Produced by an Italian craftsman in the latter portion of the seventeenth century, the model presented below is a wooden tripod compound microscope. This elegant work is described and illustrated in a short treatise entitled Microscopes to the End of the Nineteenth Century by F. W. Palmer and A. B. Sahiar.

The legs and collar of the microscope are not original, indicating the microscope was probably restored at a later date. The objective has the usual bi-convex lens, but the eyepiece tube has three lenses. Internally, the microscope has a field lens and a doublet of bi-convex lenses. The nosepiece of the microscope is threaded to fit into the tripod base and allow focusing of the specimen. With the exception of the glass lenses, tube covering, and ivory stage, the microscope is composed entirely of wood.

BACK TO SIXTEENTH-SEVENTEENTH CENTURY MICROSCOPES

Questions or comments? Send us an email.

© 1998-2022 by Michael W. Davidson and The Florida State University. All Rights Reserved. No images, graphics, scripts, or applets may be reproduced or used in any manner without permission from the copyright holders. Use of this website means you agree to all of the Legal Terms and Conditions set forth by the owners.

This website is maintained by our
Graphics & Web Programming Team
in collaboration with Optical Microscopy at the
National High Magnetic Field Laboratory.

Last modification: Friday, Nov 13, 2015 at 01:19 PM

Access Count Since October 1, 2000: 32963

For more information on microscope manufacturers,
use the buttons below to navigate to their websites: