Georges Oberhauser, a renowned European optician, manufactured this brass compound microscope sometime between 1835 and 1840. Designed for versatility, the drum-style monocular, which is part of the Billings collection at the Walter Reed Army Hospital in Washington DC, is shown in a horizontal microscope configuration.

The Fraunhofer-style microscope can be mounted on a circular, leaded base on top of a storage box or on a 7.88-inch tubular pillar for horizontal use, as illustrated above. The tubular pillar may also be screwed into the leaded base or storage box to complete the microscope stand, though this configuration is not illustrated. An internal 1.25-inch mirror receives light through a cutout portion of the French microscope's drum-shaped, receiving tube, and a bull's-eye condenser on a hinged arm may be swung into place for illuminating opaque specimens. Although the instrument does not feature a substage condenser, a revolving disc of diaphragms for adjusting the illumination and resolution of transparent specimens viewed under transmitted light is included.

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