Complete Record - Heirs of Hippocrates No. 1848

ALBERT VON KOELLIKER (1817-1905) Handbuch der Gewebelehre des Menschen, für Aerzte und Studierende. W. Engelmann 1852 x, 637 pp., illus. 22.5 cm.

A Swiss by birth, Kölliker received his medical education by attending Müller's lectures in Berlin and studying at Heidelberg where he was graduated. After serving as prosector for Henle in Zurich, Kölliker was called to Würzburg where he remained for half a century. A genius, possessing remarkable powers of observation, he made enormous strides in the understanding of human and animal tissue. He was the first to apply Schwann's cell doctrine to embryology and to isolate smooth muscle fiber. Charles Sedgwick Minot (1852-1914) said that Kölliker, "knew more by direct personal observation of the microscopic structure of animals than anyone else who ever lived" (Fielding H. Garrison, An introduction to the history of medicine. 4th ed. Philadelphia, 1929. p. 462). Handbuch der Gewebelehre des Menschen, one of Kölliker's most important works, may be considered the first textbook of histology.

Cited references: Garrison-Morton 546; Waller 5356 (1867 ed.)

Gift of John Martin, M.D.