Microscopic specimens, R. and J. Beck, London, 1850-1900
Inv: V10244

From the beginning of the eighteenth century onwards ready-to-use specimens were often delivered with a new microscope. They were often insect wings or fragments of wood or tiny shells clamped between two mica plates. The whole was held in a bone mount, often a slide. These, then, were always dry specimens in which only non-perishable objects could be used. In the nineteenth century all kinds of techniques were developed for preserving objects in a liquid and for making the details more visible. An important step was the introduction of the glass covering plate and the glass object holder. One of the first embedding liquids was a mixture of turpentine and oil in which insects were placed. The effect of this liquid was to make the insect's carapace translucent, so that much more of the creature could be seen than in the old dry specimens.