William Rutherford's freezing microtome

Freezing microtome invented by Professor William Rutherford, c.1873, made by J. Gardner, 1873-1876.

William Rutherford (1839-1899) was a Professor of Physiology. He worked at Kings College London and the University of Edinburgh and was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1876. His design of this type of freezing microtome was an adaptation of a microtome invented by A. B. Stirling. Rutherford described his device in 'The Lancet' in 1873 in a paper entitled 'A New Freezing Microtome' which was published in volume 102 on 26th July 1873. It was a very successful design that was taken on quickly by many other scientists.J. Gardner made this example of Rutherford's design in Edinburgh and exhibited it at the Science Museum in 1876.