Location Kanazawa University Museum

The Fourth Higher School Physics Experiment Apparatus: Solar Microscope

One of the pieces of educational experiment apparatus used at The Fourth Higher School. This item is a solar microscope, and was used for optics education. The photos show only the lens barrel of the device, and do not include the reflector. This microscope was explained in a physics lecture given by Dutch doctor Pieter Jacob Adrian Slüys at the Medical Institute in 1871. FUJIMOTO Junkichi, who attended the lecture, recorded the following in his notes. “A microscope that takes in the strong rays of the sun and magnifies small objects, projecting them onto a white wall in a dark room so that many people can observe them. For example, it can show the blood circulation in the legs of a frog, the shape of salt crystals and ammonium sulfate crystals, and microbes inside a drop of water”. The microscope was mounted horizontally on the wall of a dark room and a mirror was positioned outside the room to shine sunlight into the device, illuminating the observation sample and projecting an enlarged image onto the wall. There is an adjuster on the side that can be attached to the light intake to adjust the amount of light.

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