R
    Credit: ©Halftones Limited
    Image number: RS.14161

    Extraction of oil from paint

    Date
    late nineteenth century
    Creator - Organisation
    Halftones Limited, Photographer
    Object type
    Archive reference number
    Material
    Technique
    Dimensions
    height (print): 166mm
    width (print): 214mm
    Subject
    Description
    Portrait of two unknown chemists at work in the research room of the Government Laboratory, their faces in left profile. One reaches for a bottle on the shelf above him, while the other inspects the contents of a beaker. Both are dressed in a waistcoat and white shirt.

    The Government Laboratory on Clements Inn Passage, London, was established in 1842 for the prevention of adulteration of tobacco products, but the 1875 Sale of Food and Drugs Law broadened its remit to include other products.

    Verso inscription: ‘HOW THE GOVERNMENT PROTECT THE PUBLIC FROM FRAUD.

    In addition to the ordinary tests of foods and beverages a good deal of research work is carried on in the government laboratories. Our photograph shows the research room. The operation being carried out at the time the picture was taken was the extraction of oil from paint.

    COPYRIGHT HALFTONES LIMITED
    17, FLEET STREET, E.C.’

    From the papers of Thomas Thorpe. Sir Thomas Edward Thorpe (1845-1925), British chemist served as Chief Chemist to the British Government, as Director of the Government Laboratory, from 1894 to 1909. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1863.
    Associated place
    <The World>
       > Europe
          > United Kingdom
             > London
    Powered by CollectionsIndex+/CollectionsOnline