Description:This is the first page of James Watt's laboratory notebook, describing his experiments on copal varnish, latent heat, etc.
To see the notebook in its entirety, page by page, go to Handsworth Histories in the Gallery section.
This octavo notebook mainly dates from 1783, the year that Watt repeated his experiments of 1765 on latent heat. The earlier experiments on copal varnish, etc. are described retrospectively, but the 1783 experiments on latent heat are recorded here as they were performed. The range of dates mentioned is 1765-1814, but the earlier dates are retrospective, and 1814 refers to two leaves pasted in after p45. Most of the manuscript must date from c.1783.
This notebook is part of the James Watt Papers in the Archives of Soho, held at Birmingham City Archives [Ref. MS3219]