Accession No
0500
Brief Description
simple and screw barrel type microscopes in a box, English, circa 1750
Origin
England
Maker
Class
microscopes
Earliest Date
1750
Latest Date
1750
Inscription Date
Material
metal (brass, steel); wood; ivory; glass; leather (shagreen); cloth (velvet)
Dimensions
box length 178mm; breadth 78mm; height 54mm list of slides height 202mm; breadth 85mm
Special Collection
Robert Whipple collection
Provenance
Purchased from T.H. Court in 05/1927.
Inscription
Description Notes
screw barrel type microscope: brass; body with threaded condenser tube bearing on three part wood and brass stage; steel screw; brass ferrule to turned ivory handle.
compass type microscope: brass; turned ivory handle; compass joint to steel shaft with forceps and black / white ground
six objectives, 1-6, all with ivory dust caps; one condenser stop; glass tube; fish-skin covered double ended slip case with six 4-object ivory slides. All pieces contained within a fitted wooden box; covered with polished white fish-skin and lined with green velvet.
Condition: Good
References
Events
Description
This type of simple microscope, employing only one lens, was first described in 1702, by James Wilson in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society. The design was in fact the work of the Dutch microscopist Nicolaas Hartsoeker.
The essential feature of the design is the threaded cylinder, carrying a condensing lens, which screws in and out of the body. The microscope is hand-held, and the slide is inserted at one end — the whole instrument is then pointed towards a light source.
Large numbers of these microscopes were made, and they proved extremely popular. This was in part due to the recommendation of John Harris, in his 1704 book Lexicon Technicum, in which he wrote that “of all microscopes I have ever seen for commodiousness, various uses, portability and cheapness, I never met with anything like Mr. Wilson’s Glasses.”
26/02/2008
Created by: Boris Jardine, with text from Olivia Brown’s Catalogue 7 on 26/02/2008
FM:42367
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