Surface Tension of Water Apparatus

Salleron, Jules

Joseph Louis Gay-Lussac (1778-1850) and Louis Jacques Thénard (1777-1857) were French physicists who studied the physical properties of gases. This instrument, which is based on their work, measured the surface tension of water vapor mixed with gasses. The “J. Salleron, Paris” inscription is that of Jules Salleron (1829-1897), an instrument maker who began in business in 1855. Used at Princeton University, it was probably purchased after the establishment of the John C. Green School of Science in 1872 and the arrival of Cyrus Fogg Brackett as professor of physics in 1873.