Accession No

1027

Brief Description

telescope tube, possibly part of William Molyneux’s “Sciothericum Telescopicum”, 18th century

Origin

Maker

Class

astronomy; optical

Earliest Date

1700

Latest Date

1800

Inscription Date

Material

wood (boxwood, mahogany?, ebony); metal (bronze); glass; hide (vellum)

Dimensions

length 330mm; breadth 55mm; thickness 40mm

Special Collection

Provenance

On loan from Trinity College, University of Cambridge from 1951.

Inscription

Description Notes

Boxwood tube with mahogany (?) terminals. Band of bronze round centre of tube with scalloped edges; circular extension with aperture for attachment to rest of instrument. Ebony eyepiece, with vellum tub sliding into main tube. Inverting with cross hair.

(Tube badly cracked and marked).

Possibly part of William Molyneux’s “Sciothericum Telescopicum”; the other part is held at Trinity College. See W. Molyneux A New Condtrivance of Adapting a Telescope to an Horizontal Dial (1686).

References

Events