Wilhelm His, Sr.
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__NOTOC__ Wilhelm His Sr. (9 July 1831 – 1 May 1904) was a Swiss anatomist and professor who invented the
microtome A microtome (from the Greek ''mikros'', meaning "small", and ''temnein'', meaning "to cut") is a cutting tool used to produce extremely thin slices of material known as ''sections''. Important in science, microtomes are used in microscopy, allow ...
. By treating animal flesh with acids and salts to harden it and then slicing it very thinly with the microtome, scientists were able to further research the organization and function of tissues and cells in a microscope.


Career

His came from a patrician family and studied medicine in Basel, Berlin (under
Johannes Peter Müller Johannes Peter Müller (14 July 1801 – 28 April 1858) was a German physiologist, comparative anatomy, comparative anatomist, ichthyology, ichthyologist, and herpetology, herpetologist, known not only for his discoveries but also for his ability ...
and Robert Remak), Würzburg (under Rudolf Virchow and
Albert von Kölliker Albert von Kölliker (born Rudolf Albert Kölliker'';'' 6 July 18172 November 1905) was a Swiss anatomist, physiologist, and histologist. Biography Albert Kölliker was born in Zurich, Switzerland. His early education was carried on in Zurich, ...
),
Bern german: Berner(in)french: Bernois(e) it, bernese , neighboring_municipalities = Bremgarten bei Bern, Frauenkappelen, Ittigen, Kirchlindach, Köniz, Mühleberg, Muri bei Bern, Neuenegg, Ostermundigen, Wohlen bei Bern, Zollikofen , website ...
, Vienna and Paris. He received a doctorate in 1854, and in 1856 received the
habilitation Habilitation is the highest university degree, or the procedure by which it is achieved, in many European countries. The candidate fulfills a university's set criteria of excellence in research, teaching and further education, usually including a ...
(higher doctorate) in Basel. 1857, at the age of 26, he became professor of anatomy and physiology at the University of Basel. In 1872 he took up a call from University of Leipzig to become professor there. His introduced the word endothelium, distinguishing these internal membranes, which had formerly been grouped with epithelia, and developing an understanding of their relationship to the
germ layer A germ layer is a primary layer of cells that forms during embryonic development. The three germ layers in vertebrates are particularly pronounced; however, all eumetazoans (animals that are sister taxa to the sponges) produce two or three pr ...
s in development. His specifically rejected all forms of soft inheritance (Lamarckism). The passage runs riginal in German "Until it has been refuted, I stand by the statement that characters can not be inherited that were acquired during the lifetime of the individual". The passage comes from his 1874 work ''Unsere Körperform und das physiologische Problem ihrer Entstehung'' (The Form of Our Body and the Physiological Problem of Its Development; Leipzig: Vogel). The historical significance is that it was not until 1883 that August Weismann made a similar declaration. His is also remembered for disputing the veracity of
Ernst Haeckel Ernst Heinrich Philipp August Haeckel (; 16 February 1834 – 9 August 1919) was a German zoologist, naturalist, eugenicist, philosopher, physician, professor, marine biologist and artist. He discovered, described and named thousands of new sp ...
's drawings of embryo, which had been used as justification for the development of recapitulation theory and for his identification of a germinative zone within the developing vertebrate metencephalon that he later termed the rhombic lip. Between 1879 and 1886 he made groundbreaking studies of the development of the nervous system in a collection of 12 human embryos from 2 to 8.5 weeks development, for example observing the progressive outgrowth of nerves into the fingers. His was elected a member of the
Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences ( sv, Kungliga Vetenskapsakademien) is one of the Swedish Royal Academies, royal academies of Sweden. Founded on 2 June 1739, it is an independent, non-governmental scientific organization that takes special ...
in 1892. By 1895, Wilhem His, Professor of Anatomy at the University of Leipzig, had published a three-dimensional reconstruction of Bach's face from the skull based on his precise measurements of facial tissue depths of cadaver heads. To begin with, His collected tissue depth data by using a thin needle bearing a small rubber piece that would ride upward on the needle as it was pushed into the tissue of cadavers. The needle was placed at right angles to the bone and pressed into the tissue until its point touched the bone. The displacement of the rubber was measured and recorded for 15 specific locations on 24 male and four female suicide victims along with nine men who died of wasting illnesses.Krogman, Wilton M., The Human Skeleton in Forensic Medicine, Springfield Illinois: Charles C. Thomas, 1962 (p358-359) Wilhelm His Sr. was the father of the physician and cardiologist
Wilhelm His Jr. Wilhelm His Jr. (29 December 1863 – 10 November 1934) was a Swiss cardiologist and anatomist, son of Wilhelm His Sr. In 1893, His discovered the bundle of His, the collection of specialized cardiac muscle cells in the heart that transmits el ...


See also

*
Wilhelm His Jr. Wilhelm His Jr. (29 December 1863 – 10 November 1934) was a Swiss cardiologist and anatomist, son of Wilhelm His Sr. In 1893, His discovered the bundle of His, the collection of specialized cardiac muscle cells in the heart that transmits el ...
* Embryology * Forensic facial reconstruction


Notes


References

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External links

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The Embryograph of Wilhelm His
Hartnack's Drawing Apparatus {{DEFAULTSORT:His, Wilhelm Sr. 1831 births 1904 deaths Critics of Lamarckism Members of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences Swiss anatomists 19th-century Swiss inventors Swiss physiologists Members of the Royal Society of Sciences in Uppsala