Article written by Dr David Sigee. 

MMH.1977.101.3.7 Slide produced by W. Watson & Sons, London containing diatom Triceratium.

There was a great fascination in the 1800s for light microscopy. Educated gentlemen with scientific interests and their own microscope acquired prepared slides to look at, study and admire.

One such collection, donated in 1977 by Mr A R Gibson MPS, is located in the Museum of Medicine and Health, part of the Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health. The Victorian mahogany cabinet containing 22 trays – each with around 30 slides, is particularly rich in botanical specimens.

Dr David Sigee, a retired University of Manchester plant scientist in biological sciences, is conducting an ongoing project to catalogue and research the forgotten and neglected collection of old microscope slides located in the Stopford Building. He is busy researching their history and producing images of the slide specimens using a Zeiss microscope or a high resolution scanner.

The Slides 

The slides in the Gibson cabinet date mainly from the 1890s and are typically labelled with the contemporary Latin name of the specimen plus supplementary information, including the name of the manufacturer. There was clearly a mini-industry producing microscopical specimens for amateur enthusiasts in late 1800s, with slides recorded, so far, from commercial producers in Liverpool, London (High Holborn, Tottenham), Manchester and Southport.

Phase contrast microscope image of Triceratium showing details of surface ornamentation.

The botanical specimens include unicellular and multicellular algae, mosses, liverworts, ferns and higher plants. Within the unicellular algae, diatoms are particularly well represented, and were of special interest to Victorian microscopists. The silica shell (frustule) of these organisms typically has attractive and detailed ornamentation which provided a measure of the resolution quality of the microscope. This ornamentation, composed of inorganic material, is also resistant to degradation, and many diatom specimens are still in excellent condition.

Although most specimens are mounted on microscope glass slides, some are too opaque to be visualised by transmission light microscope and were presumably originally examined by a high power magnifying glass. Remarkably, some of the slides in the collection are made of wood not glass!

The Project 

The work of Dr Sigee will enable the museum to understand its holdings. Once complete this will be used to present a full analysis of specimen categories, dates and methods of preparation, scientific relevance and manufacturers. Further investigation by the museum into the original formation  of the collection and the later involvement of A R Gibson will also be helpful in terms of the historical context. Broad comparison will also be made with the slide collection donated by Sidney Chaffers, one time University Bursar, currently housed in the Manchester Museum.

There is much still to discover in the Gibson cabinet, which provides a fascinating insight into a Victorian world of biological observation and study over a hundred years ago.

Find out more about interests in botany in the past through special collections at the University of Manchester Libraries and about 19th century microscope slide maker Charles Elcock as told by Whipple Museum of the History of Science, University of Cambridge.

Discover more about the Faculty’s Museum of Medicine and Health.

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