Accession No
0240
Brief Description
simple microscope, screw barrel type; English; 1750 - 1775
Origin
England
Maker
Class
microscopes
Earliest Date
1750
Latest Date
1775
Inscription Date
Material
metal (brass, steel); ivory; glass; paper (cardboard); leather ([shagreen]); wood; cloth (velvet)
Dimensions
box length 151mm; breadth 98mm; height 44mm scroll stand height 205mm; breadth 100mm part in bag length 135 mm; breadth 40 mm
Special Collection
Robert Whipple collection
Provenance
Purchased by Robert Stewart Whipple from T.H. Court on 08/10/1925. The accession register records that it was formerly part of the Crisp Collection.
Inscription
Description Notes
Brass; body with external thread (compound attachment not extant); threaded condenser tube bearing on 3 part brass stage; steel spring; brass ferrule for turned ivory handle; Lens marked ‘5’, lieberkuhn in brass case; 2 condenser stops; tweezers; ivory talc and ring box; brass lens holder for viewing opaque objects; glass tube; two 6-object ivory slides marked ‘1’, and ‘3’, the latter with opaque objects. Cardboard slip-case covered with [imitation] shagreen containing six 4-object ivory slides 1-6 and a brass 4-object slide live box. Fitted wooden box covered with black shagreen and lined with green velvet. Scroll type brass stand with three folding feet (mirror missing). Probably a later addition which does not fit into the box.
Brass stand was unmarked; identified and marked with correct accession number on 22/08/2008 and reunited with rest of object (see notes and location history).
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:42375
Images (Click to view full size):
