The limb floats on a triangular pillar for fine focus via the top screw. It consists of a microscope body supported by a brass limb. This is a Petrographic microscope made in 1908 by E. By 1787 all these varieties were not recorded anymore in the literature. This version is extremely rare and must have been produced in very small numbers. In turn, it was preceded by the brief appearance of a transitional brass model but with solid stage of ivory or horn (seen here). Ivory models can be tentatively dated to 1776-1785, as by 1787 a newer model with a hollowed stage in an all-brass configuration already predominated. While there is no surviving example of this exact design, close relatives of this type do exist, made either completely of brass or of ivory with brass pillars. There, Withering indicated this microscope was developed for field dissections of flowers and other plant parts. The earliest reference to a small botanical microscope of Withering’s design appeared in the first edition of this book. Inspired by the taxonomical work and systematic classification of Carl Linnæus (1707-1778), Withering (1776) applied the Linnaean taxonomical system of classification to British plants in a seminal, two volume work, A Botanical arrangement of all the vegetables naturally growing in the British Isles. William Withering (1741-1799), an English physician and botanist who graduated with a degree in medicine 1766 in Edinburgh.

The “Withering-type Microscope” is named for its inventor, Dr. Withering-type botanical microscope, 1780

Leitz wetzlar microscope models