German instrument makers Schmidt and Haensch signed this brass microscope, which was made around 1879. The original model, from which our 3-D Studio Max drawing is derived, resides in the Billings Microscope Collection at the National Museum of Health and Medicine at Walter Reed Army Hospital in Washington, D. C.

The rectangular pillar and horseshoe base are cast as a single piece from black Japanned iron and painted with black enamel. The stage plate is attached to the pillar, and provided with a rack and pinion mechanism for forward and backward motion and a lever for lateral motion of the mechanical stage. Beneath the stage is a single mirror that is mounted onto the limb by means of a gimbal. A pair of glass plates is fit between two brass bars to sandwich the specimen into place. The brass body tube has a short cone-shaped nose and a helical groove cut on the exterior to focus the microscope. Originally, the microscope was designed for examination of trichinae infection of meat limiting its use as an ordinary microscope.

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