Knowledge acquisition in Dutch industry during the 19th century Laboratories are found only sporadically in 19th-century Dutch industry. People on the shop floor did the necessary testing and controling; they were also the main source of innovations. Tests and controls were performed with the unaided .sense-organs or by using simple instruments. Innovation was stimulated by contracting foreign craftsmen, making study tours, visiting exhibitions, reading technical journals etc. Laboratory work became a recognizable specialty as a result of the objectification and growth of technical knowledge. The expansion and modernization of Dutch industry towards the end of the 19th century were of great importance for the emergence of industrial laboratories. In general they started in a corner of the production department and gradually evolved into a test-laboratory which could give rise to a development laboratory.