Solar Microscope

Description:

Solar microscopes of this sort were introduced around 1740 and were still popular in the nineteenth century. Wesleyan University may have acquired this example soon after its founding in 1831. The “Benj. Pike & Son, New York” inscription indicates the firm that sold it, but not necessarily the firm that made it.

Ref: Benjamin Pike, Jr., Pike’s Illustrated Descriptive Catalogue of Optical, Mathematical, and Philosophical Instruments (New York, 1856), vol. 2, pp. 239-244.

Deborah Warner, “Projection Apparatus for Science in Antebellum America,” Rittenhouse 6 (1992): 87-94.

Date Made: 1830-1850

Retailer: Benjamin Pike & Son

Location: Currently not on view

Subject: Science & Scientific Instruments

Subject:

See more items in: Medicine and Science: Physical Sciences, Microscopes, Science & Mathematics

Exhibition:

Exhibition Location:

Credit Line: Wesleyan University

Data Source: National Museum of American History

Id Number: 1989.0013.04Accession Number: 1989.0013Catalog Number: 1989.0013.04

Object Name: Solar Microscopesolar microscope

Physical Description: wood (overall material)brass (overall material)Measurements: part: 7 3/4 in x 3 1/2 in; 19.685 cm x 8.89 cmpart: 5 in x 2 1/4 in; 12.7 cm x 5.715 cmoverall in box: 5 in x 15 in x 8 15/16 in; 12.7 cm x 38.1 cm x 22.70125 cm

Guid: http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ng49ca746ae-1389-704b-e053-15f76fa0b4fa

Record Id: nmah_1460927

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