Preface 



With the ever increasing tendency of scientists of different disciplines 

 to integrate and join forces in a concerted attack on a central bio- 

 logical problem, it is perhaps not surprising to find on one podium 

 three cytologists, three biophysicists, four biochemists, two physiol- 

 ogists, two practitioners, and two, if indeed not many, philosophers. 

 Nor is it surprising that having once convened, such a meeting of 

 minds might produce a highly fruitful, sometimes spirited, and gen- 

 erally provocative exchange of view. That men from two hemispheres 

 would gather, during the Christmas holiday no less, to discuss the 

 characteristics, significance, and mechanism of spermatozoan motility 

 is perhaps less to be expected. Nevertheless, it was with such antici- 

 pation in mind that this symposium was conceived and organized, 

 and this volume attests to the success of the venture. 



The problem of sperm motility is literally as old as the microscope 

 itself. Its fascination is apparent to every student of zoology and its 

 phylogenetic ubiquity a signal reminder that Nature is not inclined 

 to change the model merely to be fashionable. The mechanism of 

 sperm movement has long been a perplexing problem, whether 

 viewed as a complex machine dependent on chemomechanical cou- 

 pling processes or as an undulating micro-organelle in hydrodynamic 

 equilibrium with its environment. The ultimate mechanism of sperm 

 flagellation, a central theme of this conference, would seem to bear 

 certain overtones in relation to motile processes in other types of cells, 

 including free-living flagellates, ciliary systems, and muscular tissue 

 as well. The symposium has brought out a number of new facts and 

 some older interrelations bearing on these and similar problems 

 Speculation was frequent and was encouraged; no other area can 

 more appropriately lay claim to Bertrand's timely remark, "Give me 

 three constants and I will draw an elephant; give me four and I will 

 make him wave his trunk." 



Some liberties have been taken in the arrangement of material for 

 publication. The comments of the several able chairmen of the ses- 



