The chemical laboratory at Lisbon's Mint House in the 19th century: physical space and instruments

Abstract

The beginning of the 19th century witnessed the creation of courses on chemistry for the assayers at the Casa da Moeda in Lisbon. They required a laboratory, that is to say, a building has to be built – a place with special characteristics – which would house the appliances and instruments needed. The building is ready, appliances have been bought, but the courses only began in the 1820s. This paper describes the laboratory and its accessories, through inedited documents – manuscripts and plans, especially from the Historical Archive of the Casa da Moeda of Lisbon – and also printed, as the book especially composed by L.S.M. de Albuquerque for the courses at the Casa da Moeda.