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
© Microscope History all rights reserved
Double Column Microscope, ca. 1730
This microscope is a unique and mysterious device that can be traced back to the early 18th century. The microscope has a single magnification and is made using materials such as pasteboard, shagreen, ivory, wood and brass, which were commonly used during the first half of the century. It also includes the illumination of transmitted light through a mirror, an invention attributed to Edmund Culpeper in the early 1700s.
The microscope uses a Hevelius screw for focusing. The stage and its mount are in a fixed position, and turning the screw thread slides the optical tube up or down relative to the object. Johannes Hevelius (1611-1687) modified the Hooke microscope by adding a fine-pitch thumbscrew for fine focus. In this microscope, focusing is done using a milled ring that is connected to the tube and wrapped around a long screw with a relatively coarse thread. This enables a relatively fast movement of the optical tube, which includes three optical elements (eye, body and object lenses), providing approximately 100x magnification.
Although this system suffers from typical distortions of the period, such as chromatic and spherical aberration, the optical quality is not bad considering the time when it was presumably created.
It is difficult to determine the origin of this unique microscope. Archaeologists often joke that when they finally find a rare artifact, they complain that it has no parallels. This seems to be the case with this microscope. We can rule out a British origin, but it is possible that the microscope comes from continental Europe, including countries such as Holland, France, Italy, or Germany. Another possibility is that it is a rare copy of European microscopes from the Edo period in Japan, which also incorporated a two-legged base like the one in this microscope. A good example of such a microscope can be seen here and in the period's picture. About Edo period microscopes in Japan, see here.
