Accession No
0423
Brief Description
simple microscope, drum screw barrel type; 4/4 18th century
Origin
Maker
Class
microscopes
Earliest Date
1775
Latest Date
1800
Inscription Date
Material
wood (lignum vitae); metal (brass); glass; paper (pasteboard, paper); fishskin (shagreen)
Dimensions
height 102mm; diameter of base 44mm
Special Collection
Robert Whipple collection
Provenance
Purchased from T.H. Court in 05/1927.
Inscription
Description Notes
Lignum vitae cylinder with screw fit base and brass ferrule; diagonal mirror; paste board body covered with green paper; lignum vitae ferrule (no optics) paste board collar covered with black shagreen, lignum vitae ferrules with eye lens; cut away sides; brass piece [part of bonnani stage] with notches cut in it for holding slider.
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:42863
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