Page 5 - hl-Smith&Beck

Mr. Beck, of London, exhibited two of his binocular microscopes on Mr. Wenham’s principle;
also a great variety of first class objects. The members were struck with the advantages of
the binocular system for low and medium powers, and the manner in which it presents in
full relief the various parts of objects. They were also pleased with the beauty of certain

injected preparations – as the eyes of small animals, sections of tongues (Fig. 3A), etc.; the

binocular displaying the variety of structure and the smallest blood vessels filled with a
bright red, and transparent injected substance – in situ – distinctly to be traced one above
another, instead of appearing, as with the single microscope, a tangled mass all in the same
plane. These instruments and objects strongly mark the rapid advance microscopy is making
at the present day.

Beginning in June 1861, a new series of advertisements was begun. In the June
22 edition of The Lancet [7], a stand-alone advertisement now simply states:

Transparent Injections ~ Smith, Beck & Beck have just received a new series of these
beautiful preparations. Catalogue forwarded, post free, on application. 6 Coleman street,
London, E.C.

The fact that no further explanation was necessary is noteworthy. Similar advertisements
were soon appearing in The Athenaeum as well. The edition of 21 December 1861 [8]
carried the prominently-displayed:

Transparent Injected Preparations ~ Smith, Beck & Beck, 6 Coleman street, London, EC.
have just received another large assortment of these beautiful objects for the Microscope.
Collections for selection sent into the country on receipt of a satisfactory town reference and

paying carriage both ways. A Catalogue sent post free on application.

The 25 January 1862 edition of The Lancet provided further information: its
Medical News column [9] reported on the recent University College soiree:

Messrs. Smith and Beck exhibited some new forms of microscopes, specially adapted for the
examination of the fine transparent injections which are now being made by a distinguished
German professor of surgery.

The brief reference to the maker of the slides is a pointer towards the identity of their
actual mounter.

On 1 May 1862 the International Exhibition of 1862 opened in South Kensington,
London. Beck, long one of the premier microscope and scientific instrument makers,
provided a prominent display at the Exhibition. They were entered in Class 13
(Philosophical Instruments, and Processes Depending On Their Use) as exhibitor 2964,
housed in Gallery, North Court [10]. Their presentation area was briefly described in The
Companion to the Official Catalogue. [11]:

5 Originally published in the Winter 2012 Quekett Journal of Microscopy, Issue 41, pages 701-712

Republished with permission in Micscape Magazine, March 2016
www.micscape.org