case: 14 1/8 in x 6 7/8 in x 7 1/8 in; 35.8775 cm x 17.4625 cm x 18.0975 cm
microscope: 12 1/4 in x 4 in x 5 1/2 in; 31.115 cm x 10.16 cm x 13.97 cm
Object Name:
microscope
Place made:
Germany: Hesse, Wetzlar
Date made:
early 1900s
Description:
Compound monocular with coarse and fine focus, triple nosepiece, large square stage, inclination joint, sub-stage condenser and diaphragm, sub-stage mirror, and horseshoe base, as well as a bulls-eye condenser, extra objectives, and wooden box. The inscription reads “E. Leitz Wetzlar / No 57086 / Filiale New-York.” A metal plate on the box reads “E. Leitz. Wetzlar. / New York / 411. W. 59. Str.” Dr. Edmond Cooper used this microscope while in medical school, as did his father before him. It is a Leitz Stand Ib that dates from the early 1900s.
Ludwig Leitz and William Krafft, both of Wetzlar, came to the United States in 1893, and Krafft began in business as a microscope importer at 30 E. 23rd St., New York. The firm became Ernst Leitz Microscopes at that address in 1903, and moved to 411 W. 59th St. in 1904.
Ref: Ernst Leitz, <i>Microscopes and Accessory Apparatus</i> (Wetzlar, 1903), pp. 34-35.
Microscope Users:
Dr. James Monroe Cooper (1877- 1923) received his medical degree from the University of Michigan in 1903. After graduating, he worked for a year under Dean Victor Vaughan on the Typhoid Commission (investigating the incidence of typhoid during the Spanish American War). He completed an internship at the New York ear and eye hospital and in 1906 established a practice in Detroit, Michigan, as a specialist in diseases of the ear, eye, nose, throat. He had three sons including Edmond L. (Lloyd) Cooper (1907-1997), the donor of this microscope, who graduated from the University of Michigan Medical School in 1933.
