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Phoenix666 [soylentnews.org] writes:

Objects can be a real pearl on the shores of history of science. Telescopes and steam engines still figure prominently in our field, and rightfully so. From the edited volume [amazon.com] Making Instruments Count (1993) to Frans van Lunteren’s blog [shellsandpebbles.com] ‘Mediating Machines’ here at Shells & Pebbles, many scholars research the role of scientific instruments in the history of discoveries, experiments, applications, and education. But besides microscopes and machines I would argue that some artisan objects and ordinary materials deserve similar attention. Piss, poop and pots might appear unrelated to history of science at first sight, but on closer inspection they open up new perspectives in academic research [shellsandpebbles.com].

I recently visited the exhibition ‘A Wealth of Waste’ (‘Rijk van Rotzooi’) on recycling in The Netherlands around 1800 in Museum Boerhaave, Leiden. Frisian entrepreneur Watse Gerritsma takes you on a tour of smart reusing, showing how sand was transformed into glass, street waste was turned into gunpowder, faeces into fertiliser, etc. I was particularly struck by one very mundane object: the urine pot. Does such a jar with liquid excrement really deserve a place in a science museum and the history of science? This blog will show the fresh approach a dirty material can give on history of science by following the places where piss dripped and drizzled in the 18th-century Low Countries.

Hmm, but how did those scientists' spouses feel about their experiments?

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