THE CEL – BASIC STRUCTURAL AND FUNCTIONAL BIOLOGICAL SISTEM
CHAPTER 2
Section 2.1. Discovery of the Cell and First Notions of Its Essence and Structure
The discovery of the cell is closely connected with the invention
of microscope. During the XVI and XVII centuries in different European
countries (especially Holland and Italy) the art of manufacturing and polishing
optical lenses has attained a remarkable efflorescence. Except for a number
of different purposes some naturalists have got interested in using them for
observation of the inner structure of plants and animals from the surrounding
nature. Conditions for the construction of microscope have matured.
The names of several inventors of microscopes are given in the
monographs of Z. Katznelson (1939, 1963). The first perfected microscope
known to mankind as a scientific tool is the one of the English physicist and
inventor Robert Hooke (Fig. 2–1 A). Studying thin sections of cork tissue he
has noticed that they consist of empty pores separated by bars which he
called “cells” since they looked like a honeycomb (Fig. 2–1 B). Such
structures Hooke has also observed on sections from other tissues of
plants but in their case the pores have been full of plant sap.
image( a,b)
Figure 2–1. (A) The microscope of Robert Hooke by the help of which he has observed thin sections of plant tissue and has noticed their porous structure; (B) The historic “micrographia” on which can see pictures resembling honeycombs. The empty spaces surrounded by bars were named “cells” (After Hooke, 1665; From Katznelson, 1939).