Accession No
0119
Brief Description
simple microscope, screw barrel type; English; circa 1750
Origin
England
Maker
Class
microscopes
Earliest Date
1750
Latest Date
1750
Inscription Date
Material
metal (brass, steel); glass, ivory; hide (shagreen leather); cloth (velvet)
Dimensions
bag length 100mm; breadth 100mm; thickness 35mm box length 177mm; breadth 70mm; height 53mm
Special Collection
Robert Whipple collection
Provenance
Purchased by Robert Stewart Whipple from T. H. Court on 16/08/1923.
Inscription
Description Notes
Brass screw barrel simple microscope. Body with threaded condenser tube bearing on 3-part brass stage. Steel spring. Brass ferrule to turned ivory handle. One objective marked 4; 3 condenser stops, one in paper. 2 glass tubes with brass wire. Brass 4-object slide live-box. 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:42371
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