The compressorium (plural: compressoria) is an antique scientific apparatus for applying pressure to a sample for examination with a microscope widely used by microscopists in the 19th century. [1] [2] [3] They were produced by companies such as Bausch and Lomb. [4]
Many versions of compressoria were developed over the years, with one of the first versions attributed to the famous histologist Jan Evangelista Purkyně, [5] see picture.
Compressoria were still used in the twenty-first century for the identification of Trichinella worms in samples. [6]