Mikroskopische Untersuchungen über die Uebereinstimmung in der Struktur und dem Wachsthum der Thiere und Pflanzen

Berlin: Sander, 1839. Schwann, Theodor (1810-82). Mikroskopische Untersuchungen über die Uebereinstimmung in der Struktur und dem Wachsthum der Thiere und Pflanzen. xviii, 270pp. 4 folding engraved plates by C. E. Weber after the author's drawings. Berlin: Sander'schen Buchhandlung, 1839. 202 x 120 mm. Marbled boards ca. 1839, paper spine label, light wear at hinges and corners; preserved in a quarter morocco drop-back box (spine faded).Small library stamp almost invisibly erased on upper corner of title page; otherwise fine. First Edition of the work that established the cell as the basic unit common to both plants and animals. Schwann's rejection of the Hegelian notion of "vital forces" and his search for the underlying mechanical and structural principles common to all life led him to develop and revise his friend Schleiden's Uhrglastheorie (watch-glass theory) of plant cell formation into the first general theory of the cell as basis and origin of life. After Schleiden had pointed out to him the importance of the nucleus in plant cell development, Schwann successfully demonstrated the existence of similar structures in animal tissues. Discarding Schleiden's Uhrglastheorie, Schwann showed that the body's specialized tissues are not formed by their own peculiar "vital forces" but are the products of cell differentiation. He also described the neurilemma, the "sheath of Schwann." Dibner, Heralds of Science, 197. Garrison-Morton.com 113. Horblit, 100 Books Famous in Science, 93a. Norman 1914. Printing and the Mind of Man 307b. (Inventory #: 45127)