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Catalog Data

Physical Description:
glass (overall material)
brass (overall material)
Measurements:
overall: 45.9 cm x 9.2 cm x 22.6 cm; 18 1/16 in x 3 5/8 in x 8 7/8 in
Object Name:
microscope
Date made:
ca 1870
Description:
While fish tanks were known in Ancient Rome and Medieval China, balanced aquariums were not developed until the 1840s. After the London Zoo opened an impressive Fish House in 1853, and several enthusiasts produced books explaining how aquatic plants and animals would keep other alive, aquarium keeping became the order of the day—and microscopes for examining plants and animals in aquaria were soon to be had.
Frederick Blankley presented a “Tank Microscope” made by James Powell Swift to the Royal Microscopical Society in 1870. It was, he said, “constructed in a simple and inexpensive way, which may induce many to study ‘Life as it is’ in the aquarium, without having to expend a large sum of money for the purpose.” Richard Halsted Ward showed a Swift tank microscope at an American microscopical meeting later that year.
This example, which came from Ward’s daughter, is a compound monocular held on a horizontal arm; this is mounted on a square brass pole, and equipped with rack-and-pinion for focus; the pole, in turn, stands on a heavy cylindrical base.
Ref: “A Revolving Stage and a Tank Microscope,” <i>Monthly Microscopical Journal</i> 3 (1870): 209-210.
“Report of the Microscopes and Microscopical Apparatus Exhibited at the Meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, at Troy, N.Y., August 1870,” <i>Proceedings of the American Association for the Advancement of Science</i> 18 (1870): 381-384, on 384.
Location:
Currently not on view
Subject:
Science & Scientific Instruments  Search this
Credit Line:
Miss Charlotte B. Ward
ID Number:
MG.M-09726
Accession number:
174919
Catalog number:
M-09726
174919.11
See more items in:
Medicine and Science: Medicine
Microscopes
Science & Mathematics
Data Source:
National Museum of American History
GUID:
http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ng49ca746aa-3096-704b-e053-15f76fa0b4fa
EDAN-URL:
edanmdm:nmah_1172348