Monday 27th September 1819
Monday Sept 27th We breakfasted with the Professor & ?Mrs Elizabeth? his family consisting of his son & daughter they are delightful people we then walked to Mr A Copland’s house where he showed us a great many diverse curiosities; they then dined with us at the hotel in the evening we were joined by Mr Forbes a friend of my fathers.
OBSERVATIONS & COMMENTS:
Alexander Copland, son of Prof. Patrick Copland, born 1788. d 1885. His sister was Mary Copland. Their mother was Elizaberth Ogilvie https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrick_Copland Yesterday’s blog provides more on his suggested connection to Lucy.
Diverse Curiosities, or the Copland Collection. It is possible that many of the “diverse curiosities” shown to Lucy and the family were at that time being held by Alexander Copland in his own house on behalf of his father, who had retired as professor of Natural Philosophy in 1817, although a paper by John S Reid, below, records his 47 academic sessions as running from 1775 to 1822, the year when he died on 10th November.
A large part of Patrick Copland’s collection of inventions and demonstration equipment was to end up in Aberdeen Museum’s collections, including the Head of Despair which “when the head is electro statically charged, the hair stands on end in a shocking fashion," and the Astronomical Clock made by Copland which once hung at the Astronomical Observatory. The photograph below, from the article referenced in this section, is described in the catalogue record as a “Device exhibiting a low friction bearing. Friction wheels on circular base with holes for pulley cord ….. "Brilliant workmanship in the 1780s by the hand of Professor Copland himself. He created this model of a low friction bearing used as part of Atwood's machine."
The section continues: Copland believed passionately in the practical application of physics. Such a utilitarian approach can be readily discerned in many of his lecture notes which survive in the University’s Archives. The description and illustration of a fire engine comes under the heading of ‘useful machines’. The Special Collections Centre contains archival material relating to Patrick Copland, including Corbet’s Notes on Professor Copland’s Lectures, 1814-15 with a sketch of his fire engine, below, from the same article:
https://www.abdn.ac.uk/museums/collections/patrick-copland-natural-philosopher-448.php
John S. Reid , Department of Physics, Fraser Noble Building, The University, Aberdeen, has written a paper entitled The Scientific Apparatus of Professor Patrick Copland of Marischal College, Aberdeen. He introduces his paper with the words: " Marischal College was an autonomous university of over 250 years standing when it amalgamated with neighbouring Kings College and University in 1860 to form the University of Aberdeen. This short paper is devoted to one of the stars of Marischal College. Patrick Copland was described by Edward Ellice, a Secretary of State for War in the 1830s, as "The man who more fully opened the eyes of the student to this world than any teacher he had ever met". Similar sentiments were echoed by others who had passed through Copland's classes, given for 47 academic sessions from 1775 - 1822. During this time, Marischal College earned a reputation as a progressive establishment, notably in the Sciences, in Mathematics and as a rising influence in local medical education. Copland's reputation as a teacher rested on the usual attributes of clarity, relevance, enthusiasm, audience rapport, etc., with the added ingredient that he was a pioneer in the Scottish Universities of the extensive use of demonstration equipment to illustrate his teaching. By the end of Copland's teaching one writer said of his collection of apparatus that it was "generally considered as superior to any in Britain, and some deem it superior to any in Europe". This paper needs to be be read in full and can be found at https://homepages.abdn.ac.uk/npmuseum/article/copland.pdf
Can you help us?
Transcription problems: As untrained transcribers we sometimes experience problems interpreting some of Lucy’s writing. We have a problem deciphering a section today:
We breakfasted with the Professor & ?Mrs Elizabeth? his family consisting of his son ..
We were unable read Lucy’s superscript and, in the knowledge that his wife’s name was Elizabeth, have hazarded a guess that Lucy has added his wife to the family with whom she breakfasted.
Old Regency Prints, Pictures an Coaching maps: Do you have access to any prints or pictures showing what town and country would have looked like when Lucy travelled through? Any illustrations of what she would have seen in 1819 will enliven our research.
New Pictures: Do you have any modern pictures of the streets, buildings, gardens and views that would enable us to see the changes that two centuries have wrought?