Dellebarre's universal compound microscope
Date1775-1795
Inventory Number1255
ClassificationMicroscope
Subject
Maker
Louis François Dellebarre
1726 - 1805
Cultural Region
Place of Origin
Dimensions50 × 20 × 21.5 cm (19 11/16 × 7 7/8 × 8 7/16 in.)
Material
AccessoriesLieberkühn; cap for ocular; no case.
DescriptionThis is Dellabarre's universal compound microscope. The brass optical tube is attached to a pivot at the top of a pillar. The pillar carries the 2 circular stages and substage mirror. The pillar can be inclined by means of a joint near the top of the base. The tripod base has scrolling legs with little pad feet.
The ocular has 5 lenses that can be used together or separately. These include two pairs of flint glass and crown glass lenses, each lens biconvex and mounted close to its mate. The fifth lens is likely Martin's auxiliary "between-lens" (which was a back lens for the objective). The lenses are marked 1-5 and parts of the draw tube are marked A-E.
The ocular has 5 lenses that can be used together or separately. These include two pairs of flint glass and crown glass lenses, each lens biconvex and mounted close to its mate. The fifth lens is likely Martin's auxiliary "between-lens" (which was a back lens for the objective). The lenses are marked 1-5 and parts of the draw tube are marked A-E.
Signedunsigned
ProvenanceDavid Wheatland purchased from Alain Brieux, Paris, November 17, 1965 (lot 23/4). Donated to CHSI May 22, 1967.
Historical AttributesThis complicated instrument has pairs of flint and crown glass lenses in an effort to reduce chromatic aberration. Lalande introduced Dellabarre's popular microscope to France in 1762 after he saw one in Holland. In 1777, the French Academy of Sciences tested a number of different forms of microscopes including Dellabarre's. It was found mechanically complicated, but superior optically. Later tests by Fresnel in 1824 found Dellabarre's images the worst of Adams, Amici, and others.
Louis François Dellebarre
Date: 1775-1795
Accessories: 1 large diameter Lieberkühn; 1 objective.
Object number: 1270
Alvan Clark and Sons
Date: 1890-1893
Object number: 2016-1-0044
Harmanus van Deyl
Date: 1807
Accessories: 2 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.
Object number: 2002-1-0075a
Jean Baptiste François Soleil
Date: 1830-1870
Object number: 1998-1-0400
Charles-Louis Chevalier
Date: circa 1840
Accessories: 2 regular objectives; a high power objective; a low power objective (a variable power dissecting lens) with an extension arm for this lens; 2 dissecting lenses; 1 objective with lieberkuhn; objective with polarizer; 2 regular eyepieces; 1 erecting eyepiece; 1 micrometer eyepiece; stage micrometer, stage bull's eye condenser on jointed arm; camera lucida; tweezers; 3 dissecting tools; pillar extension;
compressorium, 2 objective adaptive mounts (one with Chevalier threads, another with Oberhauser threads); 2 adaptors for Chevalier lenses to other microscopes (one adaptor having Society threads); case.
Object number: 1093
Jules Duboscq & Philibért François Pellin
Date: 1885-1900
Object number: 1997-1-1481
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