NATIONAL MUSEUM OF HEALTH AND MEDICINE RECEIVES A MICROSCOPE AND A BEQUEST FROM NEW YORK COLLECTOR

WASHINGTON - Dr. Manuel del Cerro of Pittsford, N.Y. has donated an all-brass, 19th- century Bausch & Lomb petrological microscope to the National Museum of Health and Medicine. The artifact is the first of a large collection that he has bequest to the museum, and will be added to the museum's microscope collection, part of the museum's more than 12,000 objects in its historical collections.

"Bausch & Lomb petrological microscopes of this era are rare," del Cerro said of the microscope, noting that it was used by mineralogists to study rock sections. "I've never seen another like this." Del Cerro is a retired professor of ophthalmology at the University of Rochester Medical Center in New York. An amateur photographer who began collecting microscopes 30 years ago, del Cerro said he now has 500 in his collection and that he intends to donate all of them to the museum, together with an extensive library and ephemera pertaining to the microscope, its history, and use.

"The question came to mind, as it does to many collectors, what will happen after I leave this world," said del Cerro, who is 72. "I contacted three universities and several institutions, and I have no doubt I made the right choice in coming here. It is an honor."

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.

Del Cerro founded the Microscope Historical Society in 1992 and was its first president and senior editor of its journal until December 2002. During that period he wrote some 20 papers and major notes on subjects relating to the history of microscopes. He is currently the society's editor emeritus.

From 1965 to his retirement in 1998, del Cerro held a number of academic positions at the University of Rochester Medical School. He served as a professor in the Departments of Ophthalmology and of Neurobiology and Anatomy. He held joint appointments in the Centers for Visual Sciences and the Center for Brain Research.

Del Cerro is a member of the Postal Microscopical Society, the Microscope Historical Society, the Historical Microscopical Society of Canada, and the Royal Microscopical Society, of which he was a fellow. He is a former member of the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology, International Brain Research Organization, International Society for Eye Research, Microscopy Association of America, and Society for Neuroscience.

He is listed in "Who's Who in Frontier Science and Technology," "Who's Who in the East," and "Who's Who in America." He received the Jules Stein Award for Retinal Research at Retinitis Pigmentosa International in 1993, received the Richard Stein Lectureship and Award for Retinal Research at Tel-Aviv University in Israel in 1994, was named a fellow of the American Society for Neural Transplantation in 1995, and received the Shyamala Bashkaran Endowment Lectureship from the L. V. Prasad Eye Institute in Hyderabad, India in 1996. He received his medical degree in 1958 from the University of Buenos Aires Medical School and his B.A. and B.S. in 1951 from Buenos Aires National College, both in Argentina.

He has delivered lectures across the country and around the world, many on the subject of retinal transplantation, in places such as France, Germany, Holland, India, Israel, Italy, Spain, and Sweden. He has authored or co-authored 120 published papers, some about the study of the development and plasticity of the mammalian nervous system and retina. Those studies used clinical, physiological, and integrated microscopical techniques.

The historical collection at the National Museum of Health and Medicine documents changes in medical technology since the early 17th century and includes objects ranging in size from a suture needle to a two-ton MRI magnet, such as X-ray equipment, microscopes, surgical instruments, numismatics, and anatomical models. The collection is made available for the education of medical professionals, Department of Defense personnel, historians, and the public through exhibits in the museum, loans to other institutions, and individualized study.

The National Museum of Health and Medicine, founded to study and improve medical conditions during the American Civil War, is an element of the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology. Its specimens and artifacts were the first museum collection in the country and are currently the only in Washington, D.C. to be registered by the U.S. Department of the Interior as a National Historic Landmark.

The Secretary of the Interior, who has designated only 2,340 districts, sites, buildings, and structures for listing in the National Register, selected the museum's collection because of its "exceptional value in commemorating and illustrating the history of the United States." The museum is open every day except Dec. 25 from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. The museum is located at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, 6900 Georgia Ave. and Elder Street, NW, Washington, D.C. The web site is www.natmedmuse.afip.org and the telephone number is 202-782-2200. Admission and parking are free.