Redartz: Greetings, fellow former future scientists (apologies to anyone who actually is a scientist)! All of us, doubtlessly, spent many childhood hours busily playing with action figures, cars, games, dolls (hey, we're all-inclusive here), and many other toys. Some of us, though, had parents who perhaps hoped to encourage potential career choices by endowing us with more educational playthings. Specifically speaking, toys based upon science and technology. And there were many such things available; a casual perusal of a vintage Sears Christmas Catalog will show you numerous examples.
A.C. Gilbert was one prominent manufacturer of such toys. Gilbert Chemistry labs, Microscope labs, Telescopes, Geology labs, and other sets were quite popular from the 1950's on. Gilbert Erector sets gave many of us an education in construction and motorization. And there were many other companies busily helping promote science as well: Remco, Science Fair, Hasbro, even Radio Shack. They filled department store shelves with anatomical model kits, electronics labs, rock tumblers, computer kits,weather stations, crystal radio kits, fossil excavating sets,and so on. Just about any field of science could be explored by purchasing the appropriate set and experimenting to your heart's content.
As for me: there were many of these sets on my shelves at one time or another. The Gilbert chemistry set was an early introduction to scientific experimentation. The instruction book contained many step-by-step experiments for the budding chemist to perform. Of course, 8-year-old me was just as likely to randomly mix a pile of chemicals just to see what happened. Never blew anything up, at least...
Then there was the Geology lab. It was actually called a "Rock Identification Computer", and consisted of a plastic frame housing a stack of punch-hole cards. There were several devices: a streak plate, a specific gravity scale and a hardness tester with which to check out your mineral specimen. Then you would insert keys into the appropriate result slots, and the 'computer' would release cards identifiying the likely type of rock you had. It was pretty interesting and worked rather well; the set included about 20 rocks and minerals to start on. Downside- the sample of Halite (essentially rock salt) kept getting smaller and smaller, as my brother and I kept licking it...
We also had a Microscope lab. That was fascinating- I'd find insects, leaves, coins,anything that would fit on the microscope stage. Then ramp up the focus and magnification as high as it would go. Another rewarding use of the scope was to examine pond water. It was amazing to put a drop on a slide and see all those odd little creatures: vorticella, spyrogyra, daphnia, parameciums, etc (yes, the names still stick in my head). And we would stick ourselves with a needle just to look at the blood cells.
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Somehow we managed to survive those sets, with all their glass tubing, scalpels, knives, needles, chemicals, bunsen burners, heating elements and the like. It never led to a career, but playing with those sets was a lot of fun, and did serve to increase our knowledge of the sciences. How many of you had the chance to play "mad scientist", or look at the moon through your telescope, or build a 'visible man'?
