119. 



A. R. LIBOFF and R. A. RINALDI, eds. 1974. ELECTRICALLY MEDIATED GROWTH 



MECHANISMS IN LIVING SYSTEMS 



New York Acad, of Sci., New York. Ann. New York Acad, of Sci. 238. 593 pp., 281 figs., 

 53 tabs. $ 38.00 (paper) 



The subject of bio-electricity is an old but still rather fuzzy one. This symposium was 

 purportedly the first ever to bring together scientists of widely varying speciaUzations 

 (physicists, chemists, biologists, and physicians) to discuss their common interests, or at 

 least to discover whether they have a common language to speak in. The contents of the 

 volume are so varied that it is impossible to review it in detail. However, anyone who 

 takes an interest in this subject is sure to find something of interest in it. The participants 

 were mostly North American, but there is a fair sprinkling of contributors from other 

 continents. 



There are 46 short to medium-length papers, which are arranged in three sections as 

 follows: Physical and chemical studies (16 papers); Biological studies (18); and Clinical 

 studies (12). In section I the main emphasis is on the properties of hard tissues. In section 

 II the attention turns largely to cellular and supracellular aspects. This section contains at 

 least half a dozen papers that are of direct relevance to developmental biology (to 

 mention some authors: R. O. Becker, Harrington, L. Weiss, Jaffe, Brick, Woodruff, Katz- 

 berg). The last section deals largely with bone growth, bone and cartilage fracture healing, 

 and vertebrate Umb and tissue regeneration. Most papers are followed by brief group 

 discussions, and there are longer panel discussions at the end of each section. 



The volume is profusely illustrated. It has no indexes. 



120. 



G. RASPE and S. BERNHARD, eds. 1974. HORMONES AND EMBRYONIC DEVELOP- 

 MENT. 



Pergamon, Oxford, etc.; Vieweg, Braunschweig. Adv. in the Biosciences 13. VIII,252 pp., 

 145 figs. DM45.00 



This symposium brought together 13 scientists of various specializations to discuss a 

 number of open questions in this area from embryological, endocrinological, and pharma- 

 cological viewpoints. Eight of the participants came from West Germany. Some of the 

 contributions are research reports but most are reviews of recent work by the authors and 

 others. The discussions are not recorded. 



Most of the contributions deal with sexual development (including behaviour) and 

 with the state of pregnancy in mammals including man. One deals with indirect and direct 

 actions of ovarian hormones on the blastocyst. Four contributions are by the Schering 

 group for endocrine pharmacology (Neumann, Elger, and others). 



The book is well printed and illustrated. 



METHODS (see also 2,26) 



Treatises 



121. 



T. A. DETTLAFF, V. Ya. BRODSKIJ and G. G. GAUZE, eds. 1974. METHODS IN 

 BIOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENT, experimental embryology, molecular biology, and cyto- 

 logy (in Russian) 



Publ. House Nauka, Moscow. Series: Problems in Biological Development. 619 pp., 

 107 figs., 13 tabs. 



Handbook written by more than 60 authors. Three main parts: Experimental methods 

 for living objects in early stages of development; Biochemical and molecular-biological 



235 



