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AN HISTORICAL TOUR

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BICHAT - THE STONE

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- A Short Tale on Histology History! 

• It is obvious that the scientific knowledge about tissues was preceded by the study of the respective units that constitute them. In 1665, Robert Hooke (1635-1703), an English microscopist and physic, when examining a piece of cork with a rudimentary microscope, saw an abundance of empty small compartments — the “cell” was discovered! Hooke derived the designation from the Latin, cellula ; i.e., small compartment, having in mind a comparison with a honeycomb. Indeed, we have a certain impression that he examined something empty — that is why the designation is written in inverted commas. Therefore, the designation of the units that constitute the living beings had a correct etymological origin, but the concept was rather wrong. Almost two hundred years were passed before a definition of cell was achieved; according to Max Schultze (1861): Cell is a small mass of nucleated protoplasm. Nowadays, we may say that Cell is the smaller quantity of protoplasm that possesses a certain functional autonomy.

• In that very year Hooke discovered the “cell”, he and Malpighi were the first to observe the true units that form the tissues of animals, but now the properly speaking cells. In this sequence, everything was in standby for the discovery of the nucleus (from the Latin, nucleus = almond). The first description of the nucleus was carried out by Leeuwenhoek, in 1700, when examining the red blood cells of the salmon. The first description of the nuclear envelope was accomplished by Jan Evangelista Purkinje (1787-1869), a Czech biologist, in 1830; nevertheless, who verified the constancy of the organelle and who introduced the term nucleus in microscopy was Robert Brown (1773-1858), a Scottish botanist, after the examination, in 1831, of epidermal cell of some orchids and some  Asclepiadacea. Purkinje also introduced in Science the term protoplasma (1840).

• Almost all. In fact, the cell is the fundamental unit that constitutes all the generality of animals and plants. Protozoa and bacteria present only one cell; viruses possess no cells. Wolff (1759), Brisseau-Mirbel (1802), Oken (1805) and Lamarck (1809) seemed to have recognized that the cellular organization is a characteristic of all living beings they studied; however, Matthias Schleiden (1804-1881), a German botanist, in 1838, had the merit of having understanding the true importance of the cells. He saw, under the microscope, thousands of plant specimens, and inferred that all the vegetables are made of cells. By extension, similar studies carried out on animals, in 1839, by Theodor Schwann (1810-1882), a German zoologist and physiologist, came to the conclusion that all the then known living beings were composed of cells. Thus, the dogma called the cell theory became established. According to it, the living beings may grow and reproduce themselves because, in fact, the cells may in turn multiply. In addition, it assumed that it is only possible to form new cells from other pre-existing ones.

• Unfortunately, that seems to be so! Indeed, Rudolf Virchow (1821-1902), a great German pathologist, was not considered to be an author. Virchow gave a big contribution to the establishment of the theory, when he demonstrated that the pathological injuries also had a cellular structure; thus, he is considered to be the pioneer of the cellular pathology. In the sequence of the works of Schwann, Virchow saw (1855/56) that all the cells of the pathological tissues derived from healthy ones and that all living cells originated from pre-existing ones. This discovery was known as the Law of Virchow (or Fundamental Law of Biology). Indeed, Virchow edified the bases of the modern Pathology, being the author of the famous fundamental aphorism: Omnis cellula e cellula ; that is, each cell comes from another cell (1858).

• Between the first description of the nucleus and the statement of its constancy in the cell, was introduced in Science the definition of tissue. The so-called 21 textures of Marie François Bichat, a French pathologist (1771-1802), are world famous. A texture was a “tissue” (i.e., a body component) as perceived by its macroscopic physical properties. We owe to him the notion of tissue, when he verified that certain textures presented a thin thickness and were very flat, to the extent of being compared to pieces of cloth. In ancient French, tissu was the past participle of the verb tistre or tître that meant to weave (in modern French — tisser, past participle tissé ). Owing to the importance of his works, Bichat is considered, by some authors, to be the founder of Animal Histology.

• Despite Bichat is, virtually, the first histologist, Marcello Malpighi (1628-1694), an Italian anatomist, is in fact considered the true “Father of Histology”. Firstly, because Malpighi preceded Bichat in a number of years; secondly, because Bichat never used a microscope, indeed! — His textures were described based on dissections, carried out with bistoury and scissors, and in the subsequent analyses of the macroscopic physical characteristics of the different structures that form the human organism. On the contrary, by using a microscope so rudimentary that could be compared to a toy, Malpighi described a series of microscopic structures never seen until then; for instance, was the first scientist to observe the capillaries.

• Although the modern histologists only considered 4 fundamental kinds of tissues (i.e., epithelial, connective, muscular and nervous), we must stress that taking into account the subvarieties of each kind, we may state that the total number of tissues actually described is not inferior to the above referred 21 textures of Bichat. Truthfully, these textures have anatomical and physiological reality; in fact, the important contribution of  Bichat‘s works for the advance of Science forced Buckle to assume that: "... between Aristotle and Bichat I cannot find a man in between".

• Tissue is each of the elementary multicellular components, microscopically and functionally distinct, that constitute either animals or plants where they associate to form organs and systems (Translated from M. J. Xavier Morato. Tecido Conjuntivo, Estrutura, Funções e Reacções. Page 6. Lisboa, 1980).

• 17 years after the death of Bichat, that is to say, in 1819, A. Mayer created the term Histology. In the sequence of the previous word tissu, made use of two classical Greek root words (histos = tissue and logos = study). The term histos meant originally any woven material. In 1844, it was recommended for large usage by Sir Richard Owen (1804-1892), a great English palaeontologist.

• It was Rudolph von Kölliker (1817-1905), a Swiss professor of Anatomy — Handbuch der Gewebelehre (i.e., The book for teaching tissues), published in 1852; so, some authors considered him the true founder of Histology.