MUSEUM RECEIVES TWO MICROSCOPES    The Leitz Intravital microscope. The National Museum of Health and Medicine has added two new microscopes to its Billings microscope collection. The Leitz Intra Vital microscope and the bulbar conjunctive microscope come from a donation by Robert S. McCuskey, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus of cell biology and anatomy, physiology, and pediatrics at the University of Arizona in Tucson. The Leitz Intravital Microscope is one of only 80 built. Only three remain in the United States today. One is owned by Merck Pharmaceuticals, one by the University of California- San Diego, and now, one resides at the National Museum of Health and Medicine. The Leitz microscope was built in Germany in 1965, and originally used by Bernhard Ubraschek, DVM, director of the Institute of Microbiology and Immunology at the University of Heidelberg in Germany. McCuskey was awarded a grant that sent him to Germany to work with Ubraschek for three months a year for three years. When Ubraschek retired in 1988, he sent the microscope to McCuskey to use in his lab at the University of Arizona. There, McCuskey used it to study organs - specifically the liver, spleen and pancreas - and the effects of alcohol and acetaminophen on those organs. He made modifications to it, adding a television screen that so that he and his students could see its images on a larger scale. McCuskey retired in July 2005, taking professor emeritus status. The microscope was last used in May 2006, by a Japanese post-doctoral student. After his retirement, McCuskey had no practicing researcher to pass it on to, because all his students are now practicing physicians. He said he chose the museum, because “the Billings collection is the best in the world. A microscope can get lost in the wrong institution and I knew that the museum and Alan (Hawk) know how to best preserve and care for it. It can be considered a gift from Bernhard (Ubraschek) and myself.” The bulbar conjunctiva microscope used to look at blood circulation through the whites of the eyes. A second microscope, a bulbar conjunctiva microscope, was included in the donation. This microscope, used to study blood circulation, was first used by Melvin Knisley, Ph.D., at the University of Chicago. Knisley was a mentor to Edward Bloch, M.D., Ph.D., at Case Western Reserve Medical School, who was, in turn, a mentor to McCuskey. The three worked closely together with the bulbar conjunctiva microscope, as Knisley often referred to McCuskey as his “intellectual grandson.” The custom-made, bed-side unit was used to look at the bulbar conjunctive (whites of the eyes) where blood circulation is highly visible. Circulation can only be easily seen in two places in the body, the whites of the eye and the end of fingernails. Circulation that is observed in the eye can be generalized to assess the circulation of the patient’s entire body. The microscope was used to study the effects of disease - specifically malaria during WWII - on circulation. The unit was designed to be “bed-side,” as doctors were studying infected patients by looking at the blood vessels in the bulbar conjunctiva (whites of the eye). The microscopes will be accessioned into the Billings collection, but will not currently be on display. The museum's microscope collection was started by U.S. Army Lt. Col. John S. Billings, the museum's curator from 1883 to 1893. He supervised the purchase of 17 microscopes in October 1884, followed by eight very rare microscopes in 1886, and three early Italian models in 1887. By 1888, more than 140 had been purchased and these efforts inspired many American collectors to contribute to the growing museum collection. Billings continued to assist in growing the collection until his death in 1913. The museum has a permanent exhibition, “Evolution of the Microscope” that displays items from the world's largest and most representative collection in tracing the development of the basic tool of the bioscientist over the last 400 years. The exhibit includes the 17th-century, handcrafted, leather and gold-tooled microscope used by Robert Hooke in the preparation of "Micrographia," one of the first books ever written about observations made through a microscope. The museum is open every day except Dec. 25 from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., and is located at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, 6900 Georgia Ave. and Elder Street, NW, Washington, D.C. Docent led tours are offered to walk-in visitors at 1 p.m. on the second and fourth Saturday of each month. The web site is www.nmhm.washingtondc.museum and the telephone number is 202-782-2200. Admission and parking are free.