Biography
His son, George Adams Jr. (1750– August 14, 1795), continued his father's work with his younger brother Dudley, publishing an Essay on Vision (1789) and Astronomical and Geometrical Essays (1789) and succeeding his father as Instrument Maker to King George II and the British East India Company. Born in Southampton he was later appointed Optician to the Prince of Wales. His instruments included barometers, microscopes, orreries, sectors, telescopes, and a variety of electrical appliances. He also made geographical globes.
He also wrote An Essay on Electricity: Explaining the Theory and Practice of that Useful Science, and the Mode of Applying it to Medical Purposes (London, 1784), which ran to four editions in his lifetime. A fifth edition with an appendix about 'Medical Electricity' by John Birch, a surgeon and author of Della Forza dell'Electricita (Naples, 1778), was published in 1799 with corrections and additions by William Jones, mathematical instrument maker. Adams presented a general theory of electricity and, in line with George IIIs interest in the practical applications of science, an essay detailing its possible medical uses. Sections of the book included: Of electricity in general; Of the electrical machine, with directions for exciting it; The properties of electric attraction and repulsion illustrated by experiments with light bodies; Entertaining experiments by the attraction and repulsion of light bodies, with some remarks on electrical attraction; Of the electrical sparks; Of the electrified points; Of the Leyden phial; Of the electrical battery, and the lateral explosion of charged jars; Of the influence of pointed conductors for buildings; To charge a plate of air; Of the electrophorus; Of atmospherical electricity; Of the diffusion and subdivision of fluids by electricity; Of the electric light in vacuo; Of medical electricity; Miscellaneous experiments and observations; An essay on magnetism. The six engraved plates contained 105 figures, mostly illustrating various experimental instruments constructed by Adams, often at the request of the king, and including a frock-coated patient apparently undergoing electrical therapy.
At Adams' death the stock of his unsold books was acquired by the scientific instrument makers W. and S. Jones. William and Samuel Jones had a shop at 135 Holborn Hill, London. The business moved to 30 Holborn in 1800.
A fine example of his work, a mathematical instrument set, is currently on display at the Science Museum (London) and can also be found in their image archives - see external link below.
Read more about this topic: George Adams (optician)
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