HISTORY OF THE SIMPLE MICROSCOPE

In some ways the early history of the Simple (also known as Single) microscope is even more obscure than the early history of the compound microscope. Glass lenses capable of magnification date back to ancient times. Using a glass ball filled with water the Romans reported the ability to magnify print as early as the year 65. About the year 1000, the Arabs were studying optical physics and in the thirteenth century, the Englishman Roger Bacon described some work with magnifying lenses. The Italians invented spectacles in the thirteenth century as well. They were not originally designed to do anything more though than simply restore impaired vision. The science of microscopy, studying objects enlarged by lenses would have to wait until Galileo's time. The reason for the lack of progress between the time of the invention of spectacles and the use of the first microscopes three to four hundred years later seems hard to understand until one realizes that spectacles require only a small amount of magnification even for the most severely vision impaired. For this reason, the ability of a lens to enlarge a subject in a major way was not immediately obvious to the makers of spectacles.

The first use of lenses to magnify was a practical one. For instance people who dealt in cloth needed to magnify the cloth enough to inspect the number of threads per inch, felt to be an indicator of 'quality,' especially in the remote past; linen provers are among the types of specialized simple microscopes in this collection. Higher magnification than a linen prover requires much smaller lenses of greater curvature, which had to made of high quality glass, something not easily obtained in those early days. Simple microscopes, capable of magnifying beyond the limits of simple magnifiers, were known at the time of the invention of the compound microscope (circa 1600), and some pointed out their optical superiority; but they were inconvenient or even difficult to use however. It was the Dutch draper Antony Van Leeuwenhoek, (likely inspired by Hooke), who first widely used the simple microscope to study tiny things; indeed Van Leeuwenhoek was the first to report many things only visible with magnification. He made most of the early major discoveries in microscopical science. His instruments were all small and hand-held, and in use were required to be used very close to the eye. For many, the inferior, but much easier to use, compound instruments remained preferred, but their optical defects made their use limited. This gave Van Leeuwenhoek an edge. Another advantage that he had was that he often used transmitted light to view his specimens; others were using only light directed onto, instead of through the objects. Until the middle of the nineteenth century, chromatic and spherical aberration limited the resolution of the microscope, and compound instruments made these defects worse. This is one of the reasons that Van Leeuwenhoek was able to make the discoveries that he did, at a time when many others, who chose to use compound instruments, were reporting less, or even worse, reporting misleading distorted findings. They could not reach the level of magnification achieved by Van Leeuwenhoek without far greater distortion of the image; what Van Leeuwenhoek could see much more clearly with a single high-power lens, was grossly distorted when attempted with compound instruments. Nowadays, simple microscopes are relegated to low power tasks, but in Van Leeuwenhoek's day, and for long after, the simple microscope was the superior instrument, capable of much more than the traditional compound instrument.

WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A SIMPLE MICROSCOPE AND A MAGNIFYING GLASS?

The difference between a magnifying glass and a simple microscope is not a sharp one. No authority has set any rule about this. Some historians have stated that all magnifiers are microscopes. In the author's opinion, a simple microscope has its purpose in studying things that require enlargment for study, whereas a magnifying glass is more of an optical aid for enlarging things already visible (like print). Magnifying glasses traditionally magnify less than 4X. A simple microscope has a much higher power. Often, but not always, simple microscopes provided a support or stand, and even provision for viewing objects with transmitted light. Some creators of such instruments had a specific purpose in mind, such as a 'chemical,' 'botanical,' or 'aquatic' microscope. In later years, lower power magnification single-lensed microscopes were often called 'dissecting' microscopes, sometimes actually designed for the purpose of dissection, but sometimes not. The simple microscopes in this collection for the most part fit, with few exceptions, "my" definition of a microscope rather than a magnifying glass. Because of their special uses, and sometimes variations in design, there are also a number of magnifiers in this collection, especially those designed for examination of cloth, thread, insects, and botanical subjects.

SIMPLE MICROSCOPES IN THIS COLLECTION

This collection contains simple microscopes of the 18th,19th and 20th centuries, and some replicas of Van Leeuwonhoek's instruments as well. As is the case for the compound instruments, some have left this collection over the years; if important or uncommon, some of those previously, but not currently in the collection, are still included on this website.

Included are instruments that range from those designed as simple microscopes for general use, to purpose-designed instruments such as linen testers, photographic magnifiers, and fingerprint magnifiers. Currently there are about 108 simple microscopes listed on this web page, with more to come in the future.

As noted above, the microscopes are listed by Date, by Country of Origin, by Maker, and by Type of microscope. In this way, if your interest is in instruments by a particular maker, or from only one country, you can find those instruments easier than if you had to search all the microscopes organized only one way. Please also note that a single microscope may be listed in two different categories. For example, one of the microscopes intended for use as a fingerprint magnifier, is a tripod microscope.