Accession No
0425
Brief Description
simple microscope, replica, attributed to John Mayall, English, circa 1885
Origin
England [based on attributed maker]
Maker
Mayall, John [attributed]
Class
microscopes
Earliest Date
1885
Latest Date
1885
Inscription Date
Material
wood; metal (iron)
Dimensions
height 90mm; depth 80mm; breadth 55mm
Special Collection
Robert Whipple collection
Provenance
Purchased from T.H. Court in 05/1927 as a Mayall copy.
Inscription
Description Notes
Simple microscope, replica; [made by John Mayall]; circa 1885.
Wooden’ turned base and pillar; peg at base with aperture for string (broken); wooden screw to vertical disc; iron arm with spike for eyepiece holder (missing).
References
Events
Description
John Mayall (Junior) was a prominent member of both the Queckett Microscopical Club and the Royal Microscopical Society. He was a friend of Sir Frank Crisp and helped him to acquire microscopes for his extensive collection. Most notably Mayall was involved in the acquisition by Crisp of microscopes from Kings College London, including several items which had been part of the George III collection.
The simple microscope is essentially one lens, or one thick lens which is composed of two or three pieces of glass. The simple microscope has a short focal length which means that in order to focus clearly the microscope has to be held up to the eye. The magnifying power in this type of microscope ranged from 70 to 250 times.
FM:42866
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