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Description: | CAMBRIDGE SCIENTIFIC INSTRUMENT COMPANY 1889 (engraved on a brass makers trade plate) DES after CALDWELL,William,Hay. 1883 Cambridge, England. MANU Cambridge Scientific Instrument Company Limited 1889 Cambridge, England. This is a rocking microtome usually called the Cambridge type. It is one of the first ever made by the Cambridge Scientific Instrument Company and the type is still made by various companies.
A specimen of tissue was embedded in a block of wax , which served a support. The wax was melted slightly on one surface and applied to the face of the holder at the short end of the rocking arm, until the wax solidified and fixed the specimen. A blade was fitted to the clamp on the end of the instrument. The handle was then pulled, which pulled the long end of the rocking arm down, the ratchet on the index mechanism engaged with a wheel that turned the index screw. This raised and moved the pivot foreward slightly circa 2 microns. When the handle was released the springs acting on the rocking arme pulled it back to its original position thus creating the cutting stroke. The process was repeated until sufficient material had been sectioned. These specimens were usually stained and mounted between a glass microscope slide and a coverslip for examination.
Thin sections for the microscopical investigation of tissues were first mentioned by the inventor of the compoud microscope Robert Hooke in his Micrographia, published in London in 1665, in which he describes using a sharp knife to prepare specimens of cork. In 1770 John Hill published a description of his microtome for cutting sections of wood, copies of which were manufactured by Jesse Ramsden. In 1839, the French instrument maker Charles Chevalier (1804-1859) first introduced the term "microtome" to science. | License: | http://www.hmag.gla.ac.uk/spirit/rights/ | Publisher: | Hunterian Museum and Art Gallery, University of Glasgow | Rights holder: | Hunterian Museum and Art Gallery, University of Glasgow | Subjects: | SCIENTIFIC COLLECTION : | Source: | Hunterian Museum | Creator: | Hunterian Museum and Art Gallery, University of Glasgow | Identifier: | http://www.huntsearch.gla.ac.uk/cgi-bin/... | Language: | en-GB | Go to resource |
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