Histology (derived from the Greek words histos, 'a web or texture,' and logos, 'a discourse') is the science which classifies and describes the structural or morphological elements which exist in the solids and fluids of organised bodies. It is identical or nearly so with general minute anatomy and with microscopic anatomy. Although its origin may be traced to the times of Malpighi (1628-94), who discovered the blood-corpuscles, and of Leeuwenhoek (1632-1723), who, with comparatively imperfect optical means, added much to our knowledge of the minute structure of the tissues, it never made any definite progress till the second decennium of the 19th century, when the compound microscope began to assume its present improved form. It was by means of this microscopico-chemical examination that the structure of the different horny tissues was first clearly exhibited, and it was thus proved that nails, cow's horn, and whalebone are aggregations of individual cells. Portions of the subject are dealt with in our articles on BONE, BRAIN, CIRCULATION, DIGESTION, GLAND, MUSCLE, NERVOUS SYSTEM, &c.; and see ANATOMY. For Vegetable Histology, see VEGETABLE PHYSIOLOGY, BAST, LEAF, TISSUES, WOOD, &c.
In Germany animal histology has been cultivated by Schwann, Henle, Valentin, Remak, Kölliker, Virchow, Leydig, Frey, and a host of others scarcely less distinguished; in Holland it has been actively prosecuted by Donders, Harting, and others; Lebert, Mandl, Robin, and others have contributed to the French literature of the subject; while in Britain the names of Todd and Bowman, of Goodsir, Quekett, Bennett, Sharpey, Clarke, Wharton Jones, Beale, and Huxley deserve honourable notice.