His, Wilhelm

His, Wilhelm

(born Dec. 29, 1863, Basel, Switz.—died Nov. 10, 1934, Wiesental) Swiss cardiologist. His father, Wilhelm His (1831–1904), first realized that each nerve fibre stems from a single neuron and invented the microtome, a device used to slice thin tissue sections for microscopic examination. The younger His discovered (1893) the specialized muscle fibres (bundle of His) running along the septum between the heart's left and right chambers. He found that they help communicate a single rhythm of contraction to all parts of the heart, and he was one of the first to recognize that the heartbeat originates in individual cells of heart muscle.

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His, Wilhelm 

Born July 9, 1831, in Basel; died May 1, 1904, in Leipzig. German embryologist and anatomist. Professor at the universities of Basel (from 1857) and Leipzig (from 1872).

His’ first works were devoted to the anatomy and histology of the cornea, lymph glands, and cutaneous integuments, and also to craniology. He proposed a method of “reconstruction” of the structure of embryos by means of studying them in serial microscopic sections, for which purpose he introduced the microtome into embryological research in 1870. His developed the idea of “organ-forming zones” of the embryo, that is, zones that give rise to certain organs. He explained changes in the structure of the embryo by mechanical causes and attempted to simulate these changes.

WORKS

Untersuchungen über die erste Anlage des Wirbeltierleibes. Leipzig, 1868.
Unsere Körperform und das physiologische Problem ihrer Entstehung. Leipzig, 1874.
Anatomie menschlicher Embryonen, vols. 1-3. Leipzig, 1880-85.