Magnifying Gallery

Allegorical scene with Flora, Botany, Physics and Pomona

Flora, crowned with a garden of flowers, offering floral tributes to three figures - Botany (shown holding an alembic), Physics (who is looking through a magnifying glass) and Pomona (who holds a spade and basket of fruit). Handcoloured copperplate engraving after Mario Cammerari from Professor Filippo Arena's La natura e cultura dei fiori fisicamente esposta (The nature and culture of flowers physically displayed), Palermo, Italy, 1771. Date:

© Florilegius/Mary Evans

Adams Universal Microscope

Adam's Universal Microscope - made by George Adams Snr. about 1755 for King George III, while he was still Prince of Wales. Probably the first microscope to be mounted on trunnions, an important improvement which was not persisted in. About a century later the method was revived and nowadays most microscopes are supported in this way. On display at The Science Museum in London. Date: circa 1910s

© Mary Evans / Grenville Collins Postcard Collection

Police map operator

Police map operator plotting the position of various police units on a large table map of london. Exact positions are found using the table magnifying glass. Different counters refer to different types of units or incidents of note

© Mary Evans Picture Library/Met Police Authority

1930s, Counters, Glass, Historical, History, Large, Magnifying, Map, Met, Metropolitan, Operator, Plotting, Police, Police Men, Position, Positions, Table, Units