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
Heartnack & Prazmouski, Paris, Stativ IIIA, 1873
Model history: This instrument reflects the early design of the “continental microscope.” It was produced by one of the most distinguished microscope makers of the era. The script signature on the drawtube reads: "E.Hartnack & A.Prazmowski Rue Bonaparte 1 Paris", Serial number 12991, dating it to 1873. This model is a Stand IIIA of the company. This specific microscope is equipped with historically important components: in a green leather coated case there are three Hartnack objectives nos. 4, 7 (water immersion) & 9 (water immersion), and three matching aperture disks. One No. 4 ocular, goniometer, and substage Nicol prism. Hartnack was a pioneer of immersion objectives, and his water immersion lenses brought him much reputation among scientists.
Edmund Hartnack (1826-91) was a highly esteemed Prussian microscope maker. In 1842-1847 he apprenticed in Berlin under the mechanic Wilhelm Hirschmann senior (1777-1847), which in turn worked with Schiek and Pistor. In 1847 Hartnack moved to Paris to join Heinrich Daniel Rühmkorff (1803-1877), but later he joined the instrument-making firm of Georges Oberhäuser. As opposed to a widespread error probably first introduced by Brian Bracegirdle, Oberhäuser was not Hartnack's uncle! In 1854 Oberhäuser and Hartnack formed a partnership after the latter married Johanna Maria Louise Kleinod, Oberhäuser's niece. In 1864 Hartnack took over the business, from which his former boss has withdrawn more and more. Hartnack established his workshop at 21 Place Dauphin in Paris in 1860. In 1864 he joined forces with the Polish astronomer and mathematician Adam Prazmowski, the former assistant to the Warsaw Observatory and participant in various expeditions to observe solar eclipses and to measure degrees. Prazmowski escaped The January Uprising in Poland and became the production manager of the Hartnack firm. Hartnack had to leave Paris during the French-Prussian war of 1870-1 and maintained his factory in Potsdam, leaving his partner Prazmowski, in Paris. In 1878, Prazmowski became the owner of the Parisian branch. After his death in 1885, the master Bézu & Hausser take over the workshop and sold it to Alfred Nachet in 1896.
Due to their excellent optical quality, Hartnack's microscopes soon were counted among the favorites by scholars and were widely diffused in the major Universities all over Europe. Among known users of Hartnack's optical instruments were:
Charles Darwin. Darwin acquired in 1847 a "Large no.1" Smith & Beck compound microscope, probably the most advanced instrument of those times, for the fabulous sum of £36 (equivalent to several thousand today's pounds), to be used in the classification of barnacles. On March 1st 1874, being aware of the newly developed water immersion objectives by Hartnack, he wrote to Hartnack to order one of those objectives, whose performance he later praised a lot in a letter to his son Francis.
Louis Pasteur. He used a Hartnack microscope for his studies on the sickness of silkworms in the 1870s. Such an instrument is now on display at the London Science Museum.
Sigmund Freud. Freud learned histology during his residence as a medical student at the Zoological Station in Trieste in the 1870s. Later, Freud obtained a post at the Vienna university’s Physiological Institute, working under the supervision of the renowned physiologist Ernst Brücke on anatomical and neurological research. For this, he used a Hartnack microscope.
Robert Koch. Koch performed his studies on Anthrax with a Hartnack microscope bought for him by his wife.
Giulio Bizzozero. Bizzozero was a world-famous histologist from Pavia (Italy), Camillo Golgi's friend who made seminal discoveries. For example, he was the first to understand the role of platelets in coagulation. He emphasized the use of microscopy against the obsoleted vision of old academics and promulgated experimental methods in opposition to the vitalistic philosophy of the time. For his microscopical studies on platelets, Bizzozero used a Hartnack microscope.
Camillo Golgi. Golgi is, together with Santiago Ramón y Cajal, the father of nuerohistology and of modern neurosciences. He discovered the "black reaction", a staining method that allowed for the first time the visualization of the network of the axons and dendrites of neurons in histological sections. Today, surviving microscopes used by Golgi can be seen in the Museum for the History of the University of Pavia and in the Golgi Museum at Corteno Golgi (BS), his birthplace in the Italian Alps.
In 1859, Edmund Hartnack first exhibited his water immersion objectives (W.G, Hartley, 1993, pp.36/328). He also added the correction collar to the water-immersion lens for the first time. Hartnack sold 400 of these lenses over the course of the next five years. In 1862, Hartnack displayed his immersion objectives at the London, International Exhibition. That same year Prazmowski joined Hartnack (Paris), together they made substantial progress in the water immersion objectives, thanks to Prazmowski's combination of theory and practical skills. The result was that by the 1867 PARIS exposition, Hartnack's lenses were judged the best (Mayall, pp.1119). At the 1867 PARIS Exposition, Hartnack exhibited his improved water immersion objectives (Mayall). The exhibit of Hartnack & Prazmowski surpassed all other entries for his new immersion lenses. That year, Hartnack produced a water-immersion objective of 1/12 inch (No.9) & 1/16 inch (No.10). These two lenses are represented in this collection.
References: Billings: P. 219, Fig. 432, p. 221, Fig. 438; SML: A601304; Royal Museum Edinburgh: inv. 1979.85-87; Boerhaave: V07182, V07407; Museo Galileo 3268; Nuttall 1979: 57; Mappes; Univ. E. Carolina No. 48.F5;