Accession No
0974
Brief Description
simple microscope, screw barrel type; circa 1725
Origin
Maker
Class
microscopes
Earliest Date
1725
Latest Date
1725
Inscription Date
Material
ivory; wood; glass; metal (brass, steel); cloth (velvet); hide (shagreen leather); organic (horn, bone)
Dimensions
box length 139mm; breadth 95mm; height 56mm; body length 55 mm; diameter 28 mm
Special Collection
Robert Whipple collection
Provenance
Inscription
Description Notes
Simple microscope, screw barrel type; circa 1725.
Ivory screw barrel microscope. Body with threaded condenser tube bearing on horn and brass 3-part stage. Steel spring. Brass ferrule to turned ivory handle. 5 objectives marked 1, 2, 3, 5, 6. Brass and ivory lens-holder for viewing opaque objects. Lens mounted in bone. Ivory talc and ring box. Stage forceps on steel rod through brass stage plate engraved with galloping horse and foliage. 1 4-object ivory slide. 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:42369
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