The Encyclopedia Americana (1920)/Schleiden, Matthias Jakob

SCHLEIDEN, shlī'dĕn, Matthias Jakob, German botanist: b. Hamburg, 5 April 1804; d. Frankfort, 23 June 1881. He was educated for the law in Heidelberg, but in 1833 took up the study of botany. He occupied the chair of botany at Jena from 1839 to 1863, when he was called to the Botanical Gardens at Dorpt. He was one of the first botanists to study plant tissue, and his name is associated with that of Nageli, the Swiss botanist, in the early development of the cell theory. His works include ‘Grundzüge der wissenschaftlichen Botanik’ (1842-43; trans, into English as ‘Principles of Scientific Botany,’ 1849); ‘Die Pflanze und ihr Leben’ (1848); ‘Baum und Wald’ (1870); ‘Die Rose’ (1873).