The 1860s Smith, Beck & Beck Transparent Injections

摘要

During the early 1860s, a series of superb transparent injected tissue sections was introduced by Smith, Beck & Beck [Beck]: they were rumoured to be made in Germany [1]. Their bluish-tinted glass is their distinctive attribute, mostly size 1?x3in (38x76mm) (Figs.1,4). Further, all carry excess of balsam round their covers, are never papered, and carry only simple printed pale-green labels: these look like other Beck slide labels of the time, but lack the firm's name or address (Fig.2). The mounts were prepared using the then recently-introduced techniques of transparent injection, and they met with immediate acclaim. This paper examines the early history of these slides, the technical advances that made them possible, and suggests their actual maker.