achromatic compound microscope
Date1807
Inventory Number2002-1-0075a
ClassificationMicroscope
Subject
Maker
Harmanus van Deyl
1738 - 1809
Maker
Abraham Ypelaar
1739 - 1811
Author
Johannes Allart
1754 - 1816
Cultural Region
Place of Use
Dimensionsmicroscope: 38 × 14 × 15 cm (14 15/16 × 5 1/2 × 5 7/8 in.)
case: 10.5 × 27 × 22.7 cm (4 1/8 × 10 5/8 × 8 15/16 in.)
case: 10.5 × 27 × 22.7 cm (4 1/8 × 10 5/8 × 8 15/16 in.)
Material
Accessories2 objectives; 2 eye lenses for a fixed field lens; 1 Lieberkühn; frogplate; bull's eye; stage forceps; spring stage; live box; hand lens; 2 tweezers; 2 boxes with 59 specimen slides; glass disk; black disk; "fish" tube with wire; ivory box of mica cover slips; 5 glass slides; 3 lenses; 2 keys.
Bibliography
DescriptionFolding tripod base has dovetail mount for rectangular pillar. The stage slides on the pillar and is focused by rack and pinion. The top of the pillar carries a springloaded receiver for the arm that holds the optical tube. An adjustable substage concave mirror fits on the tripod base. An adjustable bulls eye, a frog plate or stage forceps fit on the stage. The center of the stage has a circular recess. This takes a circular receiver for sliders or a glass plate or a black plate with a hole for the small round Dutch ivory specimen holders.
The mahogany case has new green lining. Accessories stored in the main compartment of the case include 2 objectives; 2 eye lenses for a fixed field lens; 1 Lieberkühn; frogplate; bull's eye; stage forceps; slide receiver; live box; hand lens in wooden mount; and tweezers.
A drawer on the side of the flat case holds:
1 small, flat, wooden box with a drawer, holding 36 transparent specimens mounted in round ivory slides prepared by Abraham Ypelaar, with a signed manuscript list of the specimens. (Note that "AYpelaar" is stamped and "& Comp:" is hand written.)
1 smaller, flat, wooden box with a drawer, holding 23 transparent specimens mounted in round ivory slides prepared by Abraham Ypelaar, with a signed manuscript list of the original 24 specimens, as above.
1 glass tube for frog, newt, or eel, with a brass wire with a curled end for extracting specimen and cotton stoppers.
1 brass tweezers.
1 turned ivory box with a screw cap, holding mica cover slips.
1 round pillbox with glass disk for the stage, a black wooden plate (pierced to hold circular slide), and a plano-concave lens.
1 round pillbox with 2 small, biconvex lenses. Printed label reads: "NIEUWENHUIJSEN VAN BEMMEL"
1 round pillbox with 2 keys, one for the microscope case and one for the multi-drawer specimen cabinet (by Ypelaar, 2002-1-0075b). The lid is inked with "Sleutels / van de / Microscoop."
5 rough glass rectangular slides held in a rolled piece of paper, marked "glausjes" in Dutch.
3 loose wooden pieces of the case (which need to be glued back).
The mahogany case has new green lining. Accessories stored in the main compartment of the case include 2 objectives; 2 eye lenses for a fixed field lens; 1 Lieberkühn; frogplate; bull's eye; stage forceps; slide receiver; live box; hand lens in wooden mount; and tweezers.
A drawer on the side of the flat case holds:
1 small, flat, wooden box with a drawer, holding 36 transparent specimens mounted in round ivory slides prepared by Abraham Ypelaar, with a signed manuscript list of the specimens. (Note that "AYpelaar" is stamped and "& Comp:" is hand written.)
1 smaller, flat, wooden box with a drawer, holding 23 transparent specimens mounted in round ivory slides prepared by Abraham Ypelaar, with a signed manuscript list of the original 24 specimens, as above.
1 glass tube for frog, newt, or eel, with a brass wire with a curled end for extracting specimen and cotton stoppers.
1 brass tweezers.
1 turned ivory box with a screw cap, holding mica cover slips.
1 round pillbox with glass disk for the stage, a black wooden plate (pierced to hold circular slide), and a plano-concave lens.
1 round pillbox with 2 small, biconvex lenses. Printed label reads: "NIEUWENHUIJSEN VAN BEMMEL"
1 round pillbox with 2 keys, one for the microscope case and one for the multi-drawer specimen cabinet (by Ypelaar, 2002-1-0075b). The lid is inked with "Sleutels / van de / Microscoop."
5 rough glass rectangular slides held in a rolled piece of paper, marked "glausjes" in Dutch.
3 loose wooden pieces of the case (which need to be glued back).
In Collection(s)
Signedon optical tube: Harms= van Dyl, / Inv et fecit Amst
on 2 MS lists of specimens: AYpelaar & Comp:
on MS report: Johannes Allart. 1807.
InscribedPrinted label on smallest pill box: NIEUWENHUIJSEN VAN BEMMEL
Curatorial RemarksOnly about six achromatic microscopes by van Deyl are known to survive. One is in the Teyler's Museum.
FunctionThis is one of the earliest commercially produced achromatic microscopes. An achromatic lens is a lens formed by the combination of two or more lenses of different curvature and often of different types of glass. It corrects the image for chromatic aberration--the appearance of colored fringes of light around an image--thereby giving a "cleaner" view of the object under study.
ProvenanceDr. Nieuwenhuijsen of Bemmel (an apothecary), Amsterdam, 1807; to the van Bemmel family; to P. C h. M. van Bemmel (1906 – 1999), married to Dr. Johannes J. Jungerhans (physician) (1900 – 1979), Alkmaar, the Netherlands; to his son Robert R. J. Jungerhans (chemical engineer), Pasadena, CA: to his son Robert L. H. Jungerhans (financial analyst, Harvard A.B. 1997); gift to CHSI, 2002.
Historical AttributesThis achromatic microscope is a rare early example, being the work of Harmanus van Deyl (1738-1809), the first to produce achromatic microscopes commercially.
Although achromatic lenses were used with success in telescopes from the time of Dollond's invention in 1758, they were not used commercially in microscopes for another fifty years. Harmanus van Deyl and his father, Jan van Deyl (1715-1801) had developed an achromatic objective for the microscope around 1770, but it was not until 1807 that they were confident enough to publish a description of their achromatic objective and manufacture microscopes with it.
With the microscope is a manuscript describing the invention of Jan and Harmanus van Deyl, with a copy of an engraving in the published report of 1807. The manuscript is signed and dated by the Amsterdam publisher, Johannes Allart, 1807.
The instrument and the specimen cabinet were originally owned by an apothecary named Nieuwenhuijsen who came from Bemmel, Holland and was in business in Amsterdam. He passed it to the van Bemmel family. From there it passed down through the Jungerhans family.
Abraham Ypelaar
Date: circa 1795
Object number: 2002-1-0075b1
Edward Marmaduke Clarke
Date: 1838-1840
Accessories: 5 objectives for simple microscope; 2 objectives for compound microscope (1 in can; 1 with lieberkuhn); cup diaphragm with lieberkuhn in brass box; brass box of cover slips; stage forceps; tweezers; 2 live boxes; frog plate; bull's eye; fish tube wire; wrench; chamois; 2 unmounted lenses; 40 prepared slides; standing case; 2 keys.
Object number: 1018
Claude-Siméon Passemant
Date: 1749-1769
Accessories: ocular; objectives (7); bull's eye condenser; Lieberkühn for stage mounting; cone diaphragm; spring frame for slides; frog plate; stage forceps; large and small black and white disks (2); round micrometer slide with fine wire screen; low-power lens; black aperture disk; brass slider for 4 specimens; ivory slides--rectangular (6); ivory slides--circular (2); brass slide with aperture to hold circular ivory slides; boxes (2) of round ivory slides (40 in total).
Object number: 1182
Matthew Loft
Date: 1730-1747
Accessories: ocular (1); objectives (6); fish plate; substage cone diaphragm; round spring slide holder; stage forceps; bull's eye condenser; wet specimen glass cup; rotating slide speciment holder with black and white disks; small black and white disks as bead on cord; brass spring; spare collar from an ocular; pyramidal box.
Object number: 1242
Edward Bryan
Date: 1866-1879
Accessories: objectives in canisters (3): 1/4, 1, 2 inch; ocular; live box; box of cover slips; prepared slides (5 small, 12 large); ivory slide; 5 powdered specimens in blue paper; bull's eye condenser; stage forceps; standing case with parts drawer.
Object number: 1085
Benjamin Wood
Date: 1820
Accessories: 10 objectives, numbered 1-10 (caps on 1 and 2); 4 objectives with lieberkuhns (one lens missing); 2 oculars; 3 simple lenses in eye cups; diaphragm cone; live box; spring stage; three-wing stage; double-convex lens on rod; simple-lens carrier on an arm; ivory black/white disk; 1 ivory disk with cork; 3 flat glass disks of differing sizes; 1 large glass disk in threaded brass rim; 1 watch glass; 3 large glass, magnifying lenses, one tinted green; 2 small magnifying glasses; stage condensor; fish plate; 2 stage forceps; 1 stage 3-pronged gripper; tweezers; 3 ivory handled knives for preparations; 10 small and 3 medium ivory slides of transparent specimens; 3 ivory slides of opaque specimens; 3 boxwood slides of transparent specimens; 1 brass wet-cell slide with 4 apertures for preparations; 2 cylindrical ivory boxes with mica cover slips and snap rings; wrench; chamois; flat case with sockets for the above; key.
Object number: 1002
Camille Sébastien Nachet
Date: 1845-1850
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.
Object number: 1081a
English
Date: circa 1830
Accessories: 4 objectives; 1 ocular; live box with glass; ivory black / white disk; stage forceps; dissecting needle; brass tweezers; watch glass; 3 ivory slides; glass slide; specimen list; box with key.
Object number: 1003
Edmund Culpeper
Date: circa 1730
Accessories: 6 objectives for screw-barrel microscope; 3 objectives for compound body; 1 lieberkuhn; 1 opaque attachment; brass box; 2 ivory slides, 1 brass wet-cell slide; tweezer; ivory handle; glass specimen fish tube; storage box; instruction booklet by Culpeper (stored in instrument file).
Object number: 1173
English
Date: circa 1830
Accessories: 2 objectives; 1 ocular; live box with glass; ivory black / white disk; stage forceps; dissecting needle; 3 ivory slides; 2 glass slides; specimen list; crystal specimen; mica cover slips; box.
Object number: 1004
W. & S. Jones
Date: circa 1795
Accessories: rotating disc with 6 objectives: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6; objectives with Lieberkuhn reflectors (2); Lieberkuhn attachment; conical diaphragm, stage forceps with calipers; fish plate; silk ribbon; tweezers; Bonanni spring stage; prepared ivory slides (7), standing case.
Object number: 1041
See also/See also
