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Microscope Slide Collection

The MCZ has a diversity of microscope slides, which include both histologically sectioned vertebrate and invertebrate specimens, as well as whole or partial invertebrate specimens mounted on slides. Many of the MCZ’s slide collections are being curated, cleaned, and digitized to facilitate access for researchers worldwide both as a result of NSF grants and departmental curation work.

  • The Zoological Laboratory, 1892

    From the Ernst Mayr Library and Archives of the Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University

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    Histology

    The scientific discipline of histology is linked to the development of the first microscopes, which allowed scientists to overcome the resolution limits of the human eye and observe anatomy of tissues. Sections of animals and plants were first manually prepared using razor blades, which required regular cuts on the order of 100 μm to allow light to be transmitted through the samples. The invention of the microtome allowed fixed tissues that were dehydrated and embedded in melted paraffin to be cut at thicknesses varying from 2 to 50 μm and then stained to show various tissue types (e.g., bone, cartilage, blood vessels, nerves, muscles). 

    Vertebrate slide collections

    Important collections include the Harvard Embryological Collection (created by Charles Minot and his students) and the R. Glenn Northcutt Collection of Comparative Vertebrate Neuroanatomy and Embryology. These two collections represent approximately 3,400 biological individuals and over 63,000 individual slides, spanning a wide range of vertebrate taxa and a small number of invertebrates. Particularly interesting specimens include embryos of hagfish, coelacanth, tuatara, and free-tailed bat. 

    Several additional vertebrate slide collections are focused on specific taxonomic groups, including large herpetological collections assembled by Angus d'Albini Bellairs, Inez Whipple Wilder and Harris Hawthorne Wilder, and James R. Stewart.

    Invertebrate slide collections

    For invertebrates, microscope slide-mounted specimens provide a common method for examination of minute morphological structures and serve as a long-term preservation method for whole animals or parts of animals. They are disproportionately rich in nomenclatural type specimens because they are prepared for viewing essential structures for species-level identification. Some taxonomic groups have been traditionally studied almost exclusively by serial sectioning (e.g., Platyhelminthes, Nemeretea).

    Our slide collections include many specimens of historical value, including a slide of a soft-coral Leptogorgia species sent to James D. Dana from Charles Darwin. These collections currently reside in the departments of Entomology, Malacology, and Invertebrate Zoology and will be curated and digitized when grant funds are obtained.