47 



DEVELOPMENTAL NEUROBIOLOGY. 1970. By M. JACOBSON 



Holt, Rinehart and Winston, New York. Developmental Biology Series. 479 pp., 93 figs., 12 



tabs., subject index. SBN 03 077990 1. £ 7.70 



Contents: 1. Histogenesis and morphogenesis of the nervous system; 2. Transformations 

 during early development of the nervous system; 3. Differentiation, growth, and maturation 

 of neurons; 4. Effects of nutrition, hormones, and metabolic factors on the development of 

 the nervous system; 5. Cellular interactions during neurogenesis; 6. Development of 

 peripheral neural connections with muscles and sensory receptors; 7. Development of cen- 

 tral connections and formation of neuronal circuits 



This book is a worthy successor to Detwiler's Neuroembryology (1936). It is much broader 

 in scope than Hughes' Aspects of neural ontogeny (1968) reviewed in Gen. Embryol. Inf. Serv., 

 Suppl. 12, 1968. According to the preface most of the book is "... an attempt at a selective 

 assembly and arrangement of the great mass of data in the literature dealing with development 

 of the nervous system...". The author, who with his collaborators has contributed greatly to 

 our understanding of the establishment of neuronal connections, shows much skill in presenting 

 a coherent picture on the basis of both older and very recent literature. The treatment is 

 critical and speculation is deliberately kept at a minimum. Another feature of the book is the 

 historical perspective it provides and the tribute it pays to great scientific forebears, foremost 

 among them Ramon y Cajal and Ross Harrison. 



The table of contents sufficiently characterizes the book. The emphasis throughout is on 

 cellular processes, among which the author distinguishes five main kinds: proliferation, 

 migration, growth, interaction, and death. Little or no attention is devoted to the ontogeny 

 of overall patterns of behaviour, particularly in normal animals. It depends on the reader 

 whether this will be considered a defect or not. It should perhaps be mentioned that ch.2 

 contains discussions of polarity, patterns, and intercellular communication during development 

 which do not confine themselves to the nervous system. Ch. 7 ends with a section entitled 

 "Toward a theory of neuronal specificity". 



The book is well produced and illustrated with photographs and good line drawings, all 

 especially prepared for this book. (There are a few errors and omissions in the captions of 

 the figures.) The bibliography covers no less than 116 pages. Unfortunately there is no author 

 index; the subject index could have been more detailed. 



48 



DIFFERENTIATION AND FUNCTION OF THE HYPOPHYSEAL-TARGET ORGAN SYSTEM IN 



CHICKEN EMBRYOS. 1970. By B. MESS and K. STRAZNICKY 



Akademiai Kiado, Budapest. Studia Biologica Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae, no. 9. 100 



pp., 35 figs., 6 tabs., subject index. $ 3.60 



Decapitated chick embryos with or without homografted pituitary; structural and functional 

 relationships between hypothalamus, adenohypophysis, and thyroid and adrenal cortex res- 

 pectively; autoradiography, electron microscopy, hormone essays, thiouracil and metopyrone 

 treatment. 



49 



THE ONTOGENESIS OF CORTICAL CIRCUITRY: THE SPATIAL DISTRIBUTION OF SYNAPSES 

 IN SOMESTHETIC CORTEX OF NEWBORN DOG. 1970. By M. E. MOLLIVER and H. v. d. LOOS 

 Springer, Berlin. Ergebnisse der Anatomie und Entwicklungsgeschichte, Bd. 42, H. 4. 54 pp., 27 

 figs., 1 tab. 



Quantitative electron-microscopic study; selective literature review relative to cortical 

 development. 



343 



