Brown tin box is painted orange inside. Contains provenance note, which gives the orginal owner as the Jones Family in New Britain, Connecticut, and dates its use back to 1740.
Eight lancets. Four are housed in tortoise sheaths; two are in brass cases with steel blades; one single blade lancet comes with old worn leather case; one triple blade lancet has unusual horn case.
Brass microscope in wooden box with handle on top of box. Microscope on wooden moveable stage inscribed Hill and Price, Bristol. Includes a few glass slides.
Made of ivory. Essentially a simple magnifier with only one power (7x). Usually the compact design, no larger than the end of a thumb, included a cap or top containing a pin on which to place the specimen and a base with glass discs to serve as "slides" for small objects. Everything screwed together for ease in carrying. Typically, these were used to study tiny insects, hence the name.
Model of the human body showing Chinese acupuncture points and the courses of the meridians. 26 cm tall. Acessories include a case of acupuncture needles and a manual; these are housed in original box.
Porcelain with gold rim. Colored floral decorations. Large oblong with central cut out along one side and small cut out on one end of the opposite side.
Includes compass in lid of ivory, velvet-lined case. Engraved on verso of thermometer: Wm Hitchen, 21 Bridgewater Garens [sic]. William Hitchin appears to have been an ivory and tortoiseshell worker at 21 Bridgewater Gardens in the Barbican area of London; he died sometime in 1839 or 1840.
Decorated with gilded red lacquer. Design includes central figure surrounded by twelve other figures. Each figure is the lid of a separate cylindrical well for storing herbs and medicinal plants.
Miscellaneous parts, some damaged, housed in wooden box with label: C.T. Amsler, Optician, 635 Chestnut St., Phila. Box has some damage. C.T. Amsler sold his business in Philadelphia in 1861 and returned to Switzerland, his native country.
A caustic pencil is a short stick of medication usually containing silver nitrate, used to cauterize skin, for instance for the treatment of nosebleeds, removal of warts, or pyogenic granuloma. They are not used as a treatment for minor cuts. A frequent source of confusion appears to be the difference between styptic and caustic pencils. Silver nitrate sticks are often used for hemostasis in medical situations where patients are not under general anesthesia, where electrocautery would be painful and inconvenient.