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'MICROSCOPE FOR LIVE OBJECTS'

MAKER: CORNELIUS VARLEY

c. 1830's

Varley live object  microscope


Cornelius Varley was interested in studying living specimens. To this end, he designed and improved his lever stage controlled microscopes. The earliest image of this instrument I am aware of, is shown here and dates to 1831. All of his early microscopes used the Varley 'Dark Chamber' illumination System. The Science Museum in London has six different Varley Microscopes, but unlike the simple microscope shown in the image above, all use compound optical tubes.