Brian J Ford - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Papers by Brian J Ford

New Scientist, 2010

ABSTRACT

Notes and Records of the Royal Society of London, 1981

In May 1674 the pioneer Dutch microscopist Antony van Leeuwenhoek prepared a series of sections o... more In May 1674 the pioneer Dutch microscopist Antony van Leeuwenhoek prepared a series of sections of plant and animal material. They were cut by hand, using an open razor, and were carefully enclosed in small paper packets or envelopes. These in turn he put into a larger envelope which was fixed to a sheet of notepaper. On 1 June 1674 van Leeuwenhoek wrote a letter to the Royal Society’s then Secretary, Henry Oldenburg, and the final page of this epistle was the sheet that bore the hand-made paper envelopes in which these historic specimens were secreted.

BioScience, 1984

Antony van Leeuwenhoek laid the foundations of modern microscopy, and some of the original specim... more Antony van Leeuwenhoek laid the foundations of modern microscopy, and some of the original specimens which he sent to London in the seventeenth century have survived to the present day. Their discovery provides an opportunity to examine first-hand material from the earliest days of microscopy. Van Leeuwenhoek's expedient of wrapping the specimens in paper proved to be an excellent means of preserving them in near-perfect condition. Modern-day images of some of the sections cut by van Leeuwenhoek through one of his original instruments were recorded using a specially constructed photographic arrangement. Scanning electron microscopy revealed the presence of human blood cells and coccus bacteria, probably representing the personal legacy of van Leeuwenhoek, on one of the elder pith sections. Their presence offers tantalizing possibilities for future analyses which might yield more detailed information on this great pioneer of modern microscopical science. The "father of microscopy," Antony van Leeuwenhoek of Delft, laid the foundations of modern microscopy with his systematic and painstaking work. He is best known as a microbiologist, and the extent of his work in this field has been documented in detail (Dobell, 1932). Perhaps his greatest conceptual step, however, was the essential revelation that there were structures which a microscope could reveal, and which would remain unknown without it. This view can be contrasted with the work of Hooke (1665) which concentrated on magnifying structures that already were familiar (Ford, 1973a). 1 I am grateful to the Royal Society for the use of their facilities and for permission to publish these findings; to the University Museum, Utrecht, for access to the van Leeuwenhoek microscope and for many helpful discussions; to the Department of Zoology, University College, Cardiff, for full access to the Stereoscan 600 microscope in their charge; and to Mr. Jaap Stolp for his assistance with the photographs? This work has been supported by grants from the Kodak Bursary Scheme, the Royal Society, and the Linnean Society of London, England. 2 Publication costs, in part, are being met by a grant from the Spencer-Tolles Fund of the American Microscopical Society. TRANS. AM. MICROSC. Soc., 101(1): 1-9. 1982. ( Copyright, 1982, by Brian J. Ford. This content downloaded from 157.55.39.110 on Wed, 14 Dec 2016 04:59:03 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms TRANS. AM. MICROSC. SOC. During his life-time, van Leeuwenhoek made upwards of 400 microscopes, most of which have since been lost (Ford, 1973b). It is recorded that only nine of the original instruments remain extant (van Zuylen, 1981), and there are doubts about one or two of those. However, it has now become apparent that some of the original specimens which van Leeuwenhoek sent to London in the seventeenth century have survived intact to the present day (Ford, 1981a). Their discovery offers an opportunity to examine first-hand material from the earliest days of microscopy, and in this paper I present some of the detailed findings that have been made through a systematic study of the fine sections he sent to London in June 1674. DISCOVERY OF THE SPECIMENS The circumstances by which the original material came to light have been detailed in a paper for the Royal Society of London (Ford, 1981b). Briefly, I undertook a systematic examination of the papers filed in the archives of the Royal Society at Carlton House Terrace, London. The bulk of the seminal observations made by van Leeuwenhoek were in the form of lengthy letters sent to the Royal Society, following his introduction to that body by the great Dutch anatomist de Graaf in the year 1673 (Dobell, 1932; Ford, 1981b). Between the pages, I discovered a total of nine small paper packets. Each was annotated with a brief description of the specimen that had been secreted inside. In one case, the handwriting was clearly not that of van Leeuwenhoek; he had been sent a specimen of dried algal mat from Courland (now in Latvia), and the description is likely in the handwriting of the correspondent who sent it. In one other case (annotated by van Leeuwenhoek), the specimen was found to be missing. In this instance, the material was described as "white from a quill," and would have been of limited microscopical significance. The remaining specimens (documented more fully in Ford, 1981d) are as follows: #1. Fine sections of cork (May 1674); #2. Fine sections of elder pith (May 1674); #3. White from a quill (missing by 1981); #4. Bovine optic nerve in transverse section (January 1675); #5. Cotton seed cut into 24 slices (March 1686); #6. Cotton seeds dissected to show embryonic structures (March 1686); #7. Black film of dried algae (1687); #8. Pale brown algal mat (1687); and #9. Black papery algal mat (14 or 15 March 1686). All of the specimens were prepared by van Leeuwenhoek, with the exception of #9 which was sent to him from Courland some considerable time after it…

Microbiology and food, 1970

It was on reading the first Chapter that I wondered for whom the book was written. This chapter, ... more It was on reading the first Chapter that I wondered for whom the book was written. This chapter, on the cell's nutritional needs, attempts to cover a very wide subject in a few pages, and I found it rather confusing. On the same pages that we are told that sucrose is cane ...

Infocus magazine, Mar 6, 2024

Investigacion Y Ciencia, 1998

Endeavour

Ford BJ//Endeavour, 2000.

Biologist (London, England), 2000

Africa is dying. As much of the world turns its back, and a powerful spokesman in Africa insists ... more Africa is dying. As much of the world turns its back, and a powerful spokesman in Africa insists that HIV is not the cause of AIDS, unimaginable numbers of young Africans are condemned to an early death. Public opinion in the West, meanwhile, turns its back on the catastrophe. 'The victims are distant blacks in an alien culture. They simply don't concern us.' This reprehensible attitude has all but excluded the tragedy from the UK media.

Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society, 2007

Nature, 1974

SlR,-We are not in complete agreement with Neidle's point (Nature, 249, 212; 1974) that there is ... more SlR,-We are not in complete agreement with Neidle's point (Nature, 249, 212; 1974) that there is a cultural bias in the understanding of our "hotdog" model for repressor-operator interaction. The Germans, for example, might consider it the Wurst model of operator-repressor binding. Yours faithfully,

Nature, 1981

AFTER not being seen since 1674, original specimens sent by the "father of the microscope", Anton... more AFTER not being seen since 1674, original specimens sent by the "father of the microscope", Antony van Leeuwenhoek, have been found to be still in existence. A systematic search through the four large files of his letters sent to the Royal Society, revealed nine little envelopes containing original material and fixed to the final pages of three of the letters. Only minute traces of one of the specimens ("tWitte van een schrijff-penne"-white from a writing-pen [quill]) remained, but the remainder were intact. The sectioned material was compressed into compact masses, but otherwise the specimens were in excellent condition. Antony van Leeuwenhoek (1632-1723) lived and worked in Delft where he produced his own single-lens microscopes. His status as the founder of microscopy derives from decades of dedicated and accurate observation, faithfully recorded in lengthy letters most of which were sent to London. His observations of spermatozoa, bacteria and a host of histological specimens were without precedent. Many workers have since commented on the 'crudity' of his techniques, emphasizing that his material was examined whole, or 'torn apart', and it has become generally accepted that section-cutting did not begin until the middle years of the nineteenth century. The discovery of his specimens reveals two examples of plant material cut as fine sections. They are "Pit van vlier"-elder pith, and "Kurk"-cork. The conclusions that can be drawn from these specimens about seventeenth-century microtechnique are many (a fuller account by the author appears in the current Notes and Records of the Royal Society) but the central finding is that van Leeuwenhoek, working at the dawn of microscopy, could prepare by hand sections that would be acceptable for !~?oratory use today. D Brian J. Ford is in the Science Unit, Cardiff. "Stuckjens vande gesicht senuwe van een koebeest over dwars afgesneden''-pieces of optic nerve of a cow cut in transverse section. The specimens were attached to a letter dated I June 1674, and signed by van Leeuwenhoek, as shown below.

Journal of Microscopy, 1982

SUMMARY A section of elder-pith cut from Sambucus nigra in May 1674 by the pioneer Dutch microsco... more SUMMARY A section of elder-pith cut from Sambucus nigra in May 1674 by the pioneer Dutch microscopist, Antony van Leeuwenhoek, has been imaged under SEM, a modern Leitz photomicroscope, and the original Leeuwenhoek microscope at the University of ...