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.

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Goren Collection of the History of the Microscope

1850-1960, Petrographic Microscopes and Accessories

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Tourmaline Tongs (c.1860)

Inv. YG-20-010

Hartnack Stand IIIA, 1868

Inv. YG-15-007

Prototype microscope(?), ~1875

Inv. YG-17-011

Beck Lithological Prototype, 1880

Inv. YG-21-020

Voigt & Hochgesang ~1890

Inv. YG-19-014

Swift Dick of O.T. Jones, 1891

Inv. YG-19-019

Leitz Wetzlar petrographic, 1908

Inv. YG-20-009

Leitz Berek Universal Stage, 1924

Inv. YG-20-017

Leitz 6 Integrating Stage, ~1935

Inv. YG-20-01

Microscope of A. Marcus, 1955

Inv. YG-15-008

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