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Tag: microscopy

portrait of Theodore Schwann, white man, formal 18th century clothes
Jun 29 2021

New Book: Theodor Schwann, Mikroskopische…, 1839 | John Martin Rare Book Room @Hardin Library

Posted on June 29, 2021June 29, 2021 by Sarah Andrews
portrait of Theodor Schwann, white man, formal 18th century clothes
Theodor Schwann

THEODOR SCHWANN (1810-1882). Mikroskopische Untersuchungen über die Uebereinstimmung in der Struktur und dem Wachsthum der Thiere und Pflanzen. [Microscopical researches into the accordance in the structure and growth of animals and plants] Printed by Georg Reimer in Berlin in 1839. First edition. 270 pages. 21 cm tall.

Schwann was an energetic and talented researcher, inventor, and teacher. He is recognized for many contributions to medical science. Easily his greatest contribution, though, is this foundational work on extending cell theory to animals. Working for his mentor, Johannes Peter Müller, in 1837 the 27-year-old Schwann was using the most powerful microscopes of the day to examine and describe various types of animal cells.

In one of those wonderful moments of scientific serendipity, he happened to be dining with his close friend the botanist, Matthias Jakob Schleiden, when they began to discuss plant cell nuclei. Schwann quickly realized he had seen similar structures in animal cells and that animal cells must function similarly to plant cells: as foundational structures for all living things. Schwann and Schleiden worked together to confirm this. Schwann extended the research with several more experiments on a variety of animal tissues, eventually publishing Mikroskopische in 1839.

By the middle of the 19th century, his two main conclusions, that cells are distinct, but function as the foundational, organizational structures for all living things, became the accepted description for the basic structural components of life. His third conclusion about the formation of cells was not supported by further experimental evidence and was eventually discarded. Regardless, Schwann’s work created the foundation upon which rested the important discoveries of the next century in biology and the medical sciences.

The volume we have was rebound with brown cloth. Pasted to the cloth binding are fun marbled papers, and the outside edges of the text block are decorated with a speckling of red. Inside, the paper is in good shape, although there is clear staining and rippled pages that indicate the book got very wet at some point. Someone took good care to stabilize, clean, and rebind it, although the original binding was lost to us along the way.

If your German is a little rusty, you are in luck! We also have an English translation by Henry Smith from 1847. If you are interested in seeing these or any other rare materials, please contact Damien Ihrig at damien-ihrig@uiowa.edu or 319-335-9154 to arrange a visit in person or over Zoom. 

image of binding and page from book Give a gift to the Libraries

Posted in History of Medicine, John Martin Rare Book Room, Library ResourceTagged history of medicine, microscopy, rare books, Theodor Schwann
Nov 08 2018

Arthur Hill Hassall | Food and its Adulterations | November 2018 Notes from the John Martin Rare Book Room

Posted on November 8, 2018February 8, 2019 by Sarah Andrews

image from food and its adulterations ARTHUR HILL HASSALL (1817-1894). Food and its adulterations. London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, 1855.

Hassall studied medicine as his uncle’s apprentice in Dublin and later
returned to England where he received a diploma from the Royal College of Surgeons in 1839 and an M.D. from the University of London in 1851.

An individual of many scientific interests, he earlier published the first English textbook on microscopic anatomy–Microscopic anatomy of the human body.  The John Martin Rare Book holds both an 1849 and 1851 version of this title.   Hassall then began to work in the field of public health, publishing a pamphlet title A microscopial examination of the water supplied to the inhabitants of London and the surburban districts, which helped implement water reform.  

Poor health forced him to abandon his general practice and he turned to analytical chemistry. His communication to the Botanical Society concerning the adulteration of coffee soon brought him to the attention of the Analytical Sanitary Commission of Lancet and later the post of chief analyst of the commission. The work of this commission, established by Lancet, eventually resulted in legislation to curb the rampant adulteration of foodstuffs then prevalent in England.

Representing an immense amount of analytical work, he reported on nearly 2500 samples of foods, beverages, and tobacco products, providing detailed analyses and illustrations of his findings as well as identification of the sample’s vendor or manufacturer. Hassall’s work was so accurate that only one legal action was threatened but that was later dropped.

Digital copy of Food and its adulterations 

Posted in History of Medicine, John Martin Rare Book RoomTagged Hassall, microscopy, public health

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