This monocular compound microscope is enclosed in a wooden-framed glass box measuring approximately one square foot. The model featured below was redrawn from photographs of the original microscope, which is part of the Billings microscope collection at Walter Reed Army Hospital in Washington DC.

The instrument has a continental style-stand with a horizontal limb and a very large circular stage that holds multiple specimens. The eight and a half inch diameter stage can be rotated to bring each specimen into the optical path. This principle of microscope construction was first used on simple microscopes in Italy during the late seventeenth century. Later models of a similar design were produced in France and Germany during the latter part of the nineteenth century. The microscope lacks a substage condenser, but is equipped with a bi-convex lens to the left of the stage designed for focusing light onto the specimen. The instrument is signed "No. 6766, 'The Museum' patent; W. Watson & Sons, 313 High Holborn, London, W.C.".

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