Accession No
0243
Brief Description
simple microscope, compass type; circa 1790
Origin
Maker
Class
microscopes
Earliest Date
1790
Latest Date
1790
Inscription Date
Material
metal (brass, steel); ivory; cloth (velvet); leather (shagreen)
Dimensions
bag length 190mm; breadth 98mm; thickness 55mm box length 226mm; breadth 58mm; height 43mm
Special Collection
Robert Whipple collection
Provenance
Purchased by Robert Stewart Whipple from T. H. Court on 08/10/1925.
Inscription
Description Notes
Brass with screw fit ivory handle; compass joint to brass and steel forceps. Hinged live box on opposite end; seven objectives, three with screw-on brass dust caps; one lieberkuhn objective; one live box; two 4-object ivory slides; one pair of tweezers; box lined with green velvet and covered with black shagreen, probably not original.
References
Events
Description
With this instrument, specimens were held on the point and illuminated by the large silvered mirror which reflected light onto the upper surface of the specimen. This device was invented by Johann Lieberkuhn in about 1740 and became standard equipment for 150 years.
‘Compass’ microscope is a modern term applied to these instruments as a result of their resemblance in construction to a pair of draughtsman compasses. It was called the “small microscope for opaque objects” by Adams (1787), and they were often included in with the accessories of other objects.
FM:42858
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