General embryological information service - HPS Repository

influential books and a defense of L.Bolk's views on fetalisation.
The book is very well produced, has extremely interesting illustrations,
and is concluded by an excellent glossary,
100.
M.de ISSEKUTZ WOLSKY and A.WOLSKY. 1976. THE MECHANISM OF EVOLUTION: A NEW
LOOK AT OLD IDEAS
Karger, Basel, etc. Contrib. to Human Development, vol.4. VIII, 160 pp., 3
figs., 3 tabs. SFr./DM 44.00, ca. $ 17.00 (paper)
Contents (abridged): I. Genes and mutations: the metamorphosis of 20th
century ideas, II. Natural selection: a 19th century proposition. III.
Behavior and evolution: a new road on old foundations
This erudite book will be read with profit by all those interested in
theories of evolution. The reason why we briefly review it here is that the
authors are well-versed in developmental biology and that consequently their
way of thinking is rather akin to that of people like C.H.Waddington. In
other words, they constantly emphasise the necessity of thinking of organisms
not as finished products but as highly integrated developing entities.
The book is essentially a theoretical critique of neo-Darwinism (or the
"synthetic theory" of evolution) . It surveys and comments upon the trends of
thought which have emerged alongside the "synthetic theory", and which point
the way to a more widely based synthesis (while of course staying away from
classical Lamarckism)
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Part I and II will be of most interest to our readers. In part I the authors,
after surveying modern ideas of molecular genetics, revive Goldschmidt's
ideas on "systematic mutations" in the context of more recent evidence.
They also devote considerable space to Dalcq's concept of "ontomutations",
but are careful to point out that there is no evidence for them as
yet.
An important theme in part II is the limited role of natural selection and
the ensuing conviction that evolution is essentially an autogenic (as against
ectogenic) process. Interesting (though entirely theoretical) ideas are developed
concerning the strategic role of the genes controlling the basic
features of embryogenesis : these culminate in the somewhat provocative
statement "ontogeny is the cause of phylogeny".
Part III emphasises the integrative role of the nervous system and its implications
for the progressive emancipation of higher animals from their environment.
Dissertations
101.
L. A. B.ABBOTT. 1977. A BIOLOGICAL AND MATHEMATICAL ANALYSIS OF WING MORPHO-
GENESIS IN DROSOPHILA
Ph.D. thesis, Univ. of Colorado. 127 pp., 17 figs., 10 tabs, (mimeographed)
A reciprocating combination of biological and mathematical methods used
to address the question of the nature of compartment boundaries; interesting
introduction on function of hierarchial organisation and role of mathematics
in biology; clonal analysis of Lyra wings; clonal analysis of "normal"
wings, particularly small (four-cell) clones produced by late irradiation;
elements of a model for wing development; some conclusions: no requirement
for control of direction of cell division - compartment boundaries may be
no more than exaggerated clone boundaries.
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