Accession No
0829
Brief Description
simple microscope, screw barrel type; circa 1725
Origin
Maker
Class
microscopes
Earliest Date
1725
Latest Date
1725
Inscription Date
Material
Ivory; metal (brass); leather
Dimensions
bag length 110mm; breadth 110mm; thickness 35mm box length 179mm; breadth 65mm; height 42mm
Special Collection
Robert Whipple collection
Provenance
Purchased by Robert Stewart Whipple from T.H. Court, Harrow, England, in 04/1937.
Inscription
Description Notes
Simple microscope, screw barrel type; circa 1725.
Ivory; threaded condenser tube (lens missing)bearing on three part leather and brass stage; body with brass ferrule and screw plate for turned ivory handle; brass and ivory lens holder for viewing opaque objects; turned ivory talc and ring box; six ivory 4-object slides. (Housed in box which is not original).
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:42373
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