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Beck patent substage microscope condenser

  • Images (6)

Beck patent substage microscope condenser

Date: 1876
Inventory Number: 1122c
Classification: Microscope Condenser
Subject:
optics, microscopy, zoology,
Maker: R. & J. Beck (1865 - 1920)
Owner: Alexander Agassiz (1835 - 1910)
User: Museum of Comparative Zoology (founded 1859)
Donor: Thomas Barbour (1884 - 1946)
Collector: Ernst-Lewis Collection of Microscopes
Cultural Region:
England,
Place of Origin:
London,
Dimensions:
microscope: 44 × 25 × 24 cm (17 5/16 × 9 13/16 × 9 7/16 in.)
case: 15.9 × 47 × 24.2 cm (6 1/4 × 18 1/2 × 9 1/2 in.)
Material:
glass, brass,
Description:
This is a Beck "Small Best" convertible binocular-monocular compound microscope with a full complement of accessories. Due to the complexity, the objects have been divided into the following:

1122a: Beck convertible binocular-monocular microscope
1122b: Beck case with objectives, oculars, and common accessories
1122c: Beck patent revolving substage condenser
1122d: Beck Cheshire’s apertometer
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This unusual substage condenser is mounted on a sleeve with 2 centering screws. The optical section is off center of the primary aperture and rotates over it, exposing 1 of 5 separate condensers mounted together in the housing. There is a spring and detente.
Signedon barrel housing: R & J. BECK / PATENT
Historical AttributesThis Wenham-type binocular microscope by R. & J. Beck was Alexander Agassiz's personal instrument. It was used at his Marine Biological Laboratory in Newport, Rhode Island, where Agassiz summered. The instrument appears with Agassiz in a portrait that shows him working in this lab. Corrosion on parts of the microscope are probably due to contact with marine creatures and sea water.

This microscope was given to the Ernst-Lewis Collection on May 18, 1936 by Dr. Thomas Barbour, Director of the Museum of Comparative Zoology.

According to the correspondence between Conrad Beck, managing director of R. & J. Beck, and Dr. Frederic T. Lewis in 1939, the microscope is the type called the "Small Best" and was made in 1876. With all the accessories, it would have cost between £60 and £80.
Primary SourcesRichard Beck, A Treatise on the Construction, Proper Use, and Capabilities of Smith, Beck, and Beck's Achromatic Microscopes, 3rd ed. (London: John van Voorst, 1865).

W. T. Suffolk, "On Microscopical Manipulation," The Chemical News, 6 no. 2, American reprint (February 1870): 53-60.
ProvenanceAlexander Agassiz, Marine Biological Laboratory, Newport, Rhode Island, c. 1876; Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University, c. 1910; transfer by Thomas Barbour, MCZ Director to the Ernst-Lewis Collection of Microscopes (inv. no. 122), Harvard Medical School, May 18, 1936.

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