John Gustav Delly 1
The name Julian D. Corrington and Bausch & Lomb's Model R microscope for young people and other beginners are forever linked in the history of amateur microscopy in America. Members of the State Microscopical Society of Illinois (SMSI) will be familiar with at least one of Corrington's books, probably Adventures with the Microscope or Working with the Microscope, but are less likely to be familiar with the elusive and scarce Model R microscope, even though it is illustrated and featured in Adventures with the Microscope. During the depression years of the early 1930's in America, Bausch & Lomb Optical Company of Rochester, New York, produced several smaller microscopes for amateurs, including the New Gem and the Model R. Bausch & Lomb turned to a local talent, Julian D. Corrington to write several booklets to accompany the new microscopes. Corrington was, at the time, employed by Ward's Natural Science Establishment, also in Rochester, New York, as Editor of their Bulletin and catalogs.
But this part of the history and biography is, perhaps, best told in Corrington's own words. The New York Microscopical Society (NYMS) celebrated its Centennial shortly after SMSI celebrated its Centennial (1869-1969). In the year following the NYMS Centennial, Hal Bowser, who was Editor of NYMS's excellent newsletter, invited Corrington, who was then living in Florida, to update the membership through a "Greetings From An Old Friend." In the invitation, Hal Bowser referred to Corrington as the person who "practically invented amateur microscopy." I have a copy of the response, but do not know in which issue of the NYMS Newsletter it was published because a flooded basement destroyed all of my copies of the newsletter. Corrington, in responding to his contributions to amateur microscopy, written when he was 86 years old, had this to say: At the time of my first articles on this subject I was, at age 40, head of the microscope slide department and editor of their Bulletin and catalogs for Ward's Natural Science Establishment at Rochester, NY. I had written my Ph.D. thesis in zoology, at Cornell University, and had produced a few scientific papers, but I was by no means what could be called a "writer." Then the Bausch & Lomb Optical Company asked me to do some booklets to accompany sales of their small New Gem and later Model R microscopes for young people and other amateurs and beginners. These booklets proved so successful that finally they authorized me to do a full-sized book (455 pages) Adventures with the Microscope, 1934. As I was under full-time employment at Ward's, I had to write and rewrite and rewrite this large volume nights, weekends, and holidays. But at length it was done, and I had learned to write by writing—and that's the best advice any aspiring author could receive.
Since that time my bibliography shows a total of 450 publications, including eight of book length, the best known being McGraw-Hill volumes, Working with the Microscope, 1941, the (sic) Exploring with Your Microscope, 1957, the latter also having a Serbo-Croat translation published in Beograd in 1972. My longest series of monthly articles ran in Modern Mechanix (later Mechanix Illustrated), Leisure, Practical Microscopy, Bios, and above all Nature Magazine, to which I was a contributor for 22 years. These years also saw the formation of the American Society of Amateur Microscopy (A.S.A.M.) for which I did thousands of hours of dogged but very rewarding labor.
Before coming to Rochester I had, like the great majority of people, associated the microscope only with the biological laboratory in high school, college, and medical schools and hospitals, but my connections with Ward's and Bausch & Lomb soon disabused me of such a narrow view. For magnifying instruments of many types have a widespread use in industries of many sorts—paper, textiles, paints, glass, rubber, leather, and so on through a long list. And so my aim in all of these series of books and magazine articles has been to start the beginner off with easily prepared slides: I advise them to mount a postage stamp, a piece of newsprint, a small square of silk, or cotton cloth clipped from the hem of a dress, grains of sand, a fingerprint—and only later to take up the much more complicated procedures of fixing, sectioning, mounting, and staining of, say, a section of frog liver or cat intestine. I urge newcomers to microscopy to start with fundamentals and build up gradually into the numberless fields of use for the microscope. To this end, I employ simple language, hoping that the beginner will establish a solid foundation for his or her later specialized work. It is for this system and approach that I believe I can claim any originality in my writings.
In 1944, I came to the University of Miami, where I have taught mainly premedical courses—comparative anatomy, histology, and embryology—retiring in 1962. Now, at age 86 I am enjoying senior citizen leisure, and am happy in the fact that many former students, readers, and friends tell me I have been of help to them in their careers.
The Adventures with the Microscope (Figure 1) mentioned by Corrington was published in 1934. In this volume are illustrations of the New Gem microscope and the Model R microscope as well as a photomicrographic apparatus being used with the Model R.
Working with the Microscope (Figure 2) was published in 1941. The microscope shown being used on the dust jacket is not one of the "baby" microscopes; it looks more like the Model H Professional Laboratory Microscope, which in 1938 was being sold for $83.
Exploring with Your Microscope (Figure 3) was a much later book, published in 1957.
One of the favorite chapters in Adventures with the Microscope for many readers is the last chapter, "Sherlock Holmes Buys a Microscope"; it is in narrative form, as related by Dr. Watson. A number of Bausch & Lomb microscopes are illustrated here, including the Model FFSB student monocular microscope, the Comparison Microscope used by document examiners, the Bullet Comparison Microscope (with and without the photomicrographic apparatus), and the AKW-5 Wide-Field Binocular Microscope. This chapter also illustrates a fingerprint card, and gives an introduction to fingerprint characteristics and matching.
By 1957, Adventures with the Microscope had already been out of print for a number of years and so it was deemed advisable to come out with a new work, which in general plan was to be an abridged and revised version of the 1934 work. Some of the material and illustrations were taken from the more technical Working With the Microscope (1941), but the bulk of the new book, Exploring With Your Microscope, was new in scope and purpose. The last chapter in Exploring With Your Microscope parallels the last chapter in Adventures with the Microscope in that it is titled, "Adventuring with Sherlock Holmes." The chapter opens with a quotation from Arthur Conan Doyle's "Adventure of Shoscombe Old Place"; specifically, where Sherlock Holmes "had been bending for a long time over a low-power microscope," and then invites Watson to observe the glue, epithelial scales, dust, and threads from a tweed coat. A wonderful photomicrograph at 11X is provided to illustrate the field of view. The fingerprint information is here, but the comparison microscope illustration has been updated. There is also a photomicrograph of a bat hair (741X).
The Model R microscope is scarce because during the early 1930's depression years when the microscope sold for $21 with a copy of Adventures with the Microscope, not too many people could afford it, and by the end of the decade, Bausch & Lomb had already converted over to the manufacture of binoculars and other optical equipment for the military; World War II had already started in Europe. Bausch & Lomb never resumed the manufacture of the Model R after the war.
The Model R microscope came in a beautiful walnut carrying case (Figure 4) together with some blank slides, and a prepared slide of a flea—the preparation featured in the Adventures with the Microscope. The front of the walnut carrying case had a stenciled label giving the model and manufacturer's name (Figure 5).
The microscope itself was capable of a range of magnifications through use of a drawtube (-3-1/ 4"), a divisible objective, and an optional low-power eyepiece substituted for the standard 10X. With fully-closed drawtube (Figure 6) the magnification is 75X-150X; with 1" extension the magnification is 125X-250X; with fully-extended drawtube (Figure 7) the magnification is 150X-300X. Fully opened, the bodytube is -7-3/8". The image quality fully extended is not very good because the maximum useful magnification based on the numerical aperture is exceeded, but use of the lower-magnification eyepiece improves the image quality.
A very interesting feature of this microscope is that the pillar and base separate from the stage and bodytube in the same way that Bausch & Lomb's and American Optical Company's stereomicroscopes separate from their transmitted light bases for use with incident light. The mirror could be removed from the base and mounted suprastage in a hole provided to supply reflected light for opaque objects, such as metal surfaces, postage stamps, insects, etc.
The Model R microscope was extensively advertised (Figure 8) in the
1930's, especially in the pages of Popular Science Monthly, which
also ran articles of interest to the amateur microscopist. Note in
the ad in Figure 8 that the New Gem Microscope, together with walnut
case and "20,000-word book," sold for $14.50. The Model R microscope,
together with "solid walnut case and 455-page book"—Adventures with
the Microscope—sold for $21.00. The photomicrographic outfit, using
127 film, cost $12.00. The Gem Science Kit with microscope and
49-piece portable laboratory cost $9.50.
The three books mentioned are not scarce, but they are coming on the market less often, and the cost has gone up; Adventures with the Microscope is available in good used condition from a local dealer for $65.00. The microscopes themselves are very difficult to find, especially in mint condition. I found mine in an antique mall, and I know of only one other. These are the only ones I have seen in three decades of looking. Prices are commensurate with condition, scarcity, and knowledge of the dealer/seller.
Coincidentally, Charles Gellis has written a wonderful article on the technical aspects of the Gem, New Gem, and Model R microscopes, which can be found in the Spring 1998 issue of The Journal of the Microscope Historical Society, Vol. 6, #1 (Editor: Manuel del Cerro, M.D., 14 Tall Acres Dr., Pittsford, New York. Tel. 716-381-4658 (H); fax 716-2445667). I recommend this Society and journal to anyone interested in any aspect of older microscopes, related books, and accessories. The ads and illustrations in Charles Gellis' article are different from those here, and I highly recommend it to those wishing to read more about these wonderful old instruments made for amateur microscopists.
Older members of the State Microscopical Society of Illinois may
recall, and newer members will be interested to know, that Julian
D. Corrington was recipient of the Honorary Award of the State
Microscopical Society of Illinois for his contributions to amateur
microscopy; the award was made in the year Skip Palenik was SMSI
President.
FOOTNOTES
1 McCrone Research Institute, Chicago, Illinois