After the foundation of the cell theory by Schleiden and Schwann, the embryologists of the 19th century focused on the phenomenon of programmed cell death. More than 100 reports were published in that century.1
Nevertheless, as we all know, the term apoptosis was not introduced until 1972, when John Kerr, who was studying ischaemically induced hepatic cell death, moved to Aberdeen to continue his investigations with the team of Alastair Currie.2
That same year, their findings were published, with help from Currie's PhD student, Andrew Wylie, in a report for the British Journal of Cancer
. In it, they coined the term apoptosis, from the Greek (apo plus ptosis), meaning falling off, in the same way that fruit falls from a tree when it becomes ripe.3
We were, therefore, astonished to see, when revising a Spanish dictionary of medicine, surgery, and auxiliary sciences from the 19th century, the term apoptosis.4
The book was written in 1878 by J Cuesta y Ckerner who, at that time, was the founder, director, and owner of the newspaper La Correspondencia Medica.
The word apoptosis appeared nearly 100 years before it was coined by Kerr, Wylie, and Currie, but more surprising is its meaning. According to the author, apoptosis is nothing more than the act of easing or loosening a bandage.
How would we have explained to Ckerner that a century later, so many hours of molecular study and laboratory practice and years of multidisciplinary investigation, would be necessary to learn correctly the mysteries and secrets related to what he considered the art of slackening a bandage? He simply would not have believed it.