Microscope Museum

Collection of antique microscopes and other scientific instruments

 

      

Microscope 482 (JT Slug; student microscope; c. 1865)

A close-up of a microscope

Description automatically generatedA close-up of a microscope

Description automatically generatedA close-up of a microscope

Description automatically generatedA close-up of a microscope

Description automatically generatedA close-up of a microscope

Description automatically generatedA close-up of a microscope

Description automatically generated

Microscope 482 is engraved with the maker or retailer “JT Slug, Manchester”, but no information was found about this company. The instrument should be dated to c. 1865 and was probably manufactured by a wholesale maker to be distributed by smaller opticians. A very similar instrument is featured in an 1862 catalogue of the firm James Parkes & Son (Figure 1), where it was described as the ‘Student’s first size microscope’.

 

A close-up of a microscope

Description automatically generated

Figure 1. Student’s first size microscope as engraved in an 1862 catalogue of the firm James Parkes & Son.