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. 



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. T\vo 

 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 



JEAN BAPTISTE DUMAS 



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 



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