De Neufville therefore concluded: “Therefore such a collection of all kinds of beautiful things
that have been brought together there is, I think, of much less use than it might be”, albeit
adding that by the time she published this, the library’s reading room had been opened, and
her criticism had been met.176
Similarly, it is striking that not one of the visitors that published a travel report saw the
electrostatic generator in action. The Englishman who was shown the museum in 1786
already stated that “All the philosophical instruments are kept in cases, which are not opened
to strangers”.177 The anonymous visitor in 1790 wrote of the “Electrostatic generator, which I
should have liked to see in operation”.178 Droysen was given a long list of dubious reasons as
to why it could not be set in motion for him (this was only possible in the trustees’ presence,
for example), and suspected there was some truth to rumours he had heard in Amsterdam that
one of the discs was actually broken.179 Sierstorpff asked van Marum for a demonstration, but
to no avail. As he recalled:
Expressing my wish to witness the effects of the large electrostatic generator, I received the
blunt and typically Dutch answer: one would have a lot to do if one set the machine in motion
for each and every stranger.” 180
As his compatriot Karl Asmund Rudolphi noted upon visiting Teylers Museum one year
later: „It is no good arguing with van Marum, for he seems to be a hypochondriac”.181
Together with the electrostatic generator’s reputed cost of more than f8000,-, this will have
had some bearing on van Sierstorpffs conclusion that this instrument was “because of the
many attached brass ornaments and sharp comers more of a magnificent scientific furniture
piece \physikalisches Meuble] than a tool that could be usefully applied”. With what almost
amounts to biting sarcasm, he added: “It is displayed in a beautiful case, and it is at most
turned around a few times when some bigwig wants to see all these things with eyes on
stalks.”182
“zelfs de boeken kan men uitwendig zien en door een vrij digt traliewerk met den vinger aanroeren, maar
behalve den titel op den mg gedrukt, kan men er niets van te lezen bekomen, want de kassen in welke zij staan
zijn digt gesloten, en de oppasser die met u rondgaat, heeft den sleutel niet.” Ibid.
“Zoodoende is, dunkt mij, zulk eene verzameling van veelsoortig ffaais als daar te zamen is, van veel minder
nut dan die zou kunnen wezen”. Ibid.
An Entertaining Tour, Containing a Variety o f Incidents and Adventures, in a Journey through Part of
Flanders, Germany & Holland, 243.
17 “Elektrisirmaschine, deren Wirkung ich wol hätte sehen mögen“; Bemerkungen a u f einer Reise nach Holland
im Jahre 1790.
179 Droysen, Bemerkungen, gesammelt a u f einer Reise durch Holland und einen Theil Frankreichs im Sommer
1801, 110.
“Auf meinen ihm geäusserten Wunsch die Wirkung der grossen Electrisirmaschine zu sehen, bekam ich aber
ohne weitere Umstände die kurze echt Holländische Antwort: dass man viel zu thun haben würde, wenn man die
Maschine für jeden Fremden in Bewegung setzen sollte.“ Sierstorpff, Bemerkungen a u f einer Reise durch die
Niederlande nach Paris im eilften Jahre der großen Republik, 2:553.
“Es ist mit van Mamm nicht gut zu streiten, da er hypochondrisch scheint”; Karl Asmund Rudolphi,
Bemerkungen aus dem Gebiet der Naturgeschichte, Medicin und Thierarzneykunde, a u f einer Reise durch einen
Theil von Deutschland, Holland und Frankreich, vol. 1 (Berlin: Realschulbuchhandlung, 1804), 123.
“der vielen daran befindlichen Bronzeverzierungen und scharfen Ecken halber mehr ein prächtiges
physikalisches Meuble, als ein nützlich zu gebrauchendes Werkzeug“; “Sie steht in einem schönen Kasten zur
Schau, und wird höchstens ein paar Mal umgedrehet, wenn etwa ein Hochmögender einmal alle diese Dinge wie
4. History in the Making
Sierstorpffs travel report is especially noteworthy for another reason. It has already been
stated that he was struck by the immense value of the instrument collection. Because the
instruments were so valuable, he went on to observe, they “had mostly never been used,
because it is too much of a fuss to have to clean everything in the Dutch manner, and put it
back on display again.” What’s more, he added: “[everybody who knows the practical sides
of this field, has certainly experienced how soon the best instruments become redundant,
because even better and more convenient instruments have been invented and many
experiments can always still be performed in a more proper manner, and how little a really
useful physics laboratory [therefore] lends itself to being turned into a dainty exhibition.”
This, crucially, brought him to the following conclusion about the instrument collection at
Teylers Museum: “the entire collection will someday only serve as testimony to the history of
physics .
Given that the earliest currently known example of a museum explicitly stating that it would
preserve instruments for their historical value is that of the Conservatoire des Arts et Métiers
in Paris, in 1801, Sierstorpffs statement from 1804 is remarkably early.184 What is all the
more stunning is that Niemeyer came to exactly the same conclusion, although he does not
elaborate on it. In his report, Niemeyer wrote:
‘¿All along the walls are mahogany cases with all kinds of the most valuable physical
instruments, which, as the collection is steadily completed, will be able to serve as testimony
to a history of physics.”
The fact that the visitor’s books contain both these men’s signatures proves Niemeyer was not
just copying off Sierstorpff, despite the remarkable similarity of their choice of words. More
importantly, while Sierstorpff was obviously critical of the way Teylers Museum was run, and
perhaps spiteful about the way he had been treated by van Marum, this was definitely not the
case with Niemeyer. In fact, Niemeyer is one of the few visitors to defend van Marum, whom
he visited at his home after having been shown through the museum by the kastelein s
manservant. As Niemeyer put it:
die Kuh das rothe Thor anstaunen will.“ Sierstorpff, Bemerkungen a u f einer Reise durch die Niederlande nach
Paris im eilften Jahre der großen Republik, 2:557—558.
183 “grösstentheils noch gar nicht gebraucht worden, weil es zu viel Umstände macht, alles demnächst wieder
Holländisch zu putzen und zur Schau aufzustellen.“; “Jeder, der dieses Fach practisch kennt, hat auch gewiss
erfahren, wie bald die bessten Werkzeuge bey Seite gestellt werden müssen, weil noch bessere und bequemere
erfunden, und viele Dinge immer noch auf eine richtigere Weise experimentirt werden, und wie wenig sich ein
eigentlich nützliches physicalisches Laboratorium zur zierlichen Ausstellung schickt.“; “diese ganze Sammlung
wird dermaleinst nur als Belag zur Geschichte der Physik dienen können. Ibid., 2.558—559.
184 Arthur MacGregor, Curiosity and Enlightenment: Collectors and Collections from the Sixteenth to the
Nineteenth Century (New Haven; London: Yale University Press, 2007), 227.
185 “Rings um her laufen Mahagonyschränke voll der kostbarsten physikalischen Instrumente aller Art, die ernst,
bey der stets fortschreitenden Vervollkommnung, als Belege zu einer Geschichte der Physik werden dienen
können.“ Niemeyer, Beobachtungen a u f Reisen in und außer Deutschland, 3.151.