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History of Anatomy

The history of anatomy is quite dependent on the history of the microscope since it deals with the very small detail of the plant and its arrangement in the plant. The earliest work was thus practically nonexistent. Most of the anatomy being done after the microscope was invented, and the largest amount being done in relatively recent times by a great diversity of workers.

The first workers which could be classified as anatomists, no microscope. Aristotle and Theophrastus. Divided plants up into rind, wood, and pith. Recognized these units as heterogeneous layers. Compared them with animal structures.

Cesalpino Thought that the pith was the heart of the plant and contained the living soul. Analogized other structures of plant with those of animals. Canals - veins, etc.

The period up to 1660 was marked by relatively few workers in virgin field.

Hooke, Robert 1665-7 'Micrographia, or some physiological descriptions of minute bodies made by magnifying glasses.' He was not a botanist and discoveries were probably chance. Discovered cells in cork.

Henshaw 1661 Discovered the vessels in walnut wood. About all.

Malpighi 1671 'Anatomes plantarum idea' Analytically treated with the larger divisions of plant structure and only lightly touched on the cell itself. Thought that the youngest layers of wood were formed from innermost layers of bark. Considered the plant a complex tube system, the tubes beginning in the roots extending up the stem and separating into the leaves etc., one tube for each leaf. Used high power of magnification since he saw pits on coniferous wood, but thought them to be deposited grains. Tacked on a treatise on the Hen's eggs during the process of incubation.

Grew, Nehemiah 1671 'Anatomy of plantes begun' Observed many of the things Malpighi did but tended to theorize concerning them. Used term parenchyma, thought stems and plants were formed by fermentation of the tip and that the cells were the bubbles of foam. Vessel - air passage.

Leeuwenhoek 1695 'Arcana Naturae' Developed microscopes and found vessels in secondary wood. Cystoliths.

Wolf, Christian Baron von Two works 1723 and 1721. Worked on starch grains in wheat, thought they were vesicles filled with water.

Ludwig 1742 and Boehmer 1785 'Sloppy' White elastic thicker or thinner fibres and threads woven together of differing shape and size form cavities or cells or caverns, and are usually known by the name of cell tissue'.