Withering-type botanical microscope, 1780
The “Withering-type Microscope” is named for its inventor, Dr. William Withering (1741-1799), an English physician and botanist who graduated with a degree in medicine 1766 in Edinburgh. Inspired by the taxonomical work and systematic classification of Carl Linnæus (1707-1778), Withering (1776) applied the Linnaean taxonomical system of classification to British plants in a seminal, two volume work, A Botanical arrangement of all the vegetables naturally growing in the British Isles. The earliest reference to a small botanical microscope of Withering’s design appeared in the first edition of this book. There, Withering indicated this microscope was developed for field dissections of flowers and other plant parts. While there is no surviving example of this exact design, close relatives of this type do exist, made either completely of brass or of ivory with brass pillars. Ivory models can be tentatively dated to 1776-1785, as by 1787 a newer model with a hollowed stage in an all-brass configuration already predominated. In turn, it was preceded by the brief appearance of a transitional brass model but with solid stage of ivory or horn (seen here). This version is extremely rare and must have been produced in very small numbers. By 1787 all these varieties were not recorded anymore in the literature.
Withering-type botanical microscope, 1780
The “Withering-type Microscope” is named for its inventor, Dr. William Withering (1741-1799), an English physician and botanist who graduated with a degree in medicine 1766 in Edinburgh. Inspired by the taxonomical work and systematic classification of Carl Linnæus (1707-1778), Withering (1776) applied the Linnaean taxonomical system of classification to British plants in a seminal, two volume work, A Botanical arrangement of all the vegetables naturally growing in the British Isles. The earliest reference to a small botanical microscope of Withering’s design appeared in the first edition of this book. There, Withering indicated this microscope was developed for field dissections of flowers and other plant parts. While there is no surviving example of this exact design, close relatives of this type do exist, made either completely of brass or of ivory with brass pillars. Ivory models can be tentatively dated to 1776-1785, as by 1787 a newer model with a hollowed stage in an all-brass configuration already predominated. In turn, it was preceded by the brief appearance of a transitional brass model but with solid stage of ivory or horn (seen here). This version is extremely rare and must have been produced in very small numbers. By 1787 all these varieties were not recorded anymore in the literature.
References: SML: A242712; Goren 2014.
References: SML: A242712; Goren 2014.
Prof. Yuval Goren's Collection of the History of the Microscope
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Early Aquatic Microscope, ~1750
The 'Aquatic microscope' is of the type originally suggested by the Swiss naturalist Abraham Trembley (1710-1784) for his seminal study of the hydra, later to be materialized by John Cuff (1708?-1772?), microscope maker, for John Ellis (1707-1776), an Irish naturalist. Ellis was highly regarded by Carl Linnaeus (1707-1778), who called him one of the brightest stars of natural history. Ellis was elected FRS in 1754. In 1755 he published his work on corals, translated into French the following year, which won him an international reputation. Ellis wanted a microscope of high portability which made it easy to follow the activity of the hydra and other small water organisms held on a watch glass on a microscope stage. The first model was made by Cuff for Ellis in 1752. The design became popular, and microscopes in various forms of this design were made in England and Europe. Later improvements to this design eventually included rack and pinion focusing instead of the overly simple push-fit focussing of the first models (see here). Later, Raspail changed the forward and backward motion of the arm carrying the eyepiece to a fine motion driven by a screw mechanism (see here). In 1832 Charles Darwin took with him an advanced form of the Ellis Aquatic microscope, made by Bancks of London (also represented in this collection), on his seminal voyage on board HMS Beagle.
This early form of the aquatic microscope is mounted on the ray skin-coated wooden case with a center mount for the pillar, has Lieberkuhn lenses of different magnifications that can be screwed to the bar above the circular stage with specimen holder and convex mirror below.
This early form of the aquatic microscope is mounted on the ray skin-coated wooden case with a center mount for the pillar, has Lieberkuhn lenses of different magnifications that can be screwed to the bar above the circular stage with a specimen holder and convex mirror below. The inner redlining of the case is typical of microscope makers Benjamin Martin or John Cuff.
Early Aquatic Microscope by Barthelon a Marseille, France, ~1750
Like quite a few successful ideas of scientific instruments created during the 18th century, including microscopes, the development of the 'Aquatic microscope' in London was immediately copied by many of the leading microscope manufacturers in continental Europe. These replicas have often undergone changes and improvements from the copying machines, which have been released from the standards that customers have often imposed on English optical and other instrument manufacturers.
Here is a very early replica of the 'Aquatic microscope' in its original design as presented by John Cuff for John Ellis in London in the mid-18th century. The improvements that this model presents are also in a thinner box, with a more comfortable internal division of the components, in the connection of the stage tweezers and the decorative decoration of the stage. But the microscope is faithful in general to Cuff's earliest design, in which the rod that supports the lens carrier goes into a tube attached to the pole to which the mirror, stage and lens system connects and does not enter a hole in the center.
The microscope bears the inscription on its central stand:
BARTHELON · A · MARSEILLE
This name is not known to us at all, both from the names of the manufacturers of the period in France and from the list of retailers who sometimes added their signatures to the devices they marketed. It is at all possible that this is the name of the owner of the microscope, although such a practice of the owner's signature on his device is almost unfamiliar to us in the 18th century and only in the 19th century does it begin to appear here and there.
References: MHS: 42845; Turner 1989: 270-1; Billings: P. 158, Fig. 297, AFIP 49163-60-4713-37; Whipple: 1824; Harvard Univ. 1007; Mus. Galileo 3212;