Many Victorian magazines provided a monthly roundup of the latest discoveries and developments in the fields of science and technology. Some of these columns are short, offering just a brief paragraph of information; others provide extensive information about the "latest" in Victorian science. The "Editor's Scientific Record" from Harper's Monthly, for example, provides between 30 and 45 pages per year of inventions and discoveries - everything from prehistoric finds to the latest uses of electricity. These "roundups" are the place to go to find out about the amazing array of scientific and technological change that was taking place in the Victorian era.

The Gatherer

One of the most comprehensive scientific roundup columns was "The Gatherer," published monthly in Cassell's Family Magazine. Running from 1876 to 1896, this column brings you over 4500 inventions, developments, ideas, theories and discoveries from around the world. You'll find inventions that will look very familiar to readers today - and inventions that we should all be glad never got past the starting gate.

1876 • 1877 • 1878 • 1879 • 1880 • 1881 • 1882 • 1883 • 1884 • 1885 • 1886 • 1887 • 1888 • 1889 • 1890 • 1891 • 1892 • 1893 • 1894 • 1895 • 1896

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1845 - Domestic Inventions (Illustrated London Almanack, 1845)

On a variety of inventions and improvements in stoves, fireplaces, heating, clocks, etc.

1850 - Domestic Inventions & Sanitation (Illustrated London Almanack, 1850)

New inventions, including ventilation devices for homes and fireplaces, water sanitation and filtering devices, and a patented chimney-sweeping machine.

1873A - Editor's Scientific Record (Harper's Monthly, 1873A)

1874 - Editor's Scientific Record (November) (Harper's Monthly, 1874)

A summary of scientific progress and discoveries for the month of November, including astronomy, zoology, geology and more.

1875: The First Century of the Republic #2: Mechanical Progress 1, by Edward Knight (Harper's Monthly, 1875A)

A look back at advances over the past 100 years: Steam-engines; agricultural implements (historical as well as recent); the steam-engine and its applications; steam navigation; the locomotive; cotton manufacture (including various spinning and weaving machines). (Read the complete series.)

1875: The First Century of the Republic #3: Mechanical Progress 2, by Edward Knight (Harper's Monthly, 1875A)

A look back at advances over the past 100 years: Iron; mechanical puddlers; iron-rolling mills; fire-arms; precision instruments; bank-note engraving; watch-making; engineering; pile-driving; floating derricks, floating docks & dry-docks; steam-pumps; water-wheels; bridges & tunnels; wood-working (including saws and mortising machines). (Read the complete series.)

1875: The First Century of the Republic #4: Mechanical Progress 3, by Edward Knight (Harper's Monthly, 1875A)

A look back at advances over the past 100 years: Elevators; domestic machinery (including sewing machines); safes; fire-arms & ordnance; telegraph; electroplating; electric light; fire engines; atmospheric railway; balloons; weighing machines; gas; silver; ice; sugar; porcelain; glass; paper; india rubber; meteorological instruments; anesthetics; artificial limbs; aquaria; matches; musical instruments. (Read the complete series.)

1875: The First Century of the Republic #5: Mechanical Progress 4, by Edward Knight (Harper's Monthly, 1875A)

A look back at advances over the past 100 years: Printing (with a lengthy history of printing through the ages); type; type-founding; type-setting and distribution; stereotyping; electrotyping; the printing press; folding machines; addressing machines; printing for the blind; engraving; lithography; photography; photolithography; photo processes; photo-micrography. (Read the complete series.)

1875A - Editor's Scientific Record (Harper's Monthly, 1875A)

1875B - Editor's Scientific Record (Harper's Monthly, 1875B)

1876A - Editor's Scientific Record (Harper's Monthly, 1876A)

1876B - Editor's Scientific Record (Harper's Monthly, 1876B)

1876: The First Century of the Republic #14: The Progress of The Exact Sciences, by F.A.P. Barnard (Harper's Monthly, 1876A)

(Read the complete series.)

1876: The First Century of the Republic #15: Scientific Progress: The Exact Sciences, by Theo. Gill (Harper's Monthly, 1876A)

(Read the complete series.)

1879A - The World's Progress (Scribners, 1879A)

Street-Car Motor; New Electric Lamp; Improved Ironing-Machine; Improvement in Making Artificial Stone; Automatic Device for Reproducing Music; Experiment in Floating Apiaries; Machine for Measuring Plane Surfaces; New Electric Lamp; Hydraulic Fire-Escape; New Insulated Telegraph Wire; Observing Underground Temperatures; Burning Wet Peat; Plastilina; Coloring Zinc Articles; Wire Rolling Mill; New Cement; New Alloy for Art Metal-Work; Electric Spark Pen; Improved Style of Portable Motor; Improved Method of Packing Butter; New Forms of Electric Lamp; Illuminating Watch Dials; Paper Friction Pulleys; Plating with Tin; New Tools for Amateurs; Painting Stairs Crossing Windows; Lighted Buoys; Preservation of Wood; Economy of Fuel; Butter Package for Export; The Pedo-Motor; Preservation of Iron; Inlaying Wood by Compression; Stone Planing Machine; Paper for Roofing Domes; Dental Drill Stop-Motions; Apparatus for Signaling by Means of a Heliotrope.

1879B - The World's Progress (Scribners, 1879B)

The Writing Telegraph; Tubular Piles; New Preservative Agent; Novel Method of Testing Iron Wire; New Salt-Water Condenser; Improved Refrigerating Apparatus; The Horograph; Improved Violin; A New Gum; Removing Metallic Substances from Grain; New Method of Making White Lead; Proposed Treatment of Hop-Vines for Fiber; Improved Method of Insulating Underground Wires; Progress in Metallurgical Science; Improved Locomotive Fittings; Gas and Steam Motor; New Steam Condenser; Some Electrical Novelties; Electro-Engraving Machine; New Drawing Instruments; Thermograph; Copying Process; Apparatus for Testing the Quality of Steel; A New Flooring; New Electric Lamp; Experiments in Automatic Telegraphy; Polar Pantagraph; Regenerative System Applied to Gas-Light; Testing Machine for Fabrics; Further Advance in Metallurgy.

1882 - Shop Convenience (Century Magazine, 1882B)

A number of inventions to save labor in shops and stores, including elevator improvements, overhead rails to carry money to the cashiers, a money-carrying tramway, and more.

1882A - The World's Work (Century Magazine, 1882A)

Reproduction of Pompeian Pavements; New Type-Writer; New Domestic Motor; Novel Foundation for Sea-Shore Structures; New Cooking Utensil; New Tension Belt; New Device for Exhibiting Fabric; New Boat's Mast; Quick Tanning Process; Welding Nickel with Iron; Self-Registering Hand-Stamps (for the Post Office); Electrical Progress; Pneumatic Bell-Call; The Secondary Battery; New Photographic Convenience; Slow-Burning Construction; Protection for Work-men; New Material for Wall Decoration; Mechanical Refrigeration; Novel Method of Molding Plastic Materials; New Gas-Motor; The Hydrometer; Novel Air and Water Pump; Economy of Heat; White Slates (for schools); New Tripod; Improvement in Stoves; New Water Meter; Improved Method of Seed-Planting; New Lime-Light; Protecting Iron Surfaces; Improved Forge Furnace; Silk Culture.

1882B - The World's Work (Century Magazine, 1882B)

Progress in Smoke Abatement; Improved Printing-Plates; The Radiometer in Measuring Light; Hydraulic Dispatch; Recent Progress in the Application of Electricity to Railroads; Improved Chain-Pump; Protection for Workmen; Novel Application of Photography; Improved Elevators; New Exploder for Firing Blasts; Novel Application of the Expansion of Metals; Controlling the Waves at Dock Gates; New Milling Appliances; Recording Music; Ship Ventilation; Combined Gas Producer and Engine; Portable Hydraulic Crane; Experiments in Horticulture; New Form of Sidewalk Light; Novel Separator; Disposal of City Refuse; Preservation of Wood; New Steam Motor; Recent Progress in Photography; Self-Acting Fire-Door; Improved Stereoscope; The Use of Lime in Breaking Down Coal; New Decorative Process; New Traction Engine; Shop Conveniences; Improved Damper Regulator; New Steam Pump; Progress in Gas Lighting.

1883A - The World's Work (Century Magazine, 1883A)

Boat Propulsion; The Waterphone (a device that observes the flow of liquids on pipes by sound); The Music Electrograph; New Motors; New Form of Hydrometer; Improved Hand-Drill; New Steam-Boiler; Railway Conveniences; New Building Material; Pocket Photometer; Distribution of Power; Novel Application of Electricity; Improved Gas-Burners; Novel Grinding-Machine; New Fire-Grate; Domestic Applications of Electricity; Improved Ventilating System; Novel Form of Elevator; Design for Fish-Curing Plant; Metallurgical Progress; Improved Screws and Nuts; Waste Water Alarm; Test for Fire-Damp in Mines; New Photographic Process; Improved Signal System; New Pulverizing System; New Refrigerating Apparatus; New Telegraph Sounder; New Methods in Tunneling; Smoke Prevention; Substitute for Hydrogen in Lime-Light; Fire-Proof Construction; The Electric Light in Photography; Rain-Band Spectroscopes.

1884A - Some New Inventions, by Charles Barnard (Century Magazine, 1884A)

Developments in steam-ship design; whether girls should study mechanics; displays of inventions and furniture designs by women and girls at a Boston exposition; an armchair for school-teachers; a better travel trunk; new canoes, boats and camping equipment; a substitute for stained glass.

1884B - Recent Improvements and Inventions, by Charles Barnard (Century Magazine, 1884B)

Improvements in cameras and photography; the use of the electric lamp in dentistry; improvements and cost reductions in telegraphy.

1885 - Developments and Inventions (Demorest, 1885)

1885 - The World's Progress in the Arts, Sciences and Literature (Demorest, 1885)

1885B - Recent Inventions, by Charles Barnard (Century Magazine, 1885B)

Telegraph, fire and burglar alarms; mechanisms to trigger alarms based on temperature or barometric pressure; a clock designed for schools that will shows the time around the world.

1886A - Fire Prevention, by Charles Barnard (Century Magazine, 1886A)

How fire-fighting and volunteer fire-fighting associations work; new inventions for fire prevention, including the fire-extinguisher, the automatic sprinkler, hand-pumps, and the chemical grenade.

1886 - Scientific Developments (Demorest, 1886)

1888 - The World's Progress in the Arts, Sciences and Literature (Demorest, 1888)

1889 - The World's Progress in the Arts, Sciences and Literature (Demorest, 1889)

1900 - Something New (Cassell's, 1900)

A round-up of inventions, including a gun camera, submarine, living lamp, mammoth search-light, and talking fog-horn.

1902 - Science and Inventions (Good Words, 1902)

The soldier's pocket filter; wireless telephony; costly cameras; the Plymouth aquarium; steering torpedoes by wireless telegraphy; the Stroh violin; a new rangefinder; the only motor fire-engine; the Simms motor war-car; forgotten trains.