Idea of the cell first assignment MAM Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Idea of the cell first assignment MAM - Essay Example Since Hooke had only observed a dead protoplast and microscopes at that time were primitive, majority of the microbiologists were not convinced that all living things are composed of cell. It was only in the 19th century that the formal study of cell theory developed (including cell biology and cell division) because of the advancement made in modern microscopes. Together with Hooke, Aristotle, Grew and Malpighi, Leeuwenhoek, H.J. Dutrochet, M.I. Schleiden and T. Schwann, R. Virchow, and Louis Pasteur have contributed to the development of cell theory. In this paper, we will focus on the cell theory made by M.I. Schleiden and T. Schwann. At the beginning of the 19th century, Schleiden and Schwann outlined the basic features of cell theory. Schleiden found out that all plant cells have similar structure while Schwann noted that animal cells don’t have cell wall (Roy, 169). Their cell theories have also explained the nature of single-celled organisms called protozoa. The image below shows the cell that were examined by Schleiden and Schwann during the 19th century (refer to Figure 1.1.). Schleiden and Schwann’s Cell Theory started from the scientists’ strong refusal to accept the ‘Preformationists’ perspective. Preformationists state that organisms have pre-existing form and its characteristics are inherited from their previous cells (Cantor et al., 360). Instead, Schleiden, Schwann and the other scientists sorted to epigenesist – the belief that cells emerged anew and are influenced by the internal and external environment. They proposed that both plant and animal cells underwent the same processes and therefore, must fundamentally have generally set of characteristics. According to Schleiden, plant cells are formed by observing the following processes: Schleiden insisted that his theory must be considered as an absolute law