The Construction of Timber, From its Early Growth : Explained by the Microscope, and proved from Experiments, In a great Variety of Kinds : In Five Books.

Hill, Sir John

Publication Date: 1774

About this Item

The Second Edition. - London : Printed for the Author; 1774, Folio (490 x 300 mm), 62, 2 pp., 45 engraved plates, contemp. half leater, in Chemise. The Second, corrected and enlarged Folio Edidition of "The Construction of Timber, From its Early Growth : Explained by the microscope, and proved from Experiments, In a great Variety of Kinds : In Five Books. On the Parts of Trees ; their Vessels; and their Encrease by Growth: And on the different Disposition of those Parts in various Kinds ; and the Particularities in their Vessels. With Figures Of Their various Appearances; Of an Instrument invented for Cutting Slices of extreme Thinness ; and Of a Microscope of a new Construction, through they were viewed.' By John Hill, M.D. member of the Imperial Academy." The Second Edition, corrected and enlarged. "London : Printed for the Author; And sold by B. White, in Fleet Street; L. Davis, in Holborn ; J. Robson, in Bond-Street; J. Ridley, in St. James's-Street; P. Elmsly, in the Strand, and T. Davies, in Russel-Street, Covent-Garden." "The most important work to be published on the subject during the eighteenth century." Henrey. There was also a more common 8vo edition published in the same year. "The first use of dyes in histology. Hill (1770) had employed dyes in studying the microscopic structure of timer, and that beyond the question, his work was actually histological in nature. His methods in fact, were more like modern histology than the subsequent work of Ehrenberg." H.J. Conn, The History of Staining (1933), p.9 "Historians emphasize the barrenness of the 18th century, as compared with the 17th, in the development of the microscope. With one notable exception, this is also true for microtechnique. The great originality which John Hill showed in the manipulation of the material described in his work entitled "The construction of timber, explained by the microscope" has not been given due credit. In his biography of John Hill, T. G. Hill has entirely failed to call attention to one of the most important features of John Hill's work, namely, the superiority of the microtechnique which he employed. Methods were used which had not been employed up to that time and which did not come into general use until fifty years later, and then as rediscoveries by others. Hill did not rely on any one method but studied the structure of stems in many different ways. He used a more elaborate method of maceration than Martin, and was the first to use maceration in the study of wood, sinking a loose wicker basket containing the sticks he wished to study into a stream until the tissues were well oftened. This identical method which was rediscovered by the younger Moldenhawer in 1812 is considered by Sachs as one of the great steps in the progress of phytotomy. Hill also makes the first mention of a method of preservation of material for further study. The practice of dropping the macerated pieces of wood into a solution of alum and then transfering them to spirits of wine, after thoroughly drying, resembles in a very crude manner our modern method of fixing and hardening. The reason for this is seen in his statement that "Nothing but spirit of wine can preserve these tender bodies, and, till I found this method of hardening them first, the liquor often destroyed them. , Holzner thinks that Sarrabat or Reichel should have the credit for being the first to use staining methods since they put sticks into colored liquids and then noted the rise of the color. Apathy has raised the question as to whether this work should be regarded as at all comparable to our modern methods of staining microscopical preparations. Judging by the excerpts cited from these articles by Holzner they were macroscopical studies only, and it is very probable that Hill was not aware of them, or the work of Bonnet. Hill is undoubtedly the first to have used staining as an aid in the study of microscopical anatomy of plants. He prepared . Seller Inventory # 64091

Bibliographic Details

Title: The Construction of Timber, From its Early ...

Publication Date: 1774