Research
Wolff's research covered embryology, anatomy, and botany. He was the discoverer of the primitive kidneys (mesonephros), or "Wolffian bodies" and its excretory ducts. He described these in his dissertation "Theoria Generationis" after observing them in his studies on chick embryos. According to Locy, since he assumed a total lack of organization in the beginning, he was obliged to make development "miraculous" through the action on the egg of a hyperphysical agent; from a total lack of organization, he conceived of its being lifted to the highly organized product through the action of a "vis essentialis corporis." In 1768-1769, he published his best work in embryology on the development of the intestine; of which Baer said, "It is the greatest masterpiece of scientific observation which we possess." Again, according to Locy, while Wolff’s investigations for "Theoria Generationis" did not reach the level of Marcello Malpighi’s, those of the paper of 1768 surpassed them and held the position of the best piece of embryological work up to that of Heinz Christian Pander and Karl Ernst von Baer.
Wolff’s "De Formatione Intestinorum" rather than his "Theoria Generationis" embodies his greatest contribution to embryology; in it he foreshadows the idea of germ layers in the embryo, which, under Pander and von Baer, became the fundamental conception in structural embryology- he laid the foundation for the germ layer theory. Wolff foreshadowed the germ layer theory by showing that the material out of which the embryo is constructed is, in an early stage of development, arranged in the form of leaf-like layers. Locy recognizes Wolff as the foremost investigator in embryology before von Baer. Wolff contended that the organs of animals make their appearance gradually and that he could actually follow their successive stages of formation.(Dye)
Wolff's eponyms are: the wolfian strippers
- Wolffian ducts
- Wolffian cysts
- Wolffian body or mesonephros
Read more about this topic: Caspar Friedrich Wolff
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