We have already called attention to HUGO VON MOHL’S[81] pre-eminent
position in the history both of this and also of the succeeding period.
Occupying himself for the most part with phytotomical questions which
had been already investigated, he made the solid framework of cellulose
the object of special and searching examination, and completed the work
of his predecessors on this subject; he thus laid a firm foundation for
the researches into the history of development afterwards undertaken
by Nägeli. Von Mohl, like former phytotomists, generally connected his
researches into structural relations with physiological questions;
but there was one great and unmistakable difference; he never forgot
that the interpretation of visible structure must not be disturbed
by physiological views; he used therefore his thorough physiological
knowledge chiefly to give a more definite direction to his anatomical
researches, and to illustrate the connection between structure and
function in organs. By scarcely any other phytotomist was the true
relation between physiological and anatomical research so well
understood and turned to such practical account as by von Mohl, who was
equally averse to the entire separation of phytotomy from physiology,
and to the undue mixing up of the one with the other, which has led his
predecessors, Meyen especially, into misconceptions.
His anatomical researches profited by his extraordinary technical
knowledge of the microscope; he could himself polish and set lenses,
which would bear comparison with the best of their time. As the
majority of botanists from 1830 to 1850 had little knowledge of
the kind, there was no one so well qualified as von Mohl to give
instruction in short treatises on the practical advantages of a
particular instrument, to remove prejudices and finally as in his
‘Mikrographie’ (1846) to give detailed directions for the management of
the instrument.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account