Cytology, or cellular biology

Since the time of Hooke, 1865 [corr. 1665], the knowledge of the organic cell, that elementary organism or individuality of organic beings, has accumulated to such an extent as to constitute a science in itself, and the time has come that in a curriculum of university studies, this knowledge should not be any longer limited so as to be only treated in a paragraph or even in an introductory chapter on the cell in our textbooks of Zoology or Botany; but it should receive that attention which the basis of all science of organized beings merits at the hands of the student of living organisms. No one will disagree with me when I say that the cell is the unit of the organic world, just as in the science of mathematics the number one is taken as the unit of calculation and becomes an element in all mathematical problems. And as literature is only the more difficult study of the alphabet constituted by the units of language, the letters, so are Zoology and Botany, or the study of the organic world, only more difficult studies of the unit of organic beings, the cell. That the study of the cell is therefore necessary to the student of organized beings, is as evident as is the study of numbers to the student of mathematics, and as the study of the alphabet to the student of a language and its literature. That the position of the science of Cytology in a programme of biological sciences is easily located is apparent. What child would begin the science of mathematics with the calculus, or what student would begin his literary studies with Homer, Cicero or Shakespeare, before becoming acquainted with the letters of the alphabet, so as to enable him first to read? I. Necessity of the science of cytology (1890). *The Microscope*, X(12), 360-364. II. Method of cytology (1891). *The Microscope*, XI(2), 41-45. III. Discovery of the cell and its constituent parts—Elementary organisms—The cellular theory (1891). *The Microscope*, XI(3), 65-70. IV. History of the science (continued). Second period, 1840-1865. Protoplasm—The properties of living matter—General constitution of the cell (1891). *The Microscope*, XI(4), 106-109. V. History of the science. Second period (cont'd). General constitution of the cell and some new definitions (1891). *The Microscope*, XI(5), 140-143. VI. History of the science (cont'd). Third period, 1865-1884. Organization of the protoplasm and the nucleus—Their chemical composition (1891). *The Microscope*, XI(6), 167-172. VII. Cells are individualities—They are structured and living (1891). *The Microscope*, XI(7), 200-207. VIII. Protoplasm and cell-membrane: Organization, chemical composition, physiological functions (1891). *The Microscope*, XI(8), 235-240. IX. The nucleus and nucleolus (1891). *The Microscope*, XI(9), 261-266. X. Cytodieresis or cell-division (1891). *The Microscope*, XI(10), 292-296.