Purkynĕ’s graduation dissertation on the subjective visual phenomena earned for him the appreciation of Goethe and the chair of physiology at Breslau. Reprinted in his Opera omnia, vol. 1, pp. 1-56,1918. There were two issues of the first edition published the same year. The second edition was published in 1823.

Purkynĕ was first to examine the interior of the human eye and the dog eye, using only a candle and a concave spherical lens. He thus invented the ophthalmoscope three decades before Helmholtz (1851; No. 5866). Reprinted in his Opera (No. 82), 1918,1, 163-94. English trans. in John, Jan Evangelista Purkyne, Philadelphia, 1959. See Albert & Miller, Jan Purkinje and the ophthalmoscope, Amer. J. Ophth., 1973, 76, 494-99.

Purkynĕ was also the first to classify fingerprints. Reprinted in his Opera omnia (No. 82), vol. 1, pp. 163-94, 1918. English translation in John, Jan Evangelista Purkynĕ, Philadelphia, 1959.

First description of the germinal vesicle in the embryo, “Purkynĕ’s vesicle” This is located on the spot of the yolk where the embryo develops. Later identified with the cell nucleus, this formed a bridge between the large avian egg and the small ova of other animals, stimulating the researches of von Baer (No. 477). Reprinted in his Opera selecta, Prague, 1948, pp. 1-25; 2nd ed. Leipzig, L. Voss, 1830, reprinted in his Opera omnia, vol. 1, pp. 195-218. English translation of 2nd ed., in Essays in biology in honor of Herbert M. Evans (1943).

“Purkynĕ phenomenon” or “Purkynĕ shift”, a change in the apparent relative luminosity of colors in a dim light (scotopic vision) compared with that in full daylight (photopic vision). Also published in Rust’s Mag. ges. Heilk., 1825, 20, 3-83, 199-276, 391-423. See V. Kruta J.E. Purkynĕ, physiologist. A short account of his contributions… with a bibliography of his works. Prague: Academia Publishing House, 1969.

Classical paper on ciliary epithelial motion. Reprinted in Purkynĕ’s Opera omnia (No. 82), pp. 277-371, 1918. English translation in Dublin J. med. chem. Sci., 1835, 7, 279-84.

Description of the “flask-shaped ganglionic bodies” known as “Purkinje cells”. Reprinted in his Opera Omnia, 1939, 3, 47-9. Also published in Oken’s Isis, 1838, pp. 582-84.

In 1839 Purkynĕ was the first to use the term protoplasma, by which he described the embryonic ground substance. This fact is recorded in the inaugural dissertation of one of his students, J. Rosenthal.

The “Purkinjĕ fibres”; identification of the conductor system of the heart. Reprinted in his Opera omnia, 1939, 3, 52-63. German version in Arch. Anat. Physiol, wiss. Med., 1845, 281-95; English translation by W. W. Gull in Lond. med. Gaz., 1845, 36, 1066-69, 1156-58. Historical note by V. Kruta in Bull. N.Y. Acad. Med., 1971, 47, 351-7.

Purkynĕ was Professor of Physiology at Breslau and Prague. Eminent as physiologist and microscopist, he was first to use the microtome. See Kruta, V. J.E. Purkynĕ, Physiologist. A short account of his contributions…with a bibliography of his works. (Prague, Academia Publishing House, 1969).