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
Georg Oberhäuser, drum microscope, 1853
This is an early European drum-type microscope, most likely made by Georges (Georg) Oberhäuser in 1853. The microscope is made of lacquered brass with no blackened parts. The coarse focusing adjustment is obtained by sliding the optical tube, the fine by a knurled screw, which raises the stage top. Illumination is carried out via a rotatable flat mirror. The optical equipment of the microscope consists of two eyepieces and one objective with three stacking button achromats. In this case, there are no recesses for further optics except the second ocular, so it is to be assumed that this instrument is kept except for the incident light in the original equipment.
Microscopes of this design were in use by early to mid-19th century German and French scientists, such as Rudolf Ludwig Carl Virchow, Hercule Straus-Dürckheim (1790-1865) and others.
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The optics of this microscope consist of two eyepieces and two objectives. This microscope is an embodiment of the drum-type widely used by Georg Oberhäuser and other mid to later 19th-century European makers, mostly from France and the German lands. While in the late 1830s, Oberhäuser already offered his instruments with dark and matte stage surfaces, thus avoiding disturbing reflections during observation of slides, Simon Plössl and Friedrich Wilhelm Schiek still delivered their instruments with clear lacquered table surfaces until 1840. The stage surface of the instrument shown here is also lacquered bare brass, which suggests a dating before 1837 (modified after Mappes).
It was Joseph von Fraunhofer (1787–1826), the brilliant Bavarian inventor and scientist, who adopted the drum microscope, originally invented and developed during the 18th century by Benjamin Martin (see the relevant entry from my collection here). Still, very few of Fraunhofer's original microscopes have survived. This undoubtedly results from his early death at the age of 39. However, the idea was taken by several other microscope makers, most notably by Oberhäuser, to become one of the most commonly used designs in Europe till the end of the 19th century.
Oberhäuser attended high school in his hometown, Ansbach (Middle Franconia), with the intent of becoming an engineer. Due to the premature death of his father in 1812, he became an apprentice mechanic at the University in Würzburg in order to support himself. In 1816 he moved to Paris and came in contact with the opticians Trécourt and Bouquet. In 1830 they started a three-way partnership at 19 Place Dauphine, yet in 1835 Bouquet departed, leaving Oberhäuser and Trécourt to do business together. They introduced their drum microscope in 1837, and very quickly, they earned a good reputation for producing affordable and solid instruments with excellent achromatic lenses. In 1854, Oberhaeuser invited Edmund Hartnack (1826 – 1891), who married his niece, to work as an apprentice in his workshop. By 1857, Hartnack had become a full partner in the business.
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References: References to the later small "microscope d'hospice" by Oberhäuser and his various partners are vast (for example, Mappes and the references therein). However, there are very few examples, known to us, of this early form of the model. A good example, perhaps the earliest of this kind, is in the Balasse collection, signed: Bouquet et Georges Oberhaeuser à Paris. It should date to around 1830, when the partnership just began. Accordingly, it bears very early features especially in the accessories. Another example is in the same collection, closer to ours and also unsigned but missing the case. Below are the two closest parallels with their cases, both signed.