Schwann was born in Neuss and educated at the universities of Bonn, Würzburg, and Berlin. He was (1838-1848) professor of anatomy at the University of Leuven in Belgium; thereafter until his death he was associated with the University of Liège, also in Belgium, serving as professor of anatomy from 1848 to 1858, when he became professor of physiology. Schwann ascertained the physiochemical nature of life by applying the cell theory of the German botanist Matthias Jakob Schleiden to the evolution of animal life. He also demonstrated that the mature tissues of all animals are traceable to embryonic cells. While assisting the German physiologist Johannes Müller in the Anatomical Museum of Berlin, Schwann discovered pepsin, the digestive enzyme, in the stomach epithelium, or membrane tissues, of animals. He also conducted valuable research on the processes of fermentation, putrefaction, and muscular and arterial contraction. His principal work is Microscopic Investigations on the Accordance in the Structure and Growth of Plants and Animals (1839; trans. 1847).

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Theodore Schwan

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Theodore Schwan (1841 – May 27, 1926) was a United States Army officer of German birth who served with distinction during the American Civil War, Spanish-American War and the Philippine-American War.

Early life and Civil War

Schwan was born in Hanover, Germany, and received his initial schooling in Germany. His family immigrated to the United States in 1857. Upon his arrival in the U.S., Schwan enlisted as a private in the Regular Army at age 16 and served in the 10th U.S. Infantry.

Shortly after the Civil War broke out, he served with his regiment rising from private to Quartermaster-Sergeant by 1863. He was made a First Lieutenant in 1864 and won the Medal of Honor at the Battle of Peebles’ Farm when he dragged a fellow Union officer to the rear preventing him from being captured. He remained in the regular army after the close of the Civil War and made a lieutenant colonel in the 11th U.S. Infantry in February 1897.

Spanish-American War

When the Spanish-American War erupted, Lt. Col. Schwan was appointed brigadier general of volunteers and colonel in the Regular Army in May 1898, making him one of the only foreign-born generals in the Spanish-American War. He assumed command of the 1st Division, IV Corps which was stationed in Miami, Florida. That unit was never called into action, but he assumed command of the Independent Regular Brigade and sailed for Puerto Rico. His brigade landed at Guánica and moved west along the coast. On August 10, his brigade won the Battle of Silva Heights. The next day, he entered the town of Mayagüez, Puerto Rico. The Spanish moved up for another attack on Schwan, but a cease fire was enacted before either side attacked. Allegedly during this cease fire, Schwan’s troops engaged in the first game of baseball to be played in Puerto Rico.

Philippine-American War

With the fighting on Puerto Rico over, General Schwan was transferred to the Philippines, where he became chief-of-staff in the VIII Corps, engaged in the Philippine-American War. He personally directed the first Cavite Expedition then took command of the 2nd Brigade, 1st Division, VIII Corps during the second Cavite Expedition.

Retirement and death

He retired from the army in 1901 and was made a Major General of Regulars and put on the retired list. Theodore Schwan died in 1926 and was buried in Arlington National Cemetery.

German physiologist and founder of the theory of the cellular structure of animal organisms; b. at Neuss, 7 December, 1810; d. Cologne, 11 January, 1882. He studied medicine at Bonn, where one of his teachers was the celebrated physiologist John Müller, and also at Würtzburg, and at Berlin where he obtained his degree in 1834. His dissertation for the doctorate on the breathing of the embryo of the hen in the egg, “De necessitate æris atmosphærici ad evolutionem pulli in ovo incubato” attracted the attention of the medical world. After graduation he acted as assistant in the anatomical museum at Berlin; in 1839 he became professor of anatomy at the Catholic University of Louvain; in 1848 professor of physiology and comparative anatomy at Liège and in 1880 retired from teaching. Schwann proved that animal cells are in morphological and physiological accordance with those of plants, and that all animal tissues proceed partly from cells and are partly composed of them. He established this theory in his chief work: “Mikroskopische Untersuchungen über die Übereinstimmung in der Struktur und dem Wachstum der Tiere und Pflanzen” (Berlin, 1839). Before this John Purkinje (1787-1869) had pointed out the analogy between the nuclei of the animal cell and of the plant cell, still Schwann deserves the credit of having developed and established this theory. Kölliker’s cellular physiology and Virchow’s cellular pathology are based on Schwann’s theory. Schwann also discovered the cells of the nails and feathers, what are called the Tomes fibres of the teeth, the nuclei of the smooth and striped muscle-fibres, and the envelope of the nerve-fibres (Schwann’s envelope). Moreover, in 1836 he discovered that pepsin was the substance that produced albuminous digestion in the stomach; in 1844 he produced the first artificial gastric fistula, and called attention to the importance of the gall in digestion. He discovered the organic nature of yeast at the same time as Cagniard Latour, although independently of the latter, and proved that the yeast-cells take the material necessary for reproduction and development from the substance capable of fermentation. In a separate treatise he proved the weakness of the theory of spontaneous generation. Besides the works already mentioned Schwann wrote a number of papers for medical journals and for the reports of the Belgian Academy.

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