Darwin’s lab tool to be auctioned

A microscope Charles Darwin gave his son Leonard and which has remained in the family for nearly 200 years is headed for auction in December, and is expected to fetch up to US$480,000 (16 million baht).

The instrument was designed by Charles Gould for the firm Cary at about 1825 and is one of six surviving microscopes associated with the British naturalist, according to auction house Christie’s.

The date of its manufacture coincides with the time when Darwin was studying coral and sea anemones.