A rare early mahogany sympiesometer, Alexander Adie, Edinburgh, circa 1830

the principle tube set on a silvered engraved plate signed Patent Adie Edinburgh, No. 1275 and inset with a recording dial, a moveable vernier to the right side engraved with weather indications, mercury thermometer, the rectangular case with reeded edge

Alexander Adie was born in 1775 and apprenticed to his uncle, John Miller, one of the leading 18th Century instrument makers in Scotland. He was taken into partnership with his uncle in 1804 under the name Miller & Adie; Miller died in 1815 but Adie traded under the joint name until 1822, after which his uncle's name was omitted. Adie invented and patented the sympiesometer in 1818 and for this, and other research, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 1819. He was optician to King William IV and Queen Victoria. In 1835 he took his son John into partnership under the name Adie & Son. Alexander Adie died in 1858, his son having pre-deceased him the previous year.