Holmes' demonstration microscope
Datecirca 1865
Inventory Number1027
ClassificationMicroscope
Subject
Maker
Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr
1809 - 1894
Cultural Region
Place of Origin
Dimensions9.5 x 12 x 5.7 cm (3 3/4 x 4 3/4 x 2 1/4 in.)
Material
Accessoriesocular; objective
DescriptionThis microscope was made by Dr. Oliver Wendel Holmes and used by him in his classroom teaching. The instrument is constructed entirely of wood except for the brass monocular body tube and the glass lamp. A long wooden base supports the handle with the inclining tube on one end, and the kerosene lamp on other. The microscope has a fixed wooden stage with stage clips. The lamp sits inside a circular holder.
Curatorial RemarksThe objective is not marked but has the earmarks of C. A. Spencer,
The instrument is on exhibition at the Warren Musuem.
ProvenanceOliver Wendel, Holmes; Dr. Thomas Dwight; Ernst-Lewis Collection, Harvard Medical School
Historical AttributesA note by Dr. Lewis reads as follows: "Presented by Dr. Thomas Dwight. A microscope made by Oliver Wendell Holmes and used by him in his teaching in the Harvard Medical School during the late 1860s."
"Dr. Dwight told this story--'that shortly after Dr. Holmes' retirement, he was discovered by Dr. Dwight busily engaged in breaking up these demonstration microscopes, and that after protest he consented to allow this one to remain with the comment: 'Don't you ever let anyone laugh at it.' It is important to recall that Dr. Holmes introduced the microscope in the medical teaching in this country."
"This microscope was figured by Dr. Ralph C. Larrabee in the Quarterly of the Harvard Medical Alumni Association, October 1902-- 'The department of Histology and Embryology" (p. 5 of the reprint) was transferred to the O. W. Holmes cabinet in 1935."
Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr
Date: circa 1867
Accessories: 3 Tolles oculars (low power, 30.1 mm O.D.; medium power, 30.1 mm O.D., solid front with scale, single eye lens; high power, 24.7 mm O.D., single front, solid eye lens); 1 ocular (without a lens) ; 1 objective (without a lens).
Object number: 1028
James W. Queen & Company
Date: circa 1878
Accessories: Tolles objective; Tolles eyepiece
Object number: 1090
James W. Queen & Company
Date: circa 1873
Accessories: objective 1/2" engraved W. Wales, NY.; eyepiece 32.3 mm in diameter; diaphragm wheel; articulated concave mirror for illumination; wooden base
Object number: 2002-1-0051
Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr
Date: circa 1870
Accessories: Paper tag and hand written information found in box is now in instrument file.
Object number: 1092b
R. & J. Beck
Date: circa 1878
Accessories: ocular; objective
Object number: 1091a
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
Bausch & Lomb Optical Company
Date: circa 1889
Accessories: objectives (4); ocular; standing case; key
Object number: 1124
Georges Oberhaeuser
Date: circa 1845
Accessories: objectives (3): 7 and 4 on nosepieces, unnumbered one detached; oculars (2); bull's eye condenser; live box; glass slides (4); case; key.
Object number: 1384
R. & J. Beck
Date: circa 1884
Accessories: oculars (2); double nosepiece; mahagony case with various parts (see description)
Object number: 1083
