The Duboscq colorimeter was invented by Jules Duboscq in 1870.

This version by Leitz is

nearly identical in construction to the instrument manufactured by Duboscq and Pellin in the
late nineteenth century. The Duboscq colorimeter was the most widely manufactured and
used of the various colorimeter designs.* The catalog scan is from E. Leitz, Inc., New York;
Catalog No. 2 Laboratory Apparatus, Etc. (1919).
Colorimeters are used to determine the concentrations of substances by measuring color
intensities. The DuBoscq type of colorimeter works by comparing the colors of two solutions
of a colored substance, a standard with a known concentration, and a sample with an
unknown concentration. A clear crystal prism dips into each solution and may be adjusted so
that the path lengths of the light through the two solutions can be adjusted. The instrument
then takes the light from the two prisms and arranges it to form two halves of an illuminated
field in the viewing telescope. In use the operator adjusts the prisms to give equal intensities
in both fields, at which point the concentration of the unknown sample can be calculated by
the following relation:
(concentration 1)(pathlength 1) = (concentration 2)(pathlength 2)**
Description
The instrument is constructed from a 15 h x 4w x 1/4 solid brass plate mounted through
the center slot in a double coved brass molding to a heavy cast iron 7 x 7 x 1 1/8h base,
shown in this side view photograph. Two 20 cm scales run down the center of the plate
between slots carrying the rack and pinion controlled specimen holders, as can be seen in the
main photograph. A 5 1/4 long telescope is mounted at the top of the plate above an enclosed
beam-splitter carrying the two 4 long, octagonal, glass dipping prisms, as seen in this
photograph. The prisms and specimen cups are protected by a black painted brass shield of U
cross section, 9 1/2h x 4w x 2 3/4d, as shown in this view from the back of the instrument.
Illumination is by a double sided mirror/opaque white glass reflector mounted between
pinions on the base. The original specimen cups are missing. The silver backing on the mirror
is partially gone. The condition of the instrument is otherwise excellent, with the original
finish throughout, noting some chemical stains on the plate and base, and some corrosion of
the small steel assembly screws.
The relationship between pathlength and light intensity reduction, upon which
this relationship is based, was first described by Pierre Bougouer, a French
mathematician and astronomer, in 1729. This work was extended and put into a
more mathematically rigorous form by Lambert, a German physicist and
mathematician, which he published in his book Photometrica in 1760 (hence,
Lamberts Law). Both worked with glass plates or filters, however, and a
method relating color intensity to pathlength for determination of concentrations
in solution was not described until 1853 by Mller.