Recherches sur la structure de l'epiderme des cyclostomes et quelques mots sur les cellules olfactives de ces animaux, par M. Alexandre Foettinger, Etudiant a l'Universite de Liege

Brussels: Royal Academy of Belgium, 1876. First edition.

1876 EARLY MICROSCOPIC STUDY OF THE SKIN OF PRIMITIVE FISH BY A BELGIAN STUDENT REVEALED MANY CELL TYPES.

14x22 cm offprint, ink inscription top of title page, "A Monsieur le Professeur Lieberkuhn. Hommage d'auteur. Al. Foettinger". 83 pp, 3 folding color plates. Binding tight, blue paper wraps (handwritten ink title and handstamp of R. Harry Jr. to detached front cover; back cover lacking), minimal browning and occasional foxing, good+ in mylar sleeve. INSCRIBED by the author (student at the University of Liege) to his professor, this detailed study of the cellular morphology of the skin of cyclostomes was published only 38 years after Schleiden and Schwann formulated the cell theory. A century after publication of the monograph offered here, the intricacies of cyclostome skin structure and function continue to be explored. The fine structure of the mucus cells, granular cells, and club cells described and pictured by Foettinger have provided new insights not possible in the early days of microscopy.

Pfeiffer W, Pletcher TF: Club Cells and Granular Cells in the Skin of Lamprey. Journal of the Fisheries Research Board of Canada 1964, 21:1083-8.

Downing SW, Novales RR: The fine structure of lamprey epidermis. I. Introduction and mucous cells. Journal of Ultrastructure Research 1971, 35:282-94.