Chemistry set

Educational toy

A chemistry set is an educational toy allowing the user (typically a teenager) to perform simple chemistry experiments.

The forerunners of the chemistry set were 17th century books on "natural magick", "which all excellent wise men do admit and embrace, and worship with great applause; neither is there any thing more highly esteemed, or better thought of, by men of learning." Authors, such as Giambattista della Porta, included chemical magic tricks and scientific puzzles along with more serious topics. The earliest chemistry sets were developed in the 18th century in England and Germany to teach chemistry to adults. In 1791, Description of a portable chest of chemistry : or, Complete collection of chemical tests for the use of chemists, physicians, mineralogists, metallurgists, scientific artists, manufacturers, farmers, and the cultivators of natural philosophy by Johann Friedrich August Göttling, translated from German, was published in English. Friedrich Accum of London, England also sold portable chemistry sets and materials to refill them. James Woodhouse of Philadelphia presented a Young Chemist's Pocket Companion (1797) with an accompanying portable laboratory, specifically targeted ladies and gentlemen. Jane Marcet's books on chemistry helped to popularize chemistry as a well to do pastime for both men and women. Beginning in the late 1850s John J. Griffin & Sons sold a line of "chemical cabinets", eventually offering 11 categories. These were marketed primarily to adults including elementary school teachers as well as students at the Royal Naval College, the Royal Agricultural Society, and the universities of Oxford and Cambridge. The Columbian Cyclopedia of 1897 defines "CHEMISTRY TOYS" as "mostly pyrotechnic; recommended as illustrating to the young the rudiments of chemistry, but probably more dangerous than efficient for such use", listing a variety of hazardous examples.

Beginning in the early 1900s, modern chemistry sets targeted younger people with the intention to popularize chemistry. In the United States, Porter Chemical Company and the A. C. Gilbert Company produced the best known sets. Although Porter and Gilbert were the largest American producers of chemistry sets, other manufacturers such as the Skilcraft corporation were also active.). By the 1920s, they sold six different sets, the largest of which sold for $25 (or about $320 in 2017). Their range of toys broadened throughout the 1930s. In 1971, a Johnny Horizon Environmental Test Kit was licensed by the U. S. Department of the Interior and produced by Parker Brothers. It included four air pollution tests and six water pollution tests for young environmental scientists. The Johnny Horizon Environmental Test Kit was marketed to both boys and girls. Well known chemistry sets from the United Kingdom include the 1960s and 1970s sets by Thomas Salter Science (produced in Scotland) and later Salter Science, then the "MERIT" sets through the 1970s and 1980s. Dekkertoys created a range of sets which were similar, complete with glass test tubes of dry chemicals.

Around the 1960s, safety concerns began to limit the range of materials and experiments available in chemistry sets. In the United States, the Federal Hazardous Substances Labeling Act of 1960, the Toy Safety Act of 1969, the Consumer Product Safety Commission, established in 1972, and the Toxic Substances Control Act of 1976 all introduced new levels of regulation, The A. C. Gilbert Company went out of business in 1967, and the Porter Chemical Company went out of business in 1984. Several authors note from the 1980s on, concerns about illegal drug production, terrorism, and legal liability have led to chemistry sets becoming increasingly bland and unexciting. Nonetheless, a GCSE equipment set was produced, offering students better equipment, and there is a more up market range of sets available from Thames & Kosmos such as the C3000 Kit.