parts box for drum compound microscope
Date1856-1862
Inventory Number1106c
ClassificationMicroscope Accessories
Subject
Maker
Camille Sébastien Nachet
1799 - 1881
Cultural Region
Place of Origin
Dimensionsparts box: 7 x 6.8 x 16.9 cm (2 3/4 x 2 11/16 x 6 5/8 in.)
Material
Description1106c is a mahogany parts box that fits into the case of the Nachet drum microscope (1106a).
The parts box has a lift out accessory tray which is covered with purple silk and padded with purple velvet. It has two silk ribbons to lift it up. The lift out tray holds 3 cup diaphragms, a diffuser, and some broken pieces of wood (presumably from part of the main case).
Underneath the lift out tray, the wood parts box is painted black and divided into compartments lined with purple silk fabric. It holds two green pill boxes of square cover slips, plus a rectangular glass slide, a circular glass slide, a circular cover slip, and a brass washer.
The parts box has a lift out accessory tray which is covered with purple silk and padded with purple velvet. It has two silk ribbons to lift it up. The lift out tray holds 3 cup diaphragms, a diffuser, and some broken pieces of wood (presumably from part of the main case).
Underneath the lift out tray, the wood parts box is painted black and divided into compartments lined with purple silk fabric. It holds two green pill boxes of square cover slips, plus a rectangular glass slide, a circular glass slide, a circular cover slip, and a brass washer.
Signedunsigned
Inscribedin ink on lids of pill boxes: 25
Curatorial RemarksAccording to Dr. Lewis: "a small mahogany box for objectives contains objectives 1, 2, 6, and 7 with holes for 4 more and 2 larger empty holes (for diaphragms). The objectives for 106 [old number, now 1106] are slightly smaller than those for 76 [discarded 12/13/57], they miss being interchangeable in their boxes."
Dr. Lewis also notes that Nachet microscopes [old numbers] 76 and 107 were identical to 106, and were discarded in 1957 after their parts were transferred to 106.
The small objective box from 106 now contains 6 objectives and 2 diaphragms. The objectives added are 4 and possibly 0 (which is unmarked). This would imply that the added objectives came from 107, since those of 76 were too big for the holes in the box. The source of the diaphragms is unknown.
Another note from Dr. Lewis tells us that the parts box in the case of 106 came from 76.
The owner of Nachet microscope 76 may have been Jeffries Wyman. That of 106 was R. M. Hodges.
Provenancemicroscope and box: Dr. Benjamin Shurtleff Shaw, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, purchased in Paris before 1893; Henry S. Shaw, before 1928; gift to Ernst-Lewis Collection of Microscopes (inv. no. 106), Harvard Medical School, 1928.
parts box and components: Professor Jeffries Wyman, Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University; Alpheus Hyatt; gift to Ernst-Lewis Collection of Microscopes (inv. no. 76), Harvard Medical School, June 1900
components: Dr. Richard M. Hodges, Harvard Medical School; Ernst-Lewis Collection of Microscopes (inv. no. 107), Harvard Medical School.
Historical AttributesThis elegant and well-equipped drum microscope belonged to Dr. Benjamin Shurtleff Shaw, the first Resident Physician of Massachusetts General Hospital.
According to a note in the file, Dr. Shaw purchased it in Paris "circa 1870," but it seems likely that it was purchased earlier when he was in Paris studying anatomy at the same time as Dr. R. M. Hodges in the 1850s.
The Ernst-Lewis Collection had two more Nachet drum microscopes that were identical to this instrument. One belonged to Jeffries Wyman, Hersey Professor of Anatomy at Harvard College and curator of the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology. The other belonged to Dr. R. M. Hodges, a classmate of Dr. Shaw, a surgeon, and the Demonstrator of Anatomy at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Lewis discarded these after transferring a few accessories to the instrument owned by Dr. Shaw. The items transferred include two objectives and two diaphragms, a parts box, and possibly some eyepieces.
Dr. Lewis noted that Dr. Shaw's microscope was "presented by Henry S. Shaw 1928." Dr. Ernst noted that Alpheus Hyatt, the renowned zoologist, presented Dr. Wyman's instrument in June 1900.
Camille Sébastien Nachet
Date: 1856-1862
Accessories: case; key; oculars (4): 0, 1, 2, 3; objectives in box (1106b); parts box with accessories (1106c); condenser on stand (1106d); Nachet prism (1106e)
Object number: 1106a
Camille Sébastien Nachet
Date: 1855-1865
Accessories: oculars (3); objectives (2 large with 13 mm thread): 4, 8 with screw canisters for the same; objectives (3 with ~6.4 mm threads); nosepieces (3); parts box; flat mahogany case; no key.
Object number: 1108
Nachet et Fils (I)
Date: 1862
Accessories: 1 cup diaphragm, 1 diffuser; camera lucida; stage and eyepiece micrometers; liquid trough; 3 dissecting knives; prepared slides in box (1157d); 3 prepared slides loose; plain slides; cover glasses; bull's eye on jointed arm(1157e); Amici's illuminator prism with stand (1157f); compressorium (1157g); case with parts box (1157c).
Object number: 1157c
Camille Sébastien Nachet
Date: 1856-1862
Accessories: flat case with parts box (1029c) holding diffuser, camera lucida; stage micrometer; ocular micrometer; wet specimen trough, 4 slides in red leather box (1029d); bull's eye condenser (1029e).
Object number: 1029c
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
Nachet et Fils (I)
Date: circa 1862
Accessories: 9 objectives and caps 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, (last 3 marked "Nachet à Paris") in their own box; 3 eyepieces 1, 2, 3; large stage clips; dual nosepiece; camera lucida; side illumination prism ; substage cup diaphragm; substage condensers (3); rotating wheel diaphragm; substage mirror on articulated arm; wrench; convertible objectives (3) for a different microscope; flat case.
Object number: 1068b
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
Camille Sébastien Nachet
Date: 1856-1862
Accessories: oculars (2): 2 , 3; objectives (6) in fitted box (1029b): 0, 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, along with substage condenser and oblique Nachet prism condenser; cup diaphram; flat case with parts box (1029c) holding diffuser, camera lucida; stage micrometer; ocular micrometer; wet specimen trough, 4 slides in red leather box (1029d); bull's eye condenser.
Object number: 1029a
Camille Sébastien Nachet
Date: 1870-1880
Accessories: case
Object number: 1998-1-0590
Charles-Louis Chevalier
Date: circa 1835
Accessories: 2 oculars; 1 convertible objective: "1, 2, 3"; 3 simple objectives marked 1, 3, 6 ; 1 small brass tweezers; stage bull's eye condenser; diaphragm wheel; needle with ebony handle; 3 prepared slides & 7 plain glass slides (18 x 65 mm); brass stage micrometer; small mahogany block with mounting ring; case.
Object number: 1006