FOUNDATIONS OF ANATOMY 29 



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structure from the physiological purpose. ' Though I 

 could not with my microscope, nor with my breath, nor 

 yet any other way I have ever yet try'd, discover a passage 

 out of any one of these cavities into another, yet I cannot 

 thence conclude that therefore there are none such by 

 which the succus nutritius or appropriate juices of vege- 

 tables may pass through them ; for in several of these 

 vegetables, whilst green, I have with my microscope 

 plainly enough discover'd these cells fill'd with juices, 

 and by degrees sweating them out." Observe how a 

 preconceived idea governs Hooke's investigations and 

 tempts him to prefer what he thinks must be the explana- 

 tion to the evidence of his senses. 



While Hooke, after the manner of the pure dilettante, 

 was slicing up indiscriminately animal and plant tissues 

 and studying their structure with the aid of his new toy, 

 two men, Malpighi and Grew, the one in Italy and the 

 other in England, were systematically examining and 

 drawing vegetable tissues under the microscope, and 

 laying the foundations of our knowledge of plant anatomy. 

 Before their time, with the exception of Hooke's casual 

 notes, there had been no attempt to make any advance 

 on the meagre anatomical knowledge that had come 

 down from the days of Theophrastus. In the hands of 

 Malpighi and Grew this department of botany sprang 

 into existence full fledged, and their monographs remained 

 the standard works on the subject for well-nigh a 

 century. 



A considerable amount of controversy has taken place 

 as to which of these two investigators has the claim to 

 priority. The matter is of quite secondary importance, 

 but the facts would appear to be as follows. Grew, who 

 was a practising doctor, first in Coventry and afterwards 

 in London, began work on plant anatomy in 1664 when 

 he was 23 years of age, with the object of comparing 

 plant and animal tissues. By the year 1670 he had 

 accumulated sufficient material to justify him in writing 



