Thread: Rodgers - Half Re-ground?!?!?!

Originally Posted by zib

Here's a pic from a Doctor's private collection, "The First Microtome"

The round thing on the right is a microtome. The other object is a sectioning razor/knife. Looks like a razor and is usually flat on one side so as to cut a fine slice (section) of the sample that is being held in the microtome itself.

Originally Posted by m0isty

The round thing on the right is a microtome. The other object is a sectioning razor/knife. Looks like a razor and is usually flat on one side so as to cut a fine slice (section) of the sample that is being held in the microtome itself.

That takes me back a bit, to about 1971/72 - I was saving like mad for a kit like that, and had to travel to Holborn to the nearest vintage microscope shop (Brunel Microscopes, or Northern Biological Supplies - can't remember the name, all I know is that they aren't there now).

When I got there it was like an Aladdin's cave of gleaming old brass, knives, scalpels and weird looking objects. I could only afford the sectioning razor, the microtome was way out of my league.

When I got home I had to make do with a cotton reel - tape over one end, thin item to be sectioned in the middle, pour in melted hard paraffin wax - bingo - home-made microtome!

I bet a young boy couldn't travel to London alone and return home with a razor these days ... sad world, isn't it?!

Regards,
Neil