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often give the impression of being three-dimensional.
Textbook and atlas have been combined in order to facilitate the study of
text and figures together. The figures corresponding to the text are unavoidably
spread over several preceding and following pages. In a separate atlas
they might have been more easily grouped together. The sequence of the individual
chapters and subdivisions seems at some points somewhat subjective;
the teeth might, in our opinion, better be discussed together with the skeleton.
This anatomical textbook and atlas surely belongs to the best works on
human anatomy, and is published with very great care and technical skill. It
can therefore be warmly recommended to all medical students and physicians
sufficiently acquainted with the German language. After the recent death of
the author, this new edition forms a lively expression and memory of his great
scholarship.
P. D. NIEUWKOOP
"EMBRYOLOGIE,
ein Lehrbuch auf allgemein biologischer Grundlage"
1955
by D. Starck Georg Thieme Verlag, Stuttgart
688 pp. with 502 figs, partly in colour. Price: 78.— D.M.
and a tabular appendix
This extensive textbook on embryology, in which the author has tried to
make a synthesis of comparative and experimental embryology, has not only
been written for students, but also for scientific workers in the field of medicine
and biology.
In the first, general part of this textbook, attention has been paid to the
development and structure of the germ cells, the processes of meiosis and fertilization
and their genetical aspects, after which cleavage, gastrulation and
early development have been described. After a short description of the early
development of some groups of meroblastic Vertebrates, the early development
and placentation of the mammalian embryo has been treated extensively. In this
general part of the book some principal results of experimental analysis have
been given. Some small chapters on functional adaptation during development
and on the various types of ontogenesis and their evolutionary significance
conclude this part of the book.
The second part of the book deals with the organ development of the mammalian
embryo, particularly of man, while malformations and their morphogenetic
origin are extensively discussed. Finally a more theoretical chapter has
been devoted to the organisation of the vertebrate body and in particular to the
head problem.
We appreciate it very much that the human embryology is placed in the
wider field of the general mammalian development by showing the many-sided
comparative embryological aspects of human development. We must however
confess that we are less enthusiastic about the synthesis of experimental and
comparative embryology. Although we appreciate the initiative of the author,
and believe that it will certainly stimulate further work in this direction, we feel
that the author has given himself too heavy a task. Since he is himself a descriptive
and comparative embryologist, the results of experimental embryology
are given second place. The data given form in many cases a subjective choice
out of the still controversial literature. The chapters on experimental embryol-
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