238 



BIOLOGY AND ITS MAKERS 



As long ago as 1665 Robert Hooke, the great English 

 microscopist, observed the cellular construction of cork, and 

 described it as made up of " little boxes or cells distinguished 

 from one another." He made sketches of the appearance of 

 this plant tissue; and, inasmuch as the drawings of Hooke 

 are the earliest ones made of cells, they possess especial in- 



FIG. 72. The Earliest Known Picture of Cells from Hooke's 

 M-icrographia (1665). From the edition of 1780. 



terest and consequently are reproduced here. Fig. 72, taken 

 from the Micro graphia, shows this earliest drawing of Hooke. 

 He made thin sections with a sharp penknife; "and upon 

 examination they were found to be all cellular or porous in 

 the manner of a honeycomb, but not so regular." 



We must not completely overlook the fact that Aristotle 

 (384-322 B.C.) and Galen (130-200 A.D.), those profound 

 thinkers on anatomical structure, had reached the theoretical 

 position "that animals and plants, complex as they may 



