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History of Science Museum

Rocking Microtome, by Cambridge Scientific Instrument Co., English, 1893

Inventory Number 91777


Acknowledgement: © History of Science Museum, University of Oxford, inv.91777

Item type
Object
Provenance
Presented by Dr. E. G. T. Liddell in 1937. Previously used by his father, John Liddell, M.D., of Harrogate.
Primary inscriptions
Signed on a brass plaque: "CAMBRIDGE SCIENTIFIC INSTRUMENT COMPANY 1893".
Object type
Microtome
Dimensions
Height: 335mm Width: 175mm Depth: 310mm Weight: 8950g
Inventory No
91777
Accession Number
1937-31

Description

This was a very successful design of microtome. The specimen is mounted on a paraffin wax block at one end of the lever that activates the pass across the knife. The advance is achieved mechanically by a screww acting at one end of a second lever that carries the mounting for the first one. The cutting blade is a cut-thrat razor. The design was introduced in 1885 by Horace Darwin, and this is an example of the original form, which was modified in 1900.