By Julian Holland Macleay Museum, University of Sydney, NSW 2006. 17 Microtomes are devices for cutting very thin slices to be examined under the microscope. They are not everyone's idea of a collectable. But consider their merits.
Microtomes are often fine pieces of mechanism.
There are numerous different designs. They have an interesting history. They provide a bridge between technology and biology. The Macleay Museum at the University of Sydney has a collection of microtomes which illustrate these themes. First let us examine the origins of the instrument.