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A rare scientific diagram produced by the Working Men's Educational Union. Lightograph print in two colours, on calico cloth. Labelled to lower left corner - '43 Skinner St., Snow Hill, London / Published by Working Men's Educational Union / 1852', and a number '46'. Some discolouration along fold lines, but otherwise in very good condition for its age.
 
The Working Men's Educational Union was a philanthropic Society established in 1832 with the objective of 'the elevation of the working classes, as regards to their physical, intellectual, moral and religious condition'. Their chief means of achieving this was to encourage popular literary and scientific lectures by preparing suitable diagrams and other aids to lectures. The headquarters of the Union were at 25 King William Street near Trafalgar Square, London, and was run by a committee made up mainly from members of the aristocracy, parliament, and the church. It is known that diagrams like this were used to instruct and entertain wounded and invalided soldiers at Scutari and Balaklava during the Crimean War, including members of the 17th Lancers who had taken part in the Charge of the Light Brigade in October 1854.