The cell and its metabolism

Abstract

The Concept of Cellularity of organisms is generally attributed to two German workers, Matthias Schleiden and Theodor Schwann. In 1838 Schleiden published a microscopical treatise demonstrating the essentially cellular nature of plants, and a year later Schwann produced a similar work concerning both plants and animals. These workers did not discover cells; the cellular structure of many organisms had been described by Robert Hooke in 1664 and by other 17th century investigators such as Leewenhoek, Malpighi and Grew. But to Schleiden and Schwann goes the credit for synthesising the cell concept from their own studies and from the previous unco-ordinated reports. The cell concept can be summarised thus: The bodies of organisms are formed from microscopic cells, which are distinctly organised units. Within an organism cells are differentiated into distinct cell types, forming tissues and organs.