Julius von Sachs
Encyclopedia
Julius von Sachs was a German
botanist from Breslau, Prussian Silesia.
At an early age he showed a taste for natural history
, becoming acquainted with the Breslau physiologist Jan Evangelista Purkyně
. In 1851 he began studying at Charles University in Prague
. In 1856 he graduated as doctor of philosophy, and then adopted a botanical career, establishing himself as Privatdozent
for plant physiology
in the University of Prague
. In 1859 he was appointed physiological assistant to the Agricultural Academy of Tharandt (now part of the Technical University of Dresden) at Julius Adolph Stöckhardt
; and in 1862 he was called to be director of the Polytechnic at Chemnitz
, but was almost immediately transferred to the Agricultural Academy at Poppelsdorf (now part of the University of Bonn
), where he remained until 1867, when he was nominated professor of botany in the University of Freiburg
. In 1868 he accepted the chair of botany in the University of Würzburg
, which he continued to occupy (in spite of calls to all the important German universities) until his death.
Sachs achieved distinction as an investigator, a writer and a teacher; his name will ever be especially associated with the great development of plant physiology which marked the latter half of the 19th century, though there is scarcely a branch of botany to which he did not materially contribute. His earlier papers, scattered through the volumes of botanical journals and of the publications of learned societies (a collected edition was published in 1892-93), are of great and varied interest. Prominent among them is the series of "Keimungsgeschichten," which laid the foundation of our knowledge of microchemical methods, as also of the morphological
and physiological details of germination
.
Then there is his resuscitation of the method of "water-culture," and the application of it to the investigation of the problems of nutrition; and further, his discovery that the starch
-grains to be found in chloroplasts are the first visible product of their assimilatory activity. His later papers were almost exclusively published in the three volumes of the Arbeiten des botanischen Instituts in Würzburg (1871–88). Among these are his investigation of the periodicity of growth in length, in connection with which he devised the self-registering auxanometer
, by which he established the retarding influence of the highly refrangible rays of the spectrum
on the rate of growth; his researches on heliotropism
and geotropism, in which he introduced the clinostat
; his work on the structure and the arrangement of cells in growing-points; the elaborate experimental evidence upon which he based his "imbibition-theory" of the transpiration-current; his exhaustive study of the assimilatory activity of the green leaf
; and other papers of interest.
Sachs' first published volume was the Handbuch der Experimentalphysiologie des Pflanzen (1865; French edition, 1868), which gives an admirable account of the state of knowledge in certain departments of the subject, and includes a great deal of original information. This was followed in 1868 by the first edition of his famous Lehrbuch der Botanik, by far the best book of its kind. It is a comprehensive work, giving an able summary of the botanical science of the period, enriched with the results of many original investigations. The fourth and last German edition was published in 1874, and two English' editions were issued by the Oxford Press in 1875 and 1882 respectively.
The Lehrbuch was eventually superseded by the Vorlesungen uber Pflanzenphysiologie (1st ed., 1882; 2nd ed., 1887; Eng. ed., Oxford, 1887), a work more limited in scope, but yet covering more ground than its title would imply; though it is a remarkable book, it has not gained the general recognition accorded to the Lehrbuch. Finally, there is the Geschichte der Botanik (1875); a brilliant and learned account of the development of the varitius branches of botanical science from the middle of the 16th century up to 1860, of which an English edition was published in 1890 by the Oxford Press. As a teacher Sachs exerted great influence, for his vigorous personality and his ready and lucid utterance enabled him not only to instruct, but to fire his students with something of his own enthusiasm.
A full account of Sachs' life and work was given by Professor Goebel, formerly his assistant, in Flora (1897), of which an English translation appeared in Science Progress for 1898. There is also an obituary notice of him in the Proc. Roy. Soc. vol. lxii.
Many pupils of Sachs like Julius Oscar Brefeld
, Francis Darwin
, Karl Ritter von Goebel, Georg Albrecht Klebs, Hermann Müller-Thurgau
, Fritz Noll
, Wilhelm Pfeffer
, Karl Prantl
, Christian Ernst Stahl
and Hugo de Vries
became later famous botanists.
The standard botanical author abbreviation Sachs is applied to species
he described.
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
botanist from Breslau, Prussian Silesia.
At an early age he showed a taste for natural history
Natural history
Natural history is the scientific research of plants or animals, leaning more towards observational rather than experimental methods of study, and encompasses more research published in magazines than in academic journals. Grouped among the natural sciences, natural history is the systematic study...
, becoming acquainted with the Breslau physiologist Jan Evangelista Purkyně
Jan Evangelista Purkyne
Jan Evangelista Purkyně was a Czech anatomist and physiologist. He was one of the best known scientists of his time. His son was the painter Karel Purkyně...
. In 1851 he began studying at Charles University in Prague
Charles University in Prague
Charles University in Prague is the oldest and largest university in the Czech Republic. Founded in 1348, it was the first university in Central Europe and is also considered the earliest German university...
. In 1856 he graduated as doctor of philosophy, and then adopted a botanical career, establishing himself as Privatdozent
Privatdozent
Privatdozent or Private lecturer is a title conferred in some European university systems, especially in German-speaking countries, for someone who pursues an academic career and holds all formal qualifications to become a tenured university professor...
for plant physiology
Plant physiology
Plant physiology is a subdiscipline of botany concerned with the functioning, or physiology, of plants. Closely related fields include plant morphology , plant ecology , phytochemistry , cell biology, and molecular biology.Fundamental processes such as photosynthesis, respiration, plant nutrition,...
in the University of Prague
Charles University in Prague
Charles University in Prague is the oldest and largest university in the Czech Republic. Founded in 1348, it was the first university in Central Europe and is also considered the earliest German university...
. In 1859 he was appointed physiological assistant to the Agricultural Academy of Tharandt (now part of the Technical University of Dresden) at Julius Adolph Stöckhardt
Julius Adolph Stöckhardt
Julius Adolph Stöckhardt was a German agricultural chemist. He is mostly recognized for his work on fertilizers, fume damage of plants and his book Die Schule der Chemie , which was translated into 14 languages...
; and in 1862 he was called to be director of the Polytechnic at Chemnitz
Chemnitz University of Technology
Chemnitz University of Technology is located in the town of Chemnitz in Germany. With over 10000 students it is the third largest university in Saxony and around 750 international students from 100 universities all over the world are enrolled each year...
, but was almost immediately transferred to the Agricultural Academy at Poppelsdorf (now part of the University of Bonn
University of Bonn
The University of Bonn is a public research university located in Bonn, Germany. Founded in its present form in 1818, as the linear successor of earlier academic institutions, the University of Bonn is today one of the leading universities in Germany. The University of Bonn offers a large number...
), where he remained until 1867, when he was nominated professor of botany in the University of Freiburg
University of Freiburg
The University of Freiburg , sometimes referred to in English as the Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg, is a public research university located in Freiburg im Breisgau, Baden-Württemberg, Germany.The university was founded in 1457 by the Habsburg dynasty as the...
. In 1868 he accepted the chair of botany in the University of Würzburg
University of Würzburg
The University of Würzburg is a university in Würzburg, Germany, founded in 1402. The university is a member of the distinguished Coimbra Group.-Name:...
, which he continued to occupy (in spite of calls to all the important German universities) until his death.
Sachs achieved distinction as an investigator, a writer and a teacher; his name will ever be especially associated with the great development of plant physiology which marked the latter half of the 19th century, though there is scarcely a branch of botany to which he did not materially contribute. His earlier papers, scattered through the volumes of botanical journals and of the publications of learned societies (a collected edition was published in 1892-93), are of great and varied interest. Prominent among them is the series of "Keimungsgeschichten," which laid the foundation of our knowledge of microchemical methods, as also of the morphological
Morphology (biology)
In biology, morphology is a branch of bioscience dealing with the study of the form and structure of organisms and their specific structural features....
and physiological details of germination
Germination
Germination is the process in which a plant or fungus emerges from a seed or spore, respectively, and begins growth. The most common example of germination is the sprouting of a seedling from a seed of an angiosperm or gymnosperm. However the growth of a sporeling from a spore, for example the...
.
Then there is his resuscitation of the method of "water-culture," and the application of it to the investigation of the problems of nutrition; and further, his discovery that the starch
Starch
Starch or amylum is a carbohydrate consisting of a large number of glucose units joined together by glycosidic bonds. This polysaccharide is produced by all green plants as an energy store...
-grains to be found in chloroplasts are the first visible product of their assimilatory activity. His later papers were almost exclusively published in the three volumes of the Arbeiten des botanischen Instituts in Würzburg (1871–88). Among these are his investigation of the periodicity of growth in length, in connection with which he devised the self-registering auxanometer
Auxanometer
An auxanometer is an apparatus for measuring increase or rate of growth in plants.In case of an arc-auxanometer , there is a wire fixed with the plant apex on one end and a dead-weight on the other. It passes over a pulley which has a pointer attached to it...
, by which he established the retarding influence of the highly refrangible rays of the spectrum
Electromagnetic spectrum
The electromagnetic spectrum is the range of all possible frequencies of electromagnetic radiation. The "electromagnetic spectrum" of an object is the characteristic distribution of electromagnetic radiation emitted or absorbed by that particular object....
on the rate of growth; his researches on heliotropism
Heliotropism
Heliotropism is the diurnal motion of plant parts in response to the direction of the sun.It is found in some members of family Malvacea e.g Malva or Lavetara...
and geotropism, in which he introduced the clinostat
Clinostat
A clinostat is a device which uses rotation to negate the effects of gravitational pull on plant growth and development . It has also been used to study the effects of microgravity on cell cultures and animal embryos.-Description:...
; his work on the structure and the arrangement of cells in growing-points; the elaborate experimental evidence upon which he based his "imbibition-theory" of the transpiration-current; his exhaustive study of the assimilatory activity of the green leaf
Leaf
A leaf is an organ of a vascular plant, as defined in botanical terms, and in particular in plant morphology. Foliage is a mass noun that refers to leaves as a feature of plants....
; and other papers of interest.
Sachs' first published volume was the Handbuch der Experimentalphysiologie des Pflanzen (1865; French edition, 1868), which gives an admirable account of the state of knowledge in certain departments of the subject, and includes a great deal of original information. This was followed in 1868 by the first edition of his famous Lehrbuch der Botanik, by far the best book of its kind. It is a comprehensive work, giving an able summary of the botanical science of the period, enriched with the results of many original investigations. The fourth and last German edition was published in 1874, and two English' editions were issued by the Oxford Press in 1875 and 1882 respectively.
The Lehrbuch was eventually superseded by the Vorlesungen uber Pflanzenphysiologie (1st ed., 1882; 2nd ed., 1887; Eng. ed., Oxford, 1887), a work more limited in scope, but yet covering more ground than its title would imply; though it is a remarkable book, it has not gained the general recognition accorded to the Lehrbuch. Finally, there is the Geschichte der Botanik (1875); a brilliant and learned account of the development of the varitius branches of botanical science from the middle of the 16th century up to 1860, of which an English edition was published in 1890 by the Oxford Press. As a teacher Sachs exerted great influence, for his vigorous personality and his ready and lucid utterance enabled him not only to instruct, but to fire his students with something of his own enthusiasm.
A full account of Sachs' life and work was given by Professor Goebel, formerly his assistant, in Flora (1897), of which an English translation appeared in Science Progress for 1898. There is also an obituary notice of him in the Proc. Roy. Soc. vol. lxii.
Many pupils of Sachs like Julius Oscar Brefeld
Julius Oscar Brefeld
Julius Oscar Brefeld , usually just Oscar Brefeld, was a German botanist and mycologist.-Biography:Brefeld was a native of Telgte. He studied pharmacy in Heidelberg and Berlin, and afterwards became an assistant to Anton de Bary at the University of Halle...
, Francis Darwin
Francis Darwin
Sir Francis "Frank" Darwin, FRS , a son of the British naturalist and scientist Charles Darwin, followed his father into botany.-Biography:Francis Darwin was born in Down House, Downe, Kent in 1848...
, Karl Ritter von Goebel, Georg Albrecht Klebs, Hermann Müller-Thurgau
Hermann Müller (Thurgau)
Hermann Müller, born October 21, 1850 in Tägerwilen in the canton of Thurgau, died January 18, 1927 in Wädenswil, was a Swiss botanist, plant physiologist, oenologist and grape breeder. He called himself Müller-Thurgau, taking the name of his home canton....
, Fritz Noll
Fritz Noll
Fritz Noll was a German botanist who was born in Frankfurt am Main.He studied natural history and sciences at the Universities of Würzburg, Marburg and Heidelberg. In 1887 he became an assistant to Julius Sachs at the University of Würzburg, and during the same year received his habilitation...
, Wilhelm Pfeffer
Wilhelm Pfeffer
Wilhelm Friedrich Philipp Pfeffer was a German botanist and plant physiologist who was born in Grebenstein.- Academic career :...
, Karl Prantl
Karl Anton Eugen Prantl
Karl Anton Eugen Prantl , also known as Carl Anton Eugen Prantl, was a German botanist.Prantl was born in Munich, Kingdom of Bavaria, and studied in Munich. In 1870 he graduated with the dissertation Das Inulin. Ein Beitrag zur Pflanzenphysiologie...
, Christian Ernst Stahl
Christian Ernst Stahl
Christian Ernst Stahl was a German botanist who was a native of Schiltigheim, Alsace. He studied botany at the University of Strasbourg with Pierre-Marie-Alexis Millardet , and at the University of Halle under Anton de Bary...
and Hugo de Vries
Hugo de Vries
Hugo Marie de Vries ForMemRS was a Dutch botanist and one of the first geneticists. He is known chiefly for suggesting the concept of genes, rediscovering the laws of heredity in the 1890s while unaware of Gregor Mendel's work, for introducing the term "mutation", and for developing a mutation...
became later famous botanists.
The standard botanical author abbreviation Sachs is applied to species
Species
In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are...
he described.
Publications
- 1859 : Physiologische Untersuchungen über die Keimung der Schmikbohne (Phaseolus multiflorus)
- 1859 : Ueber das abwechselnde Erbleichen und Dunkelwerden der Blätter bei wechselnder Beleuchtung
- 1862 : Ueber das Vergeilen der Pflanzen
- 1863 : Ueber den Einfluss des Tageslichtes auf die Neublidung unt Entfaltung verschiedener Pflanzenorgane
- 1865 : Handbuch der Experimentalphysiologie der Pflanzen
- 1868 : Lehrbuch der Botanik
- 1871-1872 : Die Geschichte der Botanik vom 16. Jahrhundert bis 1860
- 1878 : Ueber die Anordnung der Zellen in jüngsten Pflanzentheilen
- 1882 : Die Vorlesungen über "Pflanzenphysiologie
- 1892 : Gesammelte Abhandlungen über Pflanzenphysiologie
- 1894 : Mechanomorphosen und Phylogenie
- 1896 : ????Automorphosen