John Goodsir FRS (1814–1867): Pioneer of cytology and microbiology

Abstract

John Goodsir, pioneer of the concept that all tissues are formed of cells, was born in 1814 into a family of medical practitioners in Anstruther, Fife, Scotland where he was captivated by the marine life he saw daily in his childhood. His ambition was to follow his father and grandfather in medicine. Aged 13, he studied at St Andrews University before being apprenticed to an Edinburgh dentist and completing an original analysis of the embryology of human dentition. He became the student of Robert Knox at the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh and then Conservator of the University Anatomy museum. He exchanged this position for one at the College of Surgeons before accepting the full University post. Beginning in 1830 with the compound microscope, he studied natural history and anatomy, describing his discoveries to many societies. Appointed to the Edinburgh Chair of Anatomy in 1846, his investigations of the cell as the unit of all tissues were recognised internationally. A critic of Darwin, he believed that Man could not evolve. However, malnutrition, the death of a brother and of a friend and collaborator, Edward Forbes, contributed to progressive illness and Goodsir died at Wardie, Edinburgh in 1867.