Microscope Museum

Collection of antique microscopes and other scientific instruments

 

    

Microscope 231 (Nachet; Microscope droit; 1880s)

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Camille Sébastien Nachet (1799 – 1881) started by working with Charles Chevalier and set up his own business in 1839. At that time, Chevalier, Oberhauser and Nachet were the main producers of microscopes in Paris. In the late 1850s, Nachet was joined by his son, Jean Alfred Nachet (1831-1908), who went by the name of Alfred. The firm was renamed Nachet et Fils around 1862, when Alfred was made a partner. Nachet was succeeded by his son, who named the firm ‘A Nachet’ from about 1880 to about 1890, when it became ‘Nachet et Fils’ once more when Alfred's son joined the partnership. By 1898 Nachet had taken over Hartnack and Prazmowski and also ‘Bezu, Hausser et cie’. The firm traded from Rue Serpente, Paris (1839 – 1862), Rue Séverin, Paris (1862 until after WW2), and Rue Chaptal 106, Levallois-Perret (1970s). Microscope 231 is engraved with ‘NACHET ET FILS, 17 Rue St. Severin, Paris’ and should be dated to the 1880s. This microscope should be a version of Nachet’s ‘Microscope de dissection et d’observation’, as described in the firm’s catalogue from 1886 (Figure 1). A version of this microscope was used by Pasteur during his experiments with spontaneous generation.

 

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Figure 1. Nachet’s ‘Microscope de dissection et d’observation’, as described in the firm’s catalogue from 1886

 

References

Microscope droit Nachet et Fils "Microscope plus simple" (http://www.lecompendium.com/dossier_optique_213_microscope_nachet_phylloxera/microscope_plus_simple_nachet.htm), last accessed on 24.12.2121

 

LAST EDITED: 14.03.2022