Accession No
0242
Brief Description
simple microscope, screw barrel type; [English]; 2/2 18th century
Origin
[England]
Maker
Class
microscopes
Earliest Date
1750
Latest Date
1800
Inscription Date
Material
metal (brass, steel); Glass (mirror); wood; leather (shagreen); cloth (velvet)
Dimensions
box length 145mm; breadth 95mm; height 50mm
Special Collection
Robert Whipple collection
Provenance
Purchased by Robert Stewart Whipple from T. H. Court on 08/10/1925. The object was formerly part of the Crisp Collection.
Inscription
Description Notes
Brass; body with external screw thread (no compound body extant); threaded condenser tube bearing on three part brass stage; steel spring; brass arm slots to handle piece which fits into the lid of the box; concave mirror fits into the base of the pillar. Lenses 1-5 all but ‘5’ with brass dust caps; lieberkuhn lens in brass case fitted wooden box covered with black shagreen and lined with green velvet with screw plate on lid. (Not original - mirror does not fit).
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:42389
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