CHAPTER IV 



THE HISTORY 

 OF CELLS 



Robert Hooke's microscope. What he saw and drew. 



What he said: 



" I took a good clear piece of Cork, and with a Pen-knife sharpened as keen as a Razor, I 

 cut a piece of it off, and thereby left the surface of it exceedingly smooth, then examining it 

 very diligently with a Microscope, me thought I could perceive it to appear a little porous, 

 much like a Honey-comb." 



Hoiv were living things first investigated? What were some of the 

 results of these studies? What scientists contributed to this work? 



The pages of history reveal how and by whom the terms used in 

 describing the cell have been given to the science of biology. It 

 was comparatively easy for us to find the structure of an onion cell 

 under the compound microscope, but it has taken scientists three 

 centuries to perfect the microscope and find out as much about 

 cells as is known to-day. 



The cell as first described. With very crude lenses, arranged 

 something like those in our compound microscope, Robert Hooke 

 (1635-1703), an Englishman, examined a thin section of cork. He 

 saw little boxlike structures which he called cells. He drew 

 diagrams and published the results of his investigations. He saw 

 only the cell wall after the living ^matter had disappeared, but the 

 term cell, first used by him, has been retained. 



The nucleus. Robert Brown (1773-1858) was a Scotchman. 

 He studied medicine and became a surgeon's mate of a British 

 regiment in Ireland. During his early years, and while connected 

 with the army, he collected and studied plants and became known 

 as a naturalist. In studying orchids, he discovered a structure in 



27 



