22 



DISCOVERY OF THE CELL. 



beings which were seen bustling about in watery media were described and labelled 

 as animals. No movement was found in the higher plants which were studied with 

 the microscope about the same time by Dutch, Italian, and English observers; but, 

 on the other hand, these investigations led to a recognition of the quite special 

 peculiarities of such structures as leaves and stem, wood and pith. These parts of 

 plants appeared under the microscope like honey-combs, which are built up of a 





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Fig. 4.— Vegetable Cells (from Grew's Anatomy of Plants). 



Longitudinal section through a young apricot seed. * Transverse section of the petiole of the Wild Clary. 

 » Transverse section of a pine branch. 



great number of cells, some empty and some full of honey. From this similarity 

 the term "cell" arose, which later was to play so important a part in botany. In 

 the drawings of parts of plants as seen under the microscope the resemblance to a 

 honey-comb is very apparent; indeed, it is sometimes rather more striking than 

 when seen in reality, as, for instance, is the case in the above reproduction of three 

 engravings from Nehemiah Grew's fine work published in London, 1672. It was 

 also noticed that, besides the structures which resembled honey-comb, there were 

 little tubes and fibres which were distributed and aggregated in very various ways, 

 and were bound up together into strands and membranes, and into pith and wood; 

 further, all these things were seen to increase in size and number in the growing 



