born July 14, 1801, Koblenz, France
died April 28, 1858, Berlin, Ger.
German physiologist, comparative anatomist, and natural philosopher.
He studied at the Universities of Bonn and Berlin and later taught at both. His discovery that each sense organ responds to stimuli differently implied that external events are perceived only by the changes they produce in sensory systems. His investigations in physiology, evolution, and comparative anatomy contributed to knowledge of reflexes, the secretion and coagulation processes, the composition of blood and lymph, vision, and hearing. His studies of tumour cell structure began to establish pathological histology as a branch of science.