Hektoen International

A Journal of Medical Humanities

Tag: Catholic University of Louvain;

  • Physicians and photosynthesis

    JMS PearceHull, England The importance of plants in nutrition and in the environment of human and animal species needs no emphasis. How plants obtain their food and how they grow were unsolved mysteries until photosynthesis was discovered. It was generally believed that plants obtained food and energy directly from the soil alone. Three medical doctors…

  • The beginnings of cell theory: Schleiden, Schwann, and Virchow

    JMS PearceHull, England Every schoolchild is taught in biology about cells and their elemental importance. Students of biological and medical sciences also learn about the Schwann cell sheath that invests nerve fibers. What is less well known is how these two are related. Schwann, a physician by training, and Schleiden, a botanist from Hamburg, were…