16 



This handbook, which is so well organized and so richly illustrated with 

 carefully selected figures from handbooks and publications of other authors, 

 and from the author's own work, can be recommended warmly to all students 

 ;n and outside Germany who arc able to read German. Text and figures 

 actually lead to a dynamic and functional appreciation of this field of morpho- 

 logy, on the success of which we should like to congratulate the author. Each 

 chapter closes with an extensive list of references, which also makes this work 

 very valuable. We should like to suggest, however, that in future editions 

 more developmental aspects be introduced (as is done e.g. for the formation 

 of the teeth), aspects which will certainly facilitate the understanding and 

 appreciation of the often very complex adult structures and structural elements, 

 and which will more easily link histology and microscopical anatomy with 

 macro-anatomy, for which an extensive knowledge of the development is 

 indispensable. 



P. D. NIEUWKOOP 



"PRINCIPLES OF EMBRYOLOGY" 

 1956 

 by C. H. Waddington George Allen & Unwin Ltd 



510 pp. with 186 figs London 



Price: 45 s. 



This textbook has been written for students specializing in this field as 

 well as for research workers in other branches of biology, who want to become 

 acquainted with the present state of knowledge in the field of development. 



This textbook is however not intended to be the student's first contact with 

 embryology, but has been written for the later university years. 



In contradistinction to other textbooks of embryology in which the descriptive 

 data usually form the main body of the book, the author has put the emphasis 

 upon the results of causal analysis, results which have by now given us an 

 insight into many developmental events. We completely agree with the author 

 that it is of very great importance that students become well acquainted with 

 descriptive as well as experimental embryology. 



It is easily understandable that in the systematic part of the book those 

 groups on which the author himself has carried out original work, have received 

 some extra attention. We feel, however, that in a general textbook one should 

 try to give each group equal attention as far as the actual facts are concerned. 

 In this respect we differ in opinion from the author. 



The second part of the book, in which the fundamental mechanisms in 

 development are discussed, gives a very interesting survey of our present 

 knowledge and understanding, showing the ever-increasing complexity of the 

 problems concerned. It has been the great merit of the author to have 

 synthesized the results obtained in the fields of genetics and embryology, for 

 which we want to express our great satisfaction and admiration. It is evident 

 that a similar synthesis of morphological and biochemical data is not yet 

 possible, the latter still being much too fragmentary. 



Not only students, but also many colleagues will be very thankful for the 

 author's attempt to bring the various fundamental aspects of development 

 together in this textbook. We sincerely hope that this book will find a wide 

 distribution in biological as well as medical and veterinary institutitons. 



