Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Introduction: Milestones in the study of biominerals
- 1 The concept of microstructural sequence exemplified by mollusc shells and coral skeletons
- 2 Compositional data on mollusc shells and coral skeletons
- 3 Origin of microstructural diversity
- 4 Diversity of structural patterns and growth modes in skeletal Ca-carbonate of some plants and animals
- 5 Connecting the Layered Growth and Crystallization model to chemical and physiological approaches
- 6 Microcrystalline and amorphous biominerals in bones, teeth, and siliceous structures
- 7 Collecting better data from the fossil record through the critical analysis of fossilized biominerals
- 8 Results and perspectives
- List of references
- Name index
- Subject index
Introduction: Milestones in the study of biominerals
A summary of the discontinuous and somewhat erratic path of research on their formation and properties
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 10 January 2011
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Introduction: Milestones in the study of biominerals
- 1 The concept of microstructural sequence exemplified by mollusc shells and coral skeletons
- 2 Compositional data on mollusc shells and coral skeletons
- 3 Origin of microstructural diversity
- 4 Diversity of structural patterns and growth modes in skeletal Ca-carbonate of some plants and animals
- 5 Connecting the Layered Growth and Crystallization model to chemical and physiological approaches
- 6 Microcrystalline and amorphous biominerals in bones, teeth, and siliceous structures
- 7 Collecting better data from the fossil record through the critical analysis of fossilized biominerals
- 8 Results and perspectives
- List of references
- Name index
- Subject index
Summary
The microscopic study of living organisms did not develop until the first half of the nineteenth century, in spite of earlier observation of “cells” by Robert Hooke (1665). It was only in 1831 that Robert Brown described a new structure in plant cells: the “nucleus.” In transferring microscopic observations of Mathias Schleiden on plant tissues (1838) to his own studies on animal tissues, Theodor Schwann (1839) made a major contribution by proposing the theory of universal cellular organization in living organisms. In this same year the Microscopical Society of London was founded, and among the founding members was James Scott Bowerbank.
In his paper, “On the structure of the shells of molluscan and conchyferous animals” (1844), Bowerbank showed that far from being simple aggregates of unorganized mineral particles, these shells are formed of sharply distinct units, each possessing a definite geometry whose regular arrangement demonstrates that their order is completely controlled by the producing organism. The rapid diffusion of this new type of analysis is attested to by the publication the following year of Carpenter's paper, “On the microscopic structure of shells” (1845, with a second part in 1847).
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Biominerals and Fossils Through Time , pp. 1 - 10Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2010