Two contributions are unusual in a book of this kind. The one by Oppen- 

 heimer describes the historical development of the field in the 26 years since 

 the establishment of the Society for the Study of Development and Growth 

 (now the Society for Developmental Biology). The contribution by Wadding- 

 ton is almost entirely theoretical in character; it contains a topological elab- 

 oration of the concept of "chreod" originally coined by the author. A third 

 contribution which deserves special mention is that by Lang, which provides 

 insight into the mode of action of morphogenetic plant hormones, down to the 

 level of molecular biology. 



The book is produced with the utmost care and the numerous illustrations 

 are well-reproduced. The book is concluded by author and subject indexes. 



39 DEVELOPMENT OF ENDOCRINE FUNCTIONS 



DURING FETAL LIFE 

 1966 



Editor: M. S. Mitskevich Publishing House "Nauka" 



308 pp., 96 figs., 13 tbs. Moscow 



Contributors: Altukhova, Arshavsky, Burova, Buznikov, Danilova, Eskin, Falin, Felix, 

 Gromova, Khlystova, Konopatskaya, Kuznetsova, Leibson, Levina, Mazina, Mikhailova, 

 Mitskevich, Moiseyev, Novikov, Ovchinnikova, Pavlova, Rudneva, Sakhatskaya, Shchedrina, 

 Skebelskaya, Smitten, Soboleva, Stabrovsky, Vladimirov, Voitkevich, Volodina, Yakovleva 



This book contains the 23 papers read at an all-Russian symposium held in 

 Moscow in November 1964. It has an Enghsh table of contents and a brief 

 English summary. The majority of the papers range in size from about 10 to 

 20 pages. 



The first three papers more or less have the character of reviews. The intro- 

 ductory paper by Mitskevich describes the present state of the problem, the 

 paper by Leibson discusses the main problems of embryophysiology and em- 

 bryochemistry of endocrine glands, and that by Buznikov deals with phy- 

 siologically active low molecular nervous mediators, such as acetylcholine, 

 serotonin, adrenaline and noradrenaline. 



The other papers are reports of original research. Ten papers present new 

 data on the function of a variety of fetal endocrine glands in man and mammals. 

 The next eight papers discuss the hypothalamo-hypophyseal neurosecretory 

 system in early development and its relationship with peripheral endocrine 

 glands in various vertebrate classes. One paper deals with the role of maternal 

 endocrine glands, and one with the age-specific morphology of the adrenals 

 in infants. 



Much of the literature cited is of course Russian, but the non-Russian 

 literature is also well-represented. The book is illustrated with many graphs 

 and photomicrographs, the latter mostly of not too good quality. The book has 

 no indexes. 



40 ACIDI NUCLEICI E LORO FUNZIONE BIOLOGICA 



(Nucleic acids and their role in biology) 

 1964 

 Editors: E. E. Polli and S. Ranzi Istituto Lombardo 



Antonio Baselli Conference, Milano 1963 Milano 



400 pp., 143 figs., 40 tbs. Price: $ 9.— 



(paper-bound) 



Contributors: Balis (New York, N.Y.), Barbieri (Milano), Bendich (New York, N.Y.), 

 Bernardi (Strasbourg), Bianchessi (Milano), Bianchi (Milano), Borenfreund (New York, 

 N.Y.), Brachet (Bruxelles), Bretscher (Cambridge), Butler (London), Cantoni (Bcthesda, 

 Md.), Comeo (Milano), Crathorn (London), Crawford (Glasgow), Davidson (Glasgow), EH 

 Marco (Milano), Dulbecco (San Diego, Calif.), Ginelli (Milano), Godson (London), Guglielmi 



291 



