Biology and Its Makers: With Portraits and Other IllustrationsLocy, William A. (William Albert)
History
Biology and Its Makers: With Portraits and Other Illustrations
Locy, William A. (William Albert)
Biology -- History
In 1839, just after the publication of his work on the cell-theory,
Schwann was called to a professorship in the University of Louvain, and
after remaining there nine years, was transferred to the University of
Liège. He was highly respected in the university, and led a useful
life, although after going to Belgium he published only one work--that
on the uses of the bile. He was recognized as an adept experimenter and
demonstrator, and "clearness, order, and method" are designated as the
characteristic qualities of his teaching.
[Illustration: Fig. 75.--M. Schleiden, 1804-1881.]
His announcement of the cell-theory was his most important work. Apart
from that his best-known contributions to science are: experiments upon
spontaneous generation, his discovery of the "sheath of Schwann," in
nerve fibers, and his theory of fermentation as produced by microbes.
Schleiden.--Schleiden (Fig. 75) was quite different in temperament
from Schwann. He did not have the fine self-control of Schwann, but
was quick to take up the gauntlet and enter upon controversies. In his
caustic replies to his critics, he indulged in sharp personalities,
and one is at times inclined to suspect that his early experience as a
lawyer had something to do with his method of handling opposition. With
all this he had correct ideas of the object of scientific study and of
the methods to be used in its pursuit. He insisted upon observation
and experiment, and upon the necessity of studying the development of
plants in order to understand their anatomy and physiology. He speaks
scornfully of the botany of mere species-making as follows:
"Most people of the world, even the most enlightened, are still in the
habit of regarding the botanist as a dealer in barbarous Latin names,
as a man who gathers flowers, names them, dries them, and wraps them in
paper, and all of whose wisdom consists in determining and classifying
this hay which he has collected with such great pains."
Although he insisted on correct methods, his ardent nature led him to
champion conclusions of his own before they were thoroughly tested.
His great influence in the development of scientific botany lay in
his earnestness, his application of new methods, and his fearlessness
in drawing conclusions, which, although frequently wrong, formed the
starting-point of new researches.
Let us now examine the original publications upon which the cell-theory
was founded.
Schleiden's Contribution.--Schleiden's paper was particularly directed
to the question, How does the cell originate? and was published
in Müller's _Archiv_, in 1838, under the German title of _Ueber
Phytogenesis_. As stated above, the cell had been recognized for some
years, but the question of its origin had not been investigated.
Schleiden says: "I may omit all historical introduction, for, so far
as I am acquainted, no direct observations exist at present upon the
development of the cells of plants."
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