Intermediate Biology

The usual criticism that I get is that my articles, particularly on the brain, are too advanced. After getting this stinging criticism for years, I published some simple articles. Then I got the criticism that this was not a kids website. True, it isn't a kids website, but kids are the scientists of the future. Therefore I will try to present some material on an intermediate level.

Harvey

William Harvey discovered the circulation of the blood. This British doctor was the physician of the King. His book created a sensation.

"Dorsal" is a term often used with fish and sea creatures. Thus the dorsal fin of a shark sticks out of the water.

The Paramecium

The paramecium is a single celled animal. There are also single celled plants. I am mostly interested in animal cells because an understanding of the cell is useful for human biology. Human biology is vital to medical science. In microbiology bacteria and viruses are studied.

WUNDT
Wilhelm Wundt was a brilliant German scientist who was born in 1832 and died in 1920. Wundt started the first psychology research laboratory. He was a prolific writer, authoring books and papers. One book on physiological psychology was published in 1902 and was translated into English in 1904. Wundt probably influenced Kraepelin, a brilliant German psychiatrist.

Win with Darwin
Charles Darwin gradually evolved into a brilliant scientist. Darwin was perhaps the most controversial British scientist ever. Darwin lived in the 19th century.

Darwin & Wallace independently came up with the theory of evolution, but Darwin became more famous due to the publication of his book, "Origin of the Species".

There have been a lot of brilliant British researchers. Dr. Parkinson described the "shaking palsy", which is what he called the disease now named after him. Bourdillon & Ridges confirmed the "pink spot" theory for schizophrenia, invented by Friedhoff & van Winkle of the US in 1962. Averback did brilliant work on schizophrenia, Alzheimer's disease, and Huntington's chorea. He later moved to Canada and confirmed his earlier neuropathology work.

The United Kingdom includes England, Scotland, and Northern Ireland. This relatively small country has had a much longer history than the United States and therefore has had a long and brilliant history in science.

Cytology: The Study of Cells
The term "histology" is more popular than the term "cytology", which is almost the same thing. Cytology is the study of cells. However, there is sometimes material beween the cells, including fragments of dead cells. Thus the term "histology" is slightly broader. Fragments of dead cells are important in cellular pathology.

Work in this area was done by the brilliant Spanish Nobel Prize winner Ramon y Cajal. Golgi was an Italian Nobel Prize winner. The Nobel Prize came out around the turn of the century between the 19th and 20th centuries. Pavlov won a prize for physiology.

Frohman & Gottlieb used red cells in their assay for schizophrenia. Russian workers have used white cells. Of course, those interested in hematology study these cells for their own relevance. For example, Linus Pauling once studied sickle cell anemia. Pernicious anemia, also of interest to Pauling, has symptoms similar to schizophrenia. It is treated by vitamin B12. This fact no doubt influenced Pauling's theories. Sickle cell anemia is hereditary.

Platelets are involved in clotting. They have been used in assays in psychiatry because they do not contain oxygen. Wood et al, a British group, found increased uptake of tryptophan in platelets in depression. Depression was a more popular diagnosis in England than schizophrenia at the time of this study.

Purkinje was a brilliant 19th century histologist. At that time the Nobel Prize had not yet been started. Most of the brilliant 19th century work was done in Europe, although Dr. Huntington was from the US. Huntington's disease was named after him.

Conclusions

Many books could be written on this vast subject. My intention is to cover a little bit at a time in a series of articles.Nifty("div.genericSCorner","top");