Accession No
3788
Brief Description
achromatic compound microscope owned by Charles Darwin, with handkerchief, booklet and manuscript notes, by James Smith, English; 1846 - 1847
Origin
England; London
Maker
Smith, James
Class
microscopes
Earliest Date
1846
Latest Date
1847
Inscription Date
Material
cloth; silk; paper
Dimensions
handkerchief 890mm x 810mm; booklet 215mm x 135mm; manuscript 1 182mm x 335mm; manuscript 2 215mm x 132mm box height 500mm; breadth 271mm; depth 240mm
Special Collection
Provenance
Transferred from Dept of Botany (Botany School), University of Cambridge, Cambridge, England. Information from old label reads that this object was “loaned by the department of Botany, University of Cambridge, to whom it came through Francis Darwin, Reader in Botany, in the University.”
Inscription
‘Jas SMITH LONDON’ [On toe of tripod foot]
‘143’ [On toe of tripod foot]
‘C.D’ (embroidered on handkerchief’)
Description Notes
3788.1 Compound microscope, signed ‘Jas SMITH LONDON’ [On toe of tripod foot], with serial number ‘143’ [On toe of tripod foot].
3788.2 Patterned red silk handkerchief said to have been used to cover the microscope. Cloth is embroidered with Darwin’s initials in one corner.
3788.3 booklet describing microscope titled ‘DESCRIPTION OF THE IMPROVED ACHROMATIC MICROSCOPE MADE BY JAMES SMITH’. Shows diagram of microscope and accessories. Hand-written notes at back. Includes manuscript giving ‘Directions for using the 1/8 in obj Glass’.
3788.4 folded brown paper containing three manuscripts sellotaped to triptych black card backing. MSS deal with issues relating to the microscope. In Darwin’s hand.
3788.5 Envelope marked ‘Last observn made by CD (some exp of mine FD). Contains three manuscripts by Charles Darwin, one relating to bean experiments pasted onto backing and with note by Francis Darwin; one section of a chapter 11 discussing the eye (pages numbered p34A and 139); notes concerning micrometer.
Condition of handkerchief fair (ripped in several places; silk very frail). Condition of booklet poor (marked and cover has separated from pages). Condition of manuscript 1 poor (sellotaped to backing). Condition of manuscript 2 fair (one reconstructed on backing).
References
Boris Jardine; 'Charles Darwin's microscopes'; Explore Whipple Collections online article; Whipple Museum of the History of Science; University of Cambridge; 2016: https://www.whipplemuseum.cam.ac.uk/explore-whipple-collections/microscopes/charles-darwins-microscopes
Events
Description
3788.1 Darwin’s microscope, purchased in 1847 for £34. The amount Darwin paid is significant, equating to many thousands of pounds today, and proving that Darwin was intent on having the best apparatus for his research. The microscope was made by the leading London firm Smith & Beck, and was bought for use on a classification of barnacles.
After Darwin’s death the microscope passed to his son Francis, and from there to Cambridge University’s School of Botany (now Plant Sciences). When it came to the Whipple Museum it was accompanied by a small collection of Darwin’s manuscripts, and the handkerchief he used to cover it when not in use.
The microscope’s instruction manual is heavily annotated by both Darwin and the instrument-maker. On the left-hand page, Darwin has added vital information about the magnification power: the values for “1/8 inch” are all in his hand, and refer to a lens much like that displayed on this shelf. On the right-hand page, Darwin has scrawled instructions on how to make microscopic measurements, crucial for his barnacle study.
The note, in Darwin’s famously hard-to-read handwriting, records information on the preparation of specimens. Darwin became expert in the techniques of slide-preparation and dissection during the barnacle studies, skills for which received special praise when the Royal Society awarded him a medal in 1853.
In the letter Darwin received detailed instructions on the use of his high-powered objective lens. The lens itself has long-since disappeared, but the information written here has led to a very similar lens being identified in the Whipple Museum’s collections
FM:40554
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