Historical Microscopes at the New York Botanical GardenAuthor(s): C. H. W.Source: The Scientific Monthly, Vol. 37, No. 3 (Sep., 1933), pp. 285-286Published by: American Association for the Advancement of ScienceStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/15568 .

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THE PROGRESS OF SCIENCE 285

HISTORICAL MICROSCOPES AT THE NEW YORK BOTANICAL GARDEN

HISTORICAL microseopes assembled in what is believed to be the largest collee- tion (,f its kind in the United States hav- lately, been put on exhibit at the New York Botanical Garden.

Dating from 1740 to the latter part of the nineteenth century, these instru- ments reveal the progress made from

ONE OF THE EARLIEST MICROSCOPES IN THE NEW

YORK BOTANICAL GARDEN 'S COLLECTION, BUILT

BY CULPEPPER IN 1740--45.

the early, crude, compound microscopes to the nearly perfeceted achromatic lenses of a century and a half later.

Despite the imperfections of the earlier models, it was with instruments such as these that the first of the mod- ern botanists-de Jussieu, his nephew Lamont, Linnaeus and later Lamarck- made their studies and discoveries which revolutionized the concept of their sub- ject. Though they used compound microscopes whenever necessary, their vision was continually blurred by the

presence of color bands. resulting from refracted light rays passing through the lenses. It was mnany years before achromatisnm was successfully accom- plished. As late as 1821, it was believed impossible to construct a good achro- matic microscope, and the single lens was then. recommended as the only prac- tical type.

Amici of Florence, one of whose in- struments, is in the New York Botanical Garden 's collection, tried to correct chromatic aberration by a right-angled prism placed immediately above the ob- jective, designed to deflect the light rays through the body-tube.

But this was not wholly successful. A few years later, in 1829, Jackson

W. & S. JONES OF LONDON MADE THIS MICRO-

SCOPE, WHICH THEY DESCRIBED AS THEIR "MOST

IMPROVED COMPOUND MICROSCOPE," ABOUT

1797. IT HAS A REVOLVING DISC OF SIX MAGNI-

FIERS, FOUR OBJECTIVES, AND A LARGE NUMBER

OF ACCESSORIES.

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286 THE SCIENTIFIC MONTTHLY

Lister cementec[ a piano-concave and a convex lens together with Canada bal- sanm, which is transparent, and thus diminished one half the loss. of light from reflection and made the field ,clearer and brighter. Other improve- ments fast followed, completely chang- ing the character of the instrument in a .subsequent ten-year period. The most important developments, in the whole history of the microscope, were made during the middle of the nineteenth century. "Little room for improvement can be considered to rem-ain," said one writer at this time.

The mieroseopes of this changing period, of which there are a number in the botanical garden 's collection, were provided with innumerable accessories, ineluding a boxful of prepared slides, showing insects' wings, minute plants and animals, sections of leaves., pollen, microscopic eggs and such objects of fascination for the aided eye. But more important, more exciting, even, to the layman who peered through the tube as a means of entertainment, was the use of the fish-pan, which was part of the equipment. This was a shallow, oblong dish, fitted with clamps or provided with stout twine to hold a small live fish or frog in place. Through the micro- scope then the wonders, of circulating blood could be observed in the fish's tail or the webs of the frog's feet.

"The fact that this collection of microscoj] s is so rich in the earlier models, which are increasingly difficult to obtain, is an appropriate reason why it should be made a still more compre- hensive group," Robert Hagelstein, iijn- orary curator at the New York Botani-

THREE PEOPLE CAN VIEW THE SAME OBJECT AT THE SAME TIME THROUGH THIS MICROSCOPE, MADE BY NACHET ET FILS, PARIS, SHORTLY

AFTER THE MIIDDLE OF THE NINETEENTH CEN-

TURY.

cal Garden, said in issuing a plea for the contribution of additional instruments. The basis of the collection is a gift of twenty microscopes made some years ago by the late Charles F. Cox, when a men- ber of the board of managers.

C. H. W.

SUMMARY OF THE PRESENT POSITION OF OUR KNOWLEDGE OF ANTERIOR PITUITARY FUNCTION

IT is possible that we are at the threshold of a new era in. the field of experimental medicine. Dr. Herbert M. Evans, director of the institute of ex- perimental biology at the University of California, who has recently completed a year's work at the Rockefeller Insti- tute for Medical Research, believes, that the investigation of the ductless, (endo- crine) glands probably will yield meth- ods of prevention and control of disease comparable to those developed in the "bacterial epoch" inaugurated by Koch

and Pasteur. This subject of endo- crinology suffered at its birth from the extravagant assertions of those who clainmed to have found in the endocrine glands the long-sought "fountain of youth," or who saw in endocrinology a tool for the lucrative profession of mak- ing fat ladies thin. Even so, the inves- tigation of ductless glands has already yielded the greatest single. achievement of present-day medicine-the discovery and isolation of insulin.

The hypophysis, or pituitary body, is

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