Accession No
0508
Brief Description
simple microscope, screw barrel type; circa 1730
Origin
Maker
Class
microscopes
Earliest Date
1730
Latest Date
1730
Inscription Date
Material
metal (brass); glass; ivory; cloth (velvet); hide (shagreen leather)
Dimensions
box length 158mm; breadth 86mm; height 47mm; body length 42 mm; diameter 30 mm
Special Collection
Robert Whipple collection
Provenance
Purchased from T.H. Court.
Inscription
Description Notes
Brass screw barrel microscope. Body has engraved foliage / scrollwork decoration; threaded condenser tube bearing on 3 part horn and brass stage, with parts marked 1, 2, and 3. Brass spring. Brass ferrule to turned ivory handle. Six objectives marked 1-6; tweezers. Brass lens-holder for viewing opaque objects’ brass spring. Turned ivory talc and ring box. 5 6-object ivory slides. Ivory, brass and glass 4-object live-box decorated with engraved flower; brass 4-object live-box (one glass missing). Fitted wooden box covered with black shagreen and lined with green velvet.
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:42368
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