable amount
of money available for the acquisition of items for the Foundation’s collection, van Marum
was not only well prepared, but also in full control of the situation.
In the minutes of the trustees’ meetings first mention of the increase in funds for the museum
was made on October 31st 1788. Van Zeebergh had evidently informed both learned societies
“that the Trustees were now, more than before, able to defray some expenses to procure such
Machines and Books for the Musaeum as would be most pleasing and useful to the
Societies”.
The members of the Second Society had discussed this on October 30th — although the
“discussion” had again essentially consisted of van Marum’s pre-conceived plans being
seconded by the other members of the Society. The initial idea appears to have been to buy
some instruments at the auction of the collection of the recently deceased professor Johannes
Nicolaas Sebastiaan Allamand from Leiden. Having inspected the instruments available, van
Marum however did not consider them suitable, most of them being in bad shape and
overpriced.
He therefore informed his fellow members of the Society that he “[het] beter oordeelde aan de
Heeren Directeuren van wegens die Collegie voortedragen het laaten maaken van nieuwe
instrumenten”
He therefore informed his fellow members of the Society that he “judged it better to propose
to the Trustees on the part of the Society to have new Instruments made”, and suggested three
instruments for research purposes: a vacuum pump, a pressure pump and an “excellent”
microscope [een best microscoop], “which is sometimes needed even in the examination of
the electrical experiments”. The microscope was to be ordered with John Adams in London.
Finally, van Marum was hoping to obtain funding for a series of experiments to determine the
chemical composition of water, “which, Mr van Marum said, he had expressly been requested
to do by the Members of the Royal French Academy”.42
The trustees agreed to all of this the following day. Interestingly, overnight van Marum also
appears to have added a telescope to the list he presented the trustees with - maybe he was
40 “Waarop omvraage gedaan zijnde heeft de Heer Van Oosten de Bruijn, erkennende zijne volstrekte onkunde in
phvsicis & mechanicis. verzocht zich te mogen refereeren aan ’t oordeel der andere Heeren Leden van dit
Collegie, welken eenpaariglijk hebben gedeclareerd dit door den meer gemelden Heer Van Marum
geconcipieerd plan t ’approbeeren, en is midsdien geresolveerd, d a t’t zelve in naam van het Collegie aan Heeren
Directeuren zal worden overgegeeven.” Ibid.
41 “dat HH.DD. thans meerder dan sints eenigen tijd in staat waren om eenige Uitgaven goed te maaken ter
vervullinge van het Musaeum met zodanige Werktuigen en Boeken als der Genootschappen meest aangenaam en
nuttig konden zijn”; “Directienotulen”, 31.10.1788, Haarlem, ATS, vol. 5.
42 “[het] beter oordeelde aan de Heeren Directeuren van wegens die Collegie voortedragen het laaten maaken van
nieuwe instrumenten” ; “welke zelfs in de beschouwing der electrische proeven zomtijds van nooden is”;
“waartoe de Heer van Marum zeide door de Leden der Ko. Franse Akademie zeer te zijn aangezocht”; “Notulen
Tweede Genootschap”, 30.10.1788, Haarlem, ATS, vol. 1382.
beginning to sense that there was no shortage of funds, and that the trustees were inclined to
spend the excess money available. Perhaps this was also what induced him to sugges
obtaining the optical devices from John Dollond’s, instead of from George Adams workshop.
John Cuthbertson was to be tasked with constructing the two pumps, for the handsome
maximum total of flOOO,-.
Both the trustees’ goodwill and the available fund appear not to have been reduced over the
course of the following months. In fact, the Foundation was not only providing van Marum
with money to acquire items for the museum’s collection, but also Wybrand Hendriks and a
member of the Second Society, Willem Anne Lestevenon, who was residing in Italy to avoid
the fallout from the political tension in the Netherlands - he had been a staunch Patriot.
So in June 1789, the records show that van Marum again approached the trustees with a new
more extensive list of items he wanted to purchase for the museum. Again, he was grante
everything he had asked for. This list has been preserved amongst van Marum s personal
papers and it is remarkable not only in its scope - a large burning glass, various pyrometers
and thermometers, and powerful natural and artificial magnets had been added to the list of
research tools drawn up the year before - but also in that it included two further categories of
instruments alongside those research tools.
The first of these new categories van Marum described as “models of Machines, that can be
used in society to the general benefit, in particular such as are in use abroad’\ He wanted to
include these specifically “so that such useful machines become better known here, and it will
be easier to judge which of them could be imitated here with benefit, or that our machines
could be improved after those in use in other countries” 44 What he had in mind were water
mills, dredging machines, pile drivers, cranes, pumps, fire hoses and steam engines as well as
an assortment “of the best machines that are used in the shipping industry, such as
“Harrison’s chronometer, octants, sextants, azimuth-compasses, etc.”
Together with the instruments acquired for research purposes, all of these items could be
“easily placed in the available glass cabinets that are present”. Note however that this was
before the addition of the laboratory premises.
As far as the instruments’ presentation was concerned, it is also interesting to note that van
Mamm added three items to the list predominantly for aesthetic reasons - these instruments
were not placed in a category of their own, but simply added to the enumeration of
instmments without stating how they were related to the other categories. The two globes that
had already been discussed before the Oval Room was even completed resurfaced, and were I (H H tBBBB — — ÜM die bu ¡ten H I H | ™ M
beeter kunnen gekend worden, en men dus te beeter zal kunnen beoordeelen § §
voordeel zoude kunnen navolgen, dan o f onze werktu.gen naar d.e welke by g g g g g j g g l g gebmk | |
zeudee kunne. »erbe.erd H i HHBBB ■ “ Tha“ f “ ,^2“ÍI
Mechanische Instrumenten in Teyler s Museum , c. 06.1789, Haarlem,
45' “van de beste werktuigen, die tot de Scheep-vaart gebruikt worden”, such as “Harrison’s chronometer, octants,