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Microscope

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Microscope
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This solar and opaque microscope (pictured here with its fitted case) was made around 1800, and retailed by W. & S. Jones, scientific instrument makers based in London. The 'Opake Solar Microscope' was first described around 1770 by the London optician Benjamin Martin. He added to the basic solar microscope a box containing an inclined mirror which could reflect light on to the front of the observed object. Opaque objects were mounted on a movable partition in the box.

The square brass plate in the centre of the instrument is fitted to a hole in the window shutters, while the rest of the room is darkened. The angled mirror outside reflects sunlight through the lenses and the slide for transparent objects, which are projected onto the opposite wall. The small brass box to the side is an alternative attachment for viewing opaque objects, such as those which can be seen within the slide drawer in the base of the fitted wooden case.

W. & S. Jones bought up Benjamin Martin's books, which allows them to advertise their wares in the back of his extremely popular textbooks. They adapted his original design, which was a forerunner of the cinema, in that (like the magic lantern) it projected an image.

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