ters, but its history Is Integrated into the whole changing Dio- 

 loglcal scene of the 19th century, exemplified in other chapters 

 Dy cell theory, evolution, anthropology, and physiology. The 

 book clearly brings out the change from the early preoccupation 

 of biologists with the historical explanation of form towards 

 the more modern causal-analytical approach typical of the latter 

 part of the century. The first chapter sketches the emergence of 

 a unified science of biology in the early part of the century, 

 while the last chapter focusses on the advent of the experimen- 

 tal ideal, which made biology what it is today. 



The book is concluded by a valuable critical bibliography in 

 the form of an essay. It Is illustrated with some facsimiles and 

 with figures and tables taken from some of the leading works of 

 the 19th century, all provided with captions establishing the 

 necessary links with the text. The book is attractively produced. 



MISCELLANEOUS ITEMS 



Textbooks 



90. 



H.ELIAS. 1971. BASIC HUMAN ANATOMY as seen in the fetus 



Green, St. Louis. XIV, 159 pp., many figs., subject index. $ 16.50 



Although strictly speaking this book is not about developmen- 

 tal biology, it will be of Interest to teachers of embryology 

 and anatomy alike. The underlying idea is that a first introduc- 

 tion to human gross anatomy can be provided by using human fe- 

 tuses (obtained from spontaneous abortion wards). The author has 

 used this approach at the Chicago Medical School at the very oe- 

 ginning of the anatomical curriculum, during the embryology 

 course. He uses formalin-fixed, deep-frozen fetuses which are 

 cut into slices or dissected, and then studied with a magnifying 

 glass. The phbtographical illustrations in the book are based on 

 such material. 



The book is in two parts, the first being a series of chapters 

 covering general body organization and the organ systems, and 

 the second an atlas without text. The first part has numerous 

 photographs placed in the text; important structures are printed 

 in bold face and are linked to the figures with often long and 

 tortuous pointers. The figures have no separate captions, and 

 the resulting lay-out often makes the text difficult to read. 

 The first part mentions salient features and structures only. 

 The atlas is much more fully labelled and consists of full-page 

 photographs of one median, four coronal, and twenty transverse 

 sections (or rather "slices") at various body levels, all taken 

 from fetuses of ^5 months. 



The book is printed on heavy-quality glossy paper and the 

 quality and reproduction of the photographs is generally very 

 good. The index serves as a glossary as well, and explains the 

 Latin and Greek roots of anatomical terms. 



Monographs 



h!m. SMITH and R.B.SMITH. 1971. SYNOPSIS OF THE HERPETOFAUNA OF 

 MEXICO. Vol.1, Analysis of the literature on the Mexican axolotl 

 Lundberg, Augusta. XXVII, 245 pp., 6 figs., subject Index, index 

 of co-authors, index of serial abbreviations, $ 10.00 



"The most famous animal of Mexico, at least in the scientific 



49 



