Look closely and you will see that Heritage Collections has installed a display of microscopes in the '1784' restaurant!
At various times in the mid 19th century, Dublin was home to two trailblazing microscopical groups: the Microscopical Society of Dublin and the Dublin Microscopical Club. The former was founded in 1840 and lasted for only 15 years, and was attended by John Barker (1818-1879), Curator of the Museum in RCSI. The latter, however, ran for around 70 years until c.1926.
The microscope became an important tool for studying nature, using preparations of animals, plants, blood and tissue. Both a leisure activity for the middle class and an emerging field in the leading institutions, club membership began to see an increase of professionals and the microscopical activity on the Dublin scene in this era was distinguished. Several societies in Dublin were involved in natural history, including the Royal Zoological Society, Dublin Naturalists' Field Club, and the Royal Dublin Society.
The Dublin Microscopical Club members originally held meetings in each other’s homes and various locations, according to William Frazer (1824-1899), a Fellow of RCSI, who was a member, a surgeon, a notable antiquarian, and council and librarian of the Royal Irish Academy. Meetings were later moved to Leinster House, then the home of the Royal Dublin Society.
The early peak of the microscopy scene in Dublin from the 1840s, as distinct from England and elsewhere, gave rise to journals and magazines devoted to natural history. The Dublin microscopists were early adapters, discovering microscopic forms of life and cell structures, devising systematics and classification, and contributing greatly to the study of natural history and contributed to early medical science. Reports were shared of volcanic dust from St Vincent, Barbados in 1876 and blood cells from a "Leukhaemic" patient in 1877.
Club members also shared their technical knowledge, experiences and equipment, enabling further identification and description of microscopical species in Ireland. After a successful run of almost 70 years and significant contributions to natural history and microscopy in Ireland, by the mid 1920s only a few members remained and the club since became lost to history.
Look even closer with these previous blog posts:
Microscopes have always been Houston we have a problem Microscopists unite
Baker, R., & Gill, D. (2017). Men, microscopes and meetings — the nineteenth century Dublin microscopists and their work. The Irish Naturalists’ Journal, 35(2), 110–115.