In 1746, Adams released a guide to the use of his own products entitled Micrographia Illustrata, a copy of which we hold in the Whipple Collection. It includes several prints representing the frog-plate's use (Image 1 and 2). Adams' prints gruesomely depict the ensemble of hooks and wires that strip apart and isolate the layers of the frog's skin.
Instrument makers like Adams navigated shifting social divisions by publishing catalogues that doubled as philosophical treatises. Adams' Micrographia Illustrata serves as an advertisement for his wares, an instruction manual for their use, an illustration of the truths they reveal, and a theological defence of their propriety. Publishing was one of many ways that scientists and instrument makers could communicate with the public and advertise their products.
