The first essay. "Form, end niid time", is concerned with the nature of 

 biological organisation as such, while the second essay, entitled "The cyber- 

 netics of development", deals with the processes which bring biological orga- 

 nisation into being. 



The following three essays contain considerations of the theory of evolution. 

 They are entitled respectively: "Selection of, for and by", "The organisation 

 of the gene pool", and "The survival of the adaptable". 



After a short philosophical epilogue to the first five essays, which pleads for 

 an epigenetic, rather than a purely phylogenetic consideration of evolution, the 

 last essay treats "Some physico-chemical aspects of biological organisation". 



Extensive sub-headings for each chapter, given in the table of contents, pro- 

 vide a useful "abstract" of the subject matter. The book is concluded by a 

 bibliography and an alphabetical index. 



"EMBRYOGENESIS IN PLANTS" 

 1955 

 by C. W. Wardlaw Methuen & Co. Ltd, London 



381 pp. with 84 figs John Wiley & Sons, Inc., New York 



Price: 45 s. 



In this book — the first of its kind — the author has wanted to give a 

 comprehensive survey of initial development in all classes of plants, thus using 

 the term "embryo" in its wider sense, including germs developing from spores. 



Along with the morphological facts, the author has included, wherever pos- 

 sible, references to the physiological and genetical aspects of development, 

 and to experimental work, thereby acknowledging trends which are much more 

 recent in plant embryology than in the science of animal development. 



Lastly, the author considers the implications of embryology for the problems 

 of phylogeny. in particular the questions of parallel and convergent evolution. 



The book has an extensive bibliography and alphabetical index. It is well 

 printed and the illustrations are generally of good quality. 



"NEW RESEARCH TECHNIQUES OF NEURO-ANATOMY" 



1957 

 edited by W. F. Windle Charles C. Thomas 



(10 contributors) Springfield, 111. 



98 pp. with 25 figs Price: $ 4.75 



This book represents a report of a Symposium sponsored by the National 

 Multiple Sclerosis Society (U.S.A.). Although not bearing strictly on develop- 

 ment, it is worth mentioning here because it supplies important information 

 about recent technical developments in such fields as electron microscopy, sil- 

 ver impregnation, tissue culture and histochemistry. The chapter "Tissue cul- 

 ture studies of neural tissue", by Margaret R. Murray, is of more direct inter- 

 est to embryologists. 



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