Show threadSellaTheChemistMay 24
@albertcardona @FaithfullJohn He was simply an acolyte of Ludwig Gattermann who was fond of cigars on safety grounds. #ClassicKit https://www.chemistryworld.com/opinion/gattermanns-cookbook/3009053.article
Gattermann’s cookbook

The story of the man whose chemistry textbook saved Primo Levi's life

Chemistry World
SellaTheChemistMay 20
I am feeling demob happy. After weeks of struggle I've managed to submit next months' episode of #ClassicKit. My folder has almost 200 items in it including photographs, papers, patents, advertising and more. The whole thing got so out of control that I've had to split the story in to two parts and the second is will address the issue that started the whole thing off in the first place… 
These little project are, as always subject to Hofstadters Law.
SellaTheChemistMar 28
I finally finished the latest story for #ClassicKit that took me onto yet another journey across Mitteleuropa searching for the traces of a man who transformed cycling (and, yes, science too) through what some called “an accident”.
And then, last night I started reading Olga Tokarczuk’s utterly enthralling novel The Empusium, which takes place about 30 miles from where my hero raised Leghorn chickens…
Small world.
SellaTheChemistDec 26
It’s awfully tempting to write another spoof article, inspired by this marvel of artistic and technological creativity. #ClassicKit
SellaTheChemistDec 22
KLAXON! I hope that @helenczerski will get her butt down to Genova for what looks like an amazing exhibition centred around Moby Dick. And for those of you both with butts and in Italy, don’t miss it.
Infuriating that it ends too soon for me to get there. My only quibbles are that absence of Argand lamps (#ClassicKit) and the clunky typography and translations of the catalogue, which is the closest I’ll get to this show. https://palazzoducale.genova.it/mostra/moby-dick-la-balena/
SellaTheChemistDec 4, 2025

Does anyone remember Letraset, the scratch and print sheets that could be used to apply professional lettering to sheets of paper? They were part of the pain of writing a scientific thesis before the arrival of the Macintosh and the democratization of (admittedly often second-rate) graphic design.
anyway it's some pre-Christmas #ClassicKit

https://www.chemistryworld.com/opinion/letrasets-transfers-and-placing-precision-back-on-the-drawing-board/4022562.article

Letraset’s transfers and placing precision back on the drawing board

Professional lettering with a few rubs of a ballpoint pen

Chemistry World
SellaTheChemistNov 21, 2025
Looks like the last #ClassicKit of 2025 is done. It is inspired by Marty Feldman's brilliant Four Yorkshiremen sketch that was immortalized with Monty Python. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ATCWBuieTzI
Four Yorkshiremen [PL] (Monty Python)

YouTube
Show threadTim CrumptonNov 8, 2025
@russss nice. I had to watch this to see if it was @sellathechemist #ClassicKit
Show threadSellaTheChemistOct 23, 2025

@Birk_lab
"When I were a lad" doing A-levels, we pipetted our aliquots for titrations by mouth. That's what got me interested in the tastes fo the acids in the lab - nitric hydrochloric sulfuric and phosphoric are quite distinct. I also learned that 0.1 M HCl was by no means "dilute", at least not in the mouth…

And your mention of Eppendorf reminds me that the inventor of the mechanical pipette, Heinrich Schnitger invented it for a reason: https://www.chemistryworld.com/opinion/schnitgers-pipette/7789.article #ClassicKit

Schnitger’s pipette

Dropping drudgery gets a thumbs-up

Chemistry World
SellaTheChemistOct 23, 2025
Yesterday I put the finishing touches on the latest instalment of #ClassicKit that will be out on November 1st.
It was a bit of a fluke. I stumbled across the marvel shown in the picture while learning about extinct distillation glassware. And then to my disbelief I learned that its inventor was responsible for one of the greatest advancements in French public health. But I bet you've not hear of him. #dephlegmator