Experiment of swelling lungs in a vacuum
Date
30 April 1684
Creator
Unknown, Artist
Object type
Archive reference number
Manuscript page number
p178
Material
Dimensions
height (page): 365mm
width (page): 230mm
width (page): 230mm
Subject
Content object
Description
A figure of a vacuum chamber with lungs of a rabbit. Denis Papin designed various experiments and devices using a pneumatic engine. Papin had hoped that organs would be inflated for dissection, but on this occasion, he reported to the Royal Society on 30 April 1684 that the rabbit's lungs had deflated when air was readmitted into the chamber. Papin suggested filling the organs with plaster of Paris to retain the shape, which he did the next week (RBO/6/180).
Object history
At the meeting of the Royal Society on 23 April 1684, ‘[Dr. Papin] also proposed, and it was agreed upon for the next meeting, that a kidney or some other body to be anatomized, might be very much swelled in the exhausting engine, and afterwards more dilated by the driving in of some convenient liquor’ (Birch 4:290).
30 April 1684, ‘Dr. Papin finding, that the lungs of a rabbit sunk upon the readmission of air in the exhausting engine, proposed, that they might be filled with plaister of Paris, wax, etc. or else be left in vacuo to dry’ (Birch 4:292).
30 April 1684, ‘Dr. Papin finding, that the lungs of a rabbit sunk upon the readmission of air in the exhausting engine, proposed, that they might be filled with plaister of Paris, wax, etc. or else be left in vacuo to dry’ (Birch 4:292).
Related fellows
Denis Papin (1647, French) , Natural philosopher
Associated place