PURKYNĔ, Jan Evangelista [PURKINJE] (1787 – 1869)

1819

#1492

Beiträge zur Kenntniss des Sehens in subjectiver Hinsicht.

Purkynĕ’s graduation dissertation on the subjective visual phenomena earned for him the appreciation of Goethe and the chair of physiology at Breslau. Reprinted in his Opera omnia, vol. 1, pp. 1-56,1918. There were tw…

1823

#1492.1

Commentatio de examine physiologico organi visus et systematis cutanei.

Purkynĕ was first to examine the interior of the human eye and the dog eye, using only a candle and a concave spherical lens. He thus invented the ophthalmoscope three decades before Helmholtz (1851; No. 5866). Reprin…

1825

#476

Symbolae ad ovi ovium historiam ante incubationem.

First description of the germinal vesicle in the embryo, “Purkynĕ’s vesicle” This is located on the spot of the yolk where the embryo develops. Later identified with the cell nucleus, this formed a bridge between the …

1825

#1494.1

Beobachtungen und Versuche zur Physiologie der Sinne. Neue Beiträge zur Kenntniss des Sehens in subjectiver Hinsicht. 2 vols.

“Purkynĕ phenomenon” or “Purkynĕ shift”, a change in the apparent relative luminosity of colors in a dim light (scotopic vision) compared with that in full daylight (photopic vision). Also published in Rust’s Mag. ges…

1835

#602

De phaenomeno generali et fundamentali motus vibratorii contini in membranis.

Classical paper on ciliary epithelial motion. Reprinted in Purkynĕ’s Opera omnia (No. 82), pp. 277-371, 1918. English translation in Dublin J. med. chem. Sci., 1835, 7, 279-84.

1837

#1396

Neueste Untersuchungen aus der Nerven-und Hirnanatomie.

Description of the “flask-shaped ganglionic bodies” known as “Purkinje cells”. Reprinted in his Opera Omnia, 1939, 3, 47-9. Also published in Oken’s Isis, 1838, pp. 582-84.

1839

#541

De formatione granulosa in nervis aliisque partibus organismi animalis.

In 1839 Purkynĕ was the first to use the term protoplasma, by which he described the embryonic ground substance. This fact is recorded in the inaugural dissertation of one of his students, J. Rosenthal.

1839

#805

Nowe spostrzezenia i badainia w przedmiocie fizyologii i drobnowidzowéj anatomii.

The “Purkinjĕ fibres”; identification of the conductor system of the heart. Reprinted in his Opera omnia, 1939, 3, 52-63. German version in Arch. Anat. Physiol, wiss. Med., 1845, 281-95; English translation by W. W. G…

1918 –1973

#82

Sebrané spisy. Opera omnia. Tom. 1-12.

Purkynĕ was Professor of Physiology at Breslau and Prague. Eminent as physiologist and microscopist, he was first to use the microtome. See Kruta, V. J.E. Purkynĕ, Physiologist. A short account of his contributions…wi…