View source for Description and Use of Nairne's Patent Electrical Machine

{{DISPLAYTITLE: ''The Description and Use of Nairne's Patent Electrical Machine with the Addition of Some Philosophical Experiments and Medical Observations''}}
===by Edward Nairne===
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|author=[[:Category:Edward Nairne|Edward Nairne]]
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|publisher=Printed for Nairne and Blunt
|year=1783
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|lang=[[:Category:English|English]]
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|desc=[[:Category:Octavos|8vo]]
}}[[wikipedia:Edward Nairne|Edward Nairne]] (1726 &ndash; 1806) was a philosopher and instrument maker and is believed to have been a native of Sandwich, Kent. After apprenticing for optical instrument maker Matthew Loft became master of his predecessor's Spectaclemaker's Company in London in 1768.<ref>Simon Schaffer, "[http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/19726 Nairne, Edward (1726–1806)]," ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (Oxford University Press, 2004- ), accessed May 19, 2015.</ref> He employed many men, including Jesse Ramsden and apprentice, Thomas Blunt, who became his partner in 1774.<ref>Ibid.</ref> Nairne's studies of atmospheric electricity were published in the ''Philosophical Transaction'' and led to his eventual membership in the Royal Society.<ref>Paola Bertucci, "A Philosophical Business: Edward Nairne and the Patent Medical Electrical Machine (1782)," ''History of Technology'' 23 (2001), 44.</ref> Among Nairne’s inventions was an electrostatic generator, which was intended to treat a variety of medicinal ailments via electrical shocks.

The machine was acclaimed "the most powerful and perfect generator that had been made to date."<ref>Ibid., 45.</ref> In the eighth edition of his instruction manual, ''The Description and Use of Nairne’s Patent Electrical Machine: With the Addition of Some Philosophical Experiments and Medical Observations'', Nairne asserted that electricity should be held in the highest regard for its efficiency in treating many disorders.<ref>"[http://www.innovateus.net/inventor/edward-nairne Edward Nairne]," innovateus: Innovation and information for sustainable living, accessed May 19, 2015.</ref> Nairne collaborated with a number of philosophers, including Benjamin Franklin, for whom he made magnets and an achromatic telescope.<ref>Schaffer, "Nairne, Edward."</ref> Nairne is also credited with the invention of the rubber eraser.<ref>Ibid.</ref>

''The Description and Use of Nairne’s Patent Electrical Machine: With the Addition of Some Philosophical Experiments and Medical Observations'' was published in 1783 to promote Nairne's electrostatic generator for which he was seeking a patent. Nairne hoped to stimulate further interest, particularly for the parallel markets in physics and medicine. He wrote, "[t]hough this machine and its apparatus are constructed with a particular view to the purposes of medicine, yet it will be found equally applicable to philosophical uses."<ref>Edward Nairne, ''The Description and Use of Nairne's Patent Electrical Machine with the Addition of Some Philosophical Experiments and Medical Observations'' (London: Printed for Nairne and Blunt, 1783), [3].</ref> 

=Evidence for Inclusion in Wythe's Library=
Listed in the [[Jefferson Inventory]] of [[Wythe's Library]] as "Description of Nairne's electrical machine. 8vo." This was one of the titles kept by [[Thomas Jefferson]], who later sold a copy to the Library of Congress in 1815. Both [http://www.librarything.com/profile/GeorgeWythe George Wythe's Library]<ref>''LibraryThing'', s.v. "[http://www.librarything.com/profile/GeorgeWythe Member: George Wythe]," accessed on November 19, 2013.</ref> on LibraryThing and the [https://digitalarchive.wm.edu/handle/10288/13433 Brown Bibliography]<ref>Bennie Brown, "The Library of George Wythe of Williamsburg and Richmond," (unpublished manuscript, May, 2012, rev. May 2014) Microsoft Word file. Earlier edition available at: https://digitalarchive.wm.edu/handle/10288/13433.</ref> list the 1783 edition published in London, based on Millicent Sowerby's entry in ''Catalogue of the Library of Thomas Jefferson''.<ref>E. Millicent Sowerby, ''Catalogue of the Library of Thomas Jefferson'', (Washington, D.C.: The Library of Congress, 1952-1959), 1:298 [http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015033648091;view=1up;seq=328 [no.632]].</ref> Unfortunately, Jefferson's copy no longer exists to verify the edition or Wythe's prior ownership. 

As yet, the Wolf Law Library has been unable to procure a copy of ''Description and Use of Nairne's Patent Electrical Machine''. 

==See also==
*[[Jefferson Inventory]]
*[[Wythe's Library]]

==References==
<references/>

==External links==
*Read this book at the [https://archive.org/details/descriptionuseof00nair Internet Archive.]

[[Category:Edward Nairne]]
[[Category:Jefferson's Books]]
[[Category:Science and Medicine]]
[[Category:Titles in Wythe's Library]]

[[Category:English]]
[[Category:London]]
[[Category:Octavos]]