National Museum of American History
polariscope
late 19th century
This fairly rugged and inexpensive instrument has a wooden frame, a horizontal plate of blackened glass for the polarizer, a brass stage to hold the object to be examined, a magnifying lens, a Nichol prism analyzer, and a ground glass screen to shut off images of distant objects. The whole fits into a wooden box (12 inches x 18 inches x 6.75 inches high). The “James W. Queen & Co. / PHILADELPHIA” inscription on the stage refers to the firm that introduced this type of instrument in the 1880s.
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