Manufactured from 1850 to 1950 - Colección de Microscopios

Introduction.

During the 19th century there was what Gerard Turner called the “Golden Age of the microscopy”. This was a consequence of the industrial revolution, which facilitated the emergence of new materials and especially the development of industrial manufacturing processes. Likewise, studies in physics, optics, and other sciences led to an understanding of the phenomenon of light and that of image magnification. All this led to the construction of microscopes capable of producing magnifications hitherto not achieved and what is more important to increase their resolving power.

On the other hand, social changes and an increase in the standard of living led to the emergence of middle classes with greater purchasing power and above all with free time to spend in entertainment activities. It is the moment of the appearance of a population of curios who get in contact with scientists to satisfy their concerns about acquiring knowledge. Lovers of microscopy are organized in discussion clubs in which the findings obtained by studying nature are discussed. Members become collectors of preparations. All this gives rise to the appearance of numerous workshops for the manufacture of microscopes, especially simple and portable models on many occasions. These devices, numbers 25 to 45 of the collection, we have grouped in part B of the same under the heading: «Simple and portable microscopes».

Likewise, this passion for microscopic life is the cause of the birth of another economic activity and it is the production of sample preparations by some workshops, which offer collections to amateurs. Some of these were part of the large microscope manufacturing companies (Deck & Deck, Watson & Co.) And others were dedicated exclusively to this function. You will often find advertisements in the newspapers of the mid-nineteenth century, offering preparations for sale and exchange of additives. There are still large collections of microscopic preparations made in those years. Edmund Dixon wrote prophetically in 1857: «It is probable from the symptoms observed that the microscope will be the idol of the future and we are at the dawn of microscopyomania.»