TOOLS AND INSTRUMENTS

As in the sixteenth century, tools and instruments are included in university collections. But while the most prized tools then tended to be weapons--the instruments of rulership--in the contemporary university collection instruments of measurement predominate, reflecting the fact that physical analysis underlies advancement in nearly every discipline. Because of the crucial role of this sort of analysis, the tools used for gathering information become important objects in their own right. Their history and their accompanying methodologies are a crucial part of the history of knowledge. Some tools have remained essentially unchanged for centuries--like the geologist's pick. Others go out of date in just a few years, and remain in collections as historically interesting mementoes rather than as functional objects.