overall: 10 5/16 in x 3 9/16 in x 12 in; 26.19375 cm x 9.04875 cm x 30.48 cm
Object Name:
microscope
Place made:
Germany: Hesse, Wetzlar
Date made:
ca 1935
Description:
Compound monocular with electric light that can be hand-held or mounted on a stand. The inscription reads “Ernst Leitz / Wetzlar / No 268749.” This serial number indicates a date around 1928.
This is an example of the firm’s Large Skin Capillary (LC) microscope, with a stage designed to hold a human finger steady enough for observations. It was probably owned by Bruno Kisch (1890-1966), a Jewish physician from Czechoslovakia who came to the United States during the Holocaust. Dr. Kisch was a professor at Yale, and a founding president of the American College of Cardiology. His widow gave his papers to the Smithsonian in 1971; they are now in the N.M.A.H. Archives Center.
