Description
Unlike many of the eye models in the Whipple’s collection that demonstrate gross anatomy, this model attempts to depict variations and problems in human vision. Light enters the model by means of the cornea opening and passes through a lens, resulting in an image projection that is observed on a small screen inside the eye model. There are three interchangeable lenses that create different focal lengths. They represent long-sighted, normal vision and short-sighted types of vision. ‘Professor Stokes Museum of Practical Geology’ is inscribed on the box in which the model was purchased. As this item was acquired from the Cavandish Laboratory in Cambridge where George Gabriel Stokes (1819–1903) worked as Professor of Mathematics, it is likely that this model had belonged to him. A Fellow at Pembroke College, Stokes researched a range of topics from fluid dynamics to spectroscopy. He also regularly lectured in London at the Government School of Mines (later to become the Royal College of Mines) and at the Museum of Practical Geology. In October 1849, Stokes took over the lectures on optics usually delivered by James Challis (1803–1882) in Cambridge.

05/11/2013
Created by: Allison Ksiazkiewicz on 05/11/2013