he says: "Therefore, in the present account an attempt has been made to seek 

 interrelations between many of the classic examples of vertebrate growth, in- 

 cluding cell turnover, normal postembryonic enlargement, compensatory hy- 

 pertrophy, localized wound healing, and regeneration. Only by such a compar- 

 ative approach will it be possible to identify the most common denominator by 

 which these seemingly diverse, but actually similar, developmental events arc 

 controlled". After stating the fundamental problem of growth regulation as 

 "... the question of whether growth is governed by considerations of organ size 

 per se. or by the requirements for physiological activity", he continues to state 

 that "The facts lead us overwhelmingly towards the latter alternative ... If 

 future investigators are thus persuaded to concentrate on the biochemical 

 mechanisms by which physiological demands are translated concomitantly into 

 functional activity and cellular proliferation, this monograph will have been 

 well worth writing". 



In order to provide an idea of the scope of the book, the table of contents is 

 printed below. The book serves the additional purpose of constituting a guide 

 to the extensive literature in the field of organ and tissue growth regulation. 

 The large bibhography is up-to-date till 1963. Unfortunately, an authors' 

 index is lacking. 



The book is illustrated with numerous excellent line drawings and schemes, 

 and a number of photographs. It is concluded by a subject index. 



Contents: I. Introduction, II. Allometry, III. Theoretical, IV. Normal development, V. Wound 

 healing, VI. Lens regeneration, VII. Gross aspects of hypertrophy, VIII. Histological hyper- 

 trophy, IX. Cellular hypertrophy, X. Cellular hyperplasia, XI. Molecular aspects of compen- 

 satory growth, XII. Tissue augmentation, XIII. Humoral growth regulation, XIV. Maternal- 

 foetal relationships, XV. The functional demand theory of growth regulation, XVI. Conclusion. 



20. EXTRACHROMOSOMAL INHERITANCE 



1964 



by J. L. Jinks 

 Foundations of Modern Genetics Series Prentice Hall Inc. 



191 pp., 41 figs. Englewood Qiffs, N. J. 



(paper-bound) 



It is an odd coincidence that two short books on cytoplasmic inheritance, 

 each written by a British scientist, and each directed to the same category of 

 readers, should have appeared in the same year. One is the present book, the 

 other the monograph by D. Wilkie, "The cytoplasm in heredity", which was 

 reviewed in the Supplement to the 10th issue (1964, page 29). 



The two books have of course much in common, and both are written 

 primarily for the use of students. The present book is the larger of the two, and 

 the subject matter is arranged in a more systematical manner. It therefore 

 serves as an introduction to the field also for developmental biologists in 

 general, although the limited number of references is a drawback. The author 

 is an associate of Prof. K. Mather of Birmingham University. 



The introductory chapters ( 1 and 2) discuss cell heredity in general, and the 

 extrachromosomal cell constituents with physical continuity. Chapters 3-6 deal 

 with the criteria of extrachromosomal inheritance and present the evidence 

 that has been collected by their application. Chapters 7-9 are concerned with 

 the nature of the extrachromosomal system, which is still largely hypothetical. 

 Chapters 10 and 11 discuss the relationships between the chromosomal and 



344 



