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Page 32 - pp-Suter-Miscellany
P. 32

    The  Solomons  optical  firm  advertised  in  the
                                  Ecclesiastical Gazette (an Anglican publication) in the
                                  1860s.

                                      From the Ecclesiastical Gazette, June 13, 1865

                                  The  firm  enjoyed  prestigious  support,  as  evidenced
                                  above.  Sir William Herschel wrote guidelines for Her
                                  Majesty’s  ships  dredging  for  biological  material,  and
                                  “opticians to the government” probably implies sales of
                                  compasses,  barometers,  telescopes  and  binoculars  to
                                  the  armed  forces.    Mid-century,  Sir  David  Brewster
                                  also  sat  at  the  pinnacle  of  the  English  scientific
                                  establishment;  Herschel originally  worked  in  England
                                  as  an  influential  church  organist,  hence  was  doubly
                                  well regarded by microscopically inclined clergy.

                                  The Solomons business was strategically placed.  John
                                  Murray, publisher of scientific works – including those
                                  of Charles Darwin – was a few doors away.  Nobility
                                  and gentry from far and wide stayed at Brown’s Hotel,
                                  where T.H. Huxley’s “X Club” met to discuss the latest
                                  ideas  in  biology.    Albermarle  Street  also  housed  the

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