NATIONAL MUSEUM OF HEALTH AND MEDICINE RECEIVES SECOND MICROSCOPE IN A SERIES OF DONATIONS
  

National Museum of Health and Medicine receives second microscope in a series of donations.

Dr. Manuel del Cerro of Pittsford, N.Y. has donated a microscope, several text books and a pair of ophthalmic calipers to the National Museum of Health and Medicine. The microscope is the second donation from his collection of 500 and will be added to the museum's collection, which is the largest of its kind. Del Cerro has bequest his entire collection to the museum, which is to be received over several years.

The microscope is a Carl Zeiss Trinocular Universal Polarization Microscope. It has two light sources, which, when both are lit, creates the polarization. The microscope also has a third viewing piece which allows the user to photograph the object. This type of microscope would be used in the mineral industry to examine raw materials, and crystalline structures as well as materials in plant or animal tissue.

Dr. Del Cerro also donated “The People’s Common Sense Medical Advisor, In Plain English” By R.V. Pierce, written in 1889. This book was among the first medical dictionaries for the layman and includes early illustrations and data graphs. Several other popular text books on microscopy and the medical field were also given to the museum.

A pair of ophthalmic calipers, used for measurement during eye surgery.

The ophthalmic calipers were used as a measurement tool for performing eye surgery. The tool dates to the early 1900’s. “These were a pioneer in surgical technique,” according to Adrianne Noe, Ph.D., the museum’s director.

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.