THE STORY OF NINETEENTH-CENTURY SCIENCE 



a study of cellular activities ; and the development of 

 the cell theory takes its place as the great central gen- 

 eralization in physiology of our century. Something of 

 the later developments of this theory we shall see in an- 

 other connection. 



v 



Just at the time when the microscope was opening 

 up the paths that were to lead to the wonderful cell 

 theory, another novel line of interrogation of the liv- 

 ing organism was being 

 put forward by a differ- 

 ent set of observers. Two 

 great schools of physio- 

 logical chemistry had arisen 

 -one under guidance of 

 Liebig and Wohler in Ger- 

 many, the other dominated 

 by the great French master 

 Jean Baptiste Dumas. Lie- 

 big had at one time contem- 

 plated the study of medicine, 

 and Dumas had achieved dis- 

 tinction in connection with 

 Prevost at Geneva in the 

 field of pure physiology be- 

 fore he turned his attention especially to chemistry. Both 

 these masters, therefore, and Wohler as well, found ab- 

 sorbing interest in those phases of chemistry that have 

 to do with the functions of living tissues; and it was 

 largely through their efforts and the labors of their fol- 

 lowers that the prevalent idea that vital processes are 

 dominated by unique laws was discarded and physiology 



346 



JEAX BAPTISTE DUMAS 



