Currently indexing
Nachet-type drum compound microscope
Date: 1845-1850
Inventory Number: 1081a
Classification: Microscope
Subject:
Maker: Camille Sébastien Nachet (1799 - 1881)
Owner: Jeffries Wyman (1814 - 1874)
Donor: Alpheus Hyatt (1838 - 1902)
Collector: Ernst-Lewis Collection of Microscopes
Cultural Region:
Place of Origin:
Dimensions:
microscope: 29.2 × 9.5 × 8.9 cm (11 1/2 × 3 3/4 × 3 1/2 in.)
case: 10.8 × 31.1 × 14 cm (4 1/4 × 12 1/4 × 5 1/2 in.)
Accessories: oculars (2): unmarked; objectives (7) : ?, 1(?), 2, 3, 4, 6, 7 in fitted wood box (1081b); mechanical stage (1081c); adjustable bull's eye; concave substage mirror; diaphragm wheel; specimen tray; black-white disk; case.
Description1081a is a well made drum microscope on the French pattern and in the early style of Nachet. It appears little used.
The tube slides in a sleeve and ring attached by a horizontal arm to a round pillar fixed to the back of the stage platform. This platform is seated on top of the drum-shaped base. The coarse focus is by sliding tube; the fine focus is by a vertical screw mechanism under the proper right side of the rectangular stage.
The rectangular stage can be used as-is or a circular mechanical stage (1081c) with x-y motion may be attached. The mechanical stage is stored in the microscope box. stage.
The proper left front corner of the stage has a small sleeve for the insertion of a small bull's eye condenser. The condenser is mounted on an articulated arm.
There is a wheel diaphragm below the stage. The substage mirror is single sided and concave. It is operated by a knurled screw on the side of the drum.
The microscope comes with 2 eyepieces and 7 objectives. Objective threads are 6.6 x 0.35 mm. There is a single nosepiece. The objectives are stored in a little wooden box (1081b) in the case. The box is made of two different colors of wood and is lined with ivory silk. (It is of the same form as the objective box for Nachet microscope 1106a.)
The microscope has a fitted mahogany box padded in purple velvet. It has a compartment with a lift-off lid. The lid's handle is ivory.
Other accessories in the box include a black-white disk made of ivory. There is a little brass-and-glass tray for wet specimens.
A manuscript in the case is written on the back of an anatomical diagram torn out of journal of medical research. It reads: "Small Nachet / Note fine adjustment. / Jeffries Wyman. / Presented by / Alpheus Hyatt." The paper is torn in half.
The tube slides in a sleeve and ring attached by a horizontal arm to a round pillar fixed to the back of the stage platform. This platform is seated on top of the drum-shaped base. The coarse focus is by sliding tube; the fine focus is by a vertical screw mechanism under the proper right side of the rectangular stage.
The rectangular stage can be used as-is or a circular mechanical stage (1081c) with x-y motion may be attached. The mechanical stage is stored in the microscope box. stage.
The proper left front corner of the stage has a small sleeve for the insertion of a small bull's eye condenser. The condenser is mounted on an articulated arm.
There is a wheel diaphragm below the stage. The substage mirror is single sided and concave. It is operated by a knurled screw on the side of the drum.
The microscope comes with 2 eyepieces and 7 objectives. Objective threads are 6.6 x 0.35 mm. There is a single nosepiece. The objectives are stored in a little wooden box (1081b) in the case. The box is made of two different colors of wood and is lined with ivory silk. (It is of the same form as the objective box for Nachet microscope 1106a.)
The microscope has a fitted mahogany box padded in purple velvet. It has a compartment with a lift-off lid. The lid's handle is ivory.
Other accessories in the box include a black-white disk made of ivory. There is a little brass-and-glass tray for wet specimens.
A manuscript in the case is written on the back of an anatomical diagram torn out of journal of medical research. It reads: "Small Nachet / Note fine adjustment. / Jeffries Wyman. / Presented by / Alpheus Hyatt." The paper is torn in half.
Signedunsigned
Inscribedon label below base: 81 / Jeffries Wyman's / small "Nachet"?
on manuscript in case: Small Nachet / Note fine adjustment. / Jeffries Wyman. / Presented by / Alpheus Hyatt.
on manuscript in case: Wyman Microscopes
on manuscript in case: Small Nachet / Note fine adjustment. / Jeffries Wyman. / Presented by / Alpheus Hyatt.
on manuscript in case: Wyman Microscopes
Historical AttributesNote from Dr. Lewis: "Presented by Professor Alpheus Hyatt on October 16, 1900--previously the property of Professor Jeffries Wyman," who was the Hersey Professor of Anatomy from 1847 to 1874.
Curatorial RemarksResembles in particular a Nachet of 1843 shown in Collection Nachet, plate XII, p. 86, item 86 (CHSI Lib. 582).
A signed Nachet instrument (1106a) has the same wooden objective box as CHSI 1081, which is unsigned but also likely by Nachet.
A signed Nachet instrument (1106a) has the same wooden objective box as CHSI 1081, which is unsigned but also likely by Nachet.
ProvenanceProfessor Jeffries Wyman, Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University, before 1874; Alpheus Hyatt; gift to Ernst-Lewis Collection of Microscopes (inv. no. 81), Harvard Medical School, October 16, 1900.