Accession No
0257
Brief Description
“micrograph” simple microscope, with 22 microphotograph slides, attributed to John Charles Stovin, English, 1862 (c)
Origin
England; London [based on attributed maker]
Maker
Stovin, John Charles [attributed]
Class
microscopes
Earliest Date
1862
Latest Date
1862
Inscription Date
1862
Material
ivory; glass; wood; hide (morocco); cloth (velvet, silk)
Dimensions
box length 121mm; breadth 41mm; height 33mm
Special Collection
Robert Whipple collection
Provenance
Purchased by Robert Stewart Whipple from T. H. Court on 22/12/1925.
Inscription
“INSTRUCTIONS FOR USING / THE / MICROGRAPH”
“EXHIBITING AT THE / INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION, 1862 / Class 14.”
Description Notes
“micrograph” simple microscope, with 22 microphotograph slides, attributed to John Charles Stovin, English, c. 1862
Ivory body with screw focussing eyepiece (lens missing); originally 24 glass slides, 22 extant with microphotographs. Fitted wooden box covered with morocco and lined with velvet and silk. Two single leaf pamphlets: one of instructions for use (printed, both sides); one with with a list of the subjects of the photographs (manuscript, both sides).
The manuscript list reads as follows:
"1. The orphans
2. The water lily
3. Madonna and Child
4. Smugglers quarrelling
5. Ecce Homo
6. His Grace the late Duke of Wellington
7. Lion hunting in Africa
8. Diagram of the Moon as seen by L. Ross's G. telescope
9. The Apostolic creed plain
10. Her Majesty the Queen
11. The Guardian Angels
12. John proclaiming the Messiah
13. Tiger hunting in Asia
14. H. H. the Pope Pius IX
15. The highland drovers departure
16. Sunshine
17. The conversion of St. Paul
18. The Royal Family of England
19. The poor teacher
20. "The Noble Army of Martyrs Praise Thee"
21. Hunting the boa constrictor in America
22. £1000 Bank of England note
23. Yak hunting in Europe
24. The Expected Penny"
Condition: good; incomplete (2 empty spaces for slides).
References
Events
Description
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.
Antoni van Leeuwenhoek (1632-1723) was a cloth merchant from Delft and made the earliest surviving examples of a simple microscope. Leeuwenhoek crafted the lens from glass beads and mounted the lens in between metal plates. A spike was used to hold the specimen close to the lens and the microscope was then handheld in front of the eye. Leeuwenhoek was the first person to see bacteria. The capillary circulation of the blood, as discovered and demonstrated by Marcello Malpighi could also be observed through a simple microscope. The simple microscope remained in use alongside the compound microscope, as it was a useful alternative if clear images could not be viewed through compound microscopes.
In the early years of the 18th Century, many simple microscopes were of the screw barrel type ,which were produced in ivory or brass. Those particularly interested in the natural world used simple microscopes as they were portable and very useful for work in the field. The botanical microscope as seen in the microscope case (accession number 0587) would open out as the box itself was opened making it immediately ready for use.
FM:43258
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