534 THE HISTORY OF BIOLOGY 



the farthest point possible with the old methods. During the period imme- 

 diately succeeding his death, cell research made rapid strides in regard both 

 to the value of the discoveries made and to the number of workers engaged 

 in it. Limitations of space make it impossible to do justice to all the truly- 

 distinguished minds that during this period laboured for an increased knowl- 

 edge of the life and structure of the cell. Some of the most prominent cytolo- 

 gists will be mentioned here, after which a description will be given of the 

 most important discoveries in their field of research; the fact that their activi- 

 ties and the rivalry to achieve the most important results were contempo- 

 raneous would indeed render it extremely difficult to retain here the bio- 

 graphical method of presentation of the subject that we have followed 

 hitherto. 



Its representatives 

 In the sphere of plant cytology Eduard Strasburger takes the first place. 

 He was born in 1844 of German parents at Warsaw, received his school edu- 

 cation there, and studied partly in Paris and partly at German academies, 

 first at Bonn and then at Jena, where Haeckel won him over to Darwinism 

 and even procured him a professorship. He afterwards became professor at 

 Bonn, where he worked until his death, in 1911. Equally distinguished as 

 a research-worker and a teacher, he attracted to his institute a large num- 

 ber of pupils from all countries; he was a leading writer of text-books, and 

 his scientific production included, besides his epoch-making cell-studies, a 

 number of branches of vegetable anatomy. 



Among students of animal cytology the above-mentioned brothers Hert- 

 wig take high rank; besides them there is Walther Flemming (1843-1905), 

 professor first at Prague, then at Kiel, distinguished not only as an observer, 

 Ijut also as a technician and teacher. Further, Hermann Fol (i845-9x); a 

 native of Geneva and the son of wealthy parents, he studied in Berlin and 

 became professor in his native town and a scientist of high repute. Being 

 specially interested in marine research, he equipped at his own expense a 

 vessel for the purpose; in the course of a voyage, he, together with the ves- 

 sel and the crew, disappeared and were never heard of again. Otto Butschli 

 (1848-1910), after having studied chemistry and mineralogy, devoted him- 

 self to zoology and became professor at Heidelberg. It is possible that his 

 earlier occupying himself with inorganic elements and processes induced in 

 him that liking for comparison between organic and inorganic structures 

 which characterized his later research work. Besides these names should be 

 mentioned that of the Belgian Edouard van Beneden (1845-1910); the son 

 of a highly reputed zoologist, who was especially known as an expert on 

 parasitology, he applied himself to the study of medicine and eventually 

 became a professor at Liege, famous as a many-sided investigator and pub- 

 lisher of the well-known journal Archives de biologie. Finally, reference should 



