lation of the testis, 21. Cycles of ovarian growth, 22. The pregnant 

 uterus, 23. The placental connection, 24. From embryo to adult 



Writing a book like this is a considerable feat for a single author, and 

 one for which we must all be thankful. The book was written "for the physi- 

 ologist willing to concede that development is a physiological process, and 

 for the developmental biologist concerned with the functional dimensions of 

 growth". The style is fluent, the treatment thought-provoking (as always 

 with this author) , and the narrative is continuous thanks to the numerical 

 literature reference system. 



Ch.l ends with a brief section on theories of growth, the penultimate sen- 

 tence of which sets the stage for the chapters that follow: "Thus, there 

 would seem to be a genetically inherited predisposition for organs to attain 

 a minimal basic size which is then adjusted in accordance with the functional 

 demands impinging on them" . 



Except for the first and the last, all chapters focus on one or more re- 

 lated organs and tissues. Overall body growth is not treated in its own 

 right, except in the brief last chapter, no doubt because very little is 

 known of its physiological determinants. 



The chapter bibliographies consist of selected key references (some of them 

 very recent) . The book is illustrated with many excellent original line draw- 

 ings and a host of beautiful and interesting photographs and micrographs from 

 various sources. 



92. 



Y.W.LOKE. 1978. I^4MUN0L0GY AND IMMUNOPATHOLOGY OF THE HUMAN FOETAL-MATERNAL 



INTERACTION 



Elsevier/North-Holland, Amsterdam, etc. XII, 328 pp., 15 figs., 19 tabs., 



author and subject indexes. Dfl. 145.00, $ 64.50, E 39.15 



Contents: 1. introduction, 2. Immunological status of the human foetus and 

 placenta, 3. Maternal iramunocompetence during pregnancy, 4. Evasion and 

 suppression of maternal immune response, 5. Development of immunocompetence 

 in the human foetus, 6, Passage of cells across the human placenta, 7. Con- 

 sequence of transplacental passage of cells, 8. Transmission of immunoglo- 

 bulins from mother to foetus before birth, 9. Effects of maternal antibo- 

 dies on the foetus, 10. Effects of antigenic disparity on foetal-maternal 

 interaction, 11. Immunological factors in pre-eclampsia and eclampsia, 12. 

 Immunological factors in trophoblast neoplasia, 13. Transmission of immu- 

 nity after birth, 14. Immunological interruption of pregnancy, 15. Conclu- 

 sion 



This monograph provides and overview of the field in the form of a compre- 

 hensive account together with an extensive review of the literature. While 

 those animal studies which have resulted in important concepts are ^included, 

 most of the discussion is based directly on human in vivo and in vitro data. 

 The table of contents above speaks for itself. The last chapter is a con- 

 venient 7-page summary of the main conclusions. The bibliography contains 

 over 1,000 titles and is up to date until 1977; it is almost entirely English. 



The volume is attractively produced but is inordinately expensive, partic- 

 ularly since a recent good collection of reviews in the same field is avail- 

 able at less than half the price (Scott and Jones, eds., 1976, see Gen. 

 Embryol. Inf. Serv. vol.17, part 1, review no. 50). Moreover, the volume is 

 very sparsely illustrated. 



239 



