1032 - E. Leitz Wetzlar microscope with nosepiece, Seibert objectives and oil immersion, late 19th century

E. Leitz Wetzlar microscope with nosepiece, Seibert objectives and oil immersion, late 19th century Brass and iron, microscope by Ernst Leitz Wetzlar, late 19th century, inscribed "E. Leitz Wetzlar No. 7329" on the side, illumination by means of a mirror, two eyepieces "10x" and "12x", the 10x eyepiece marked "W. & H. Seibert Wetzlar", revolving nosepiece with three objectives by Otto Seibert Wetzlar "10x", "60x" and "100x Oel-Immersion", together with an objective canister inscribed "Oel Immersion 1/12 E.Leitz", used condition commensurate with age, patination on the base rubbed, scratches to objectives and brass parts, signs of age. Please inspect. H. 30 cm In 1869 Ernst Leitz took over the small optical workshop of Carl Kellner in Wetzlar, from which the Leitz company emerged. The brothers Wilhelm and Heinrich Seibert had also worked for Kellner; their business initially traded as Seibert & Krafft and from 1884 as W. & H. Seibert, and in 1917 Leitz acquired a majority stake in the firm. Homogeneous oil immersion goes back to Ernst Abbe, according to whose calculations Zeiss manufactured the first objectives from 1877: an oil with the refractive index of the glass prevents refraction of light between specimen and objective and thus increases the aperture and the resolving power.