PREFACE 



The present interest that is shown in the problem of growth extends not only to 

 theoretical aspects but also to problems of basic research in cancer. It seems there- 

 fore strange that since 1942 when Joseph Needham's monumental Biochemistry 

 and Morphogenesis appeared, no work giving a comprehensive survey of the present 

 state of our knowledge on this subject has been published; the excellent books 

 Chemical Embryology by Jean Branchet and Analysis of Development edited by Ham- 

 burger, Weiss and Willier cover embryonic growth only. In the past few years a 

 series of highly important and interesting symposia on growth have been published, 

 but a symposium is primarily directed to the specialist and only covers specific 

 problems; it does not pretend to serve as an introduction to the study of a 

 subject. 



Because of these reasons for a long time we have been planning to edit a book 

 on growth, written by prominent specialists. Our intention was that it should be 

 an introduction into various aspects of the growth problem, a kind of stepping 

 stone from which — on the basis of ample references — the reader would be able 

 to go deeper into details of the problems in which he is particularly interested. 

 We hope that the present book will be of interest not only to the biologist who 

 works principally in other fields, but also to all those interested in cancer research 

 and who look for an up-to-date survey of the results in basic cancer research and 

 allied fields. 



The size of this book, which was decided at the start, did not allow all the 

 problems of growth to be included, since such a complete survey would require 

 several volumes. However, in this book the reader will find the most important 

 aspects of this fascinating problem. Owing to lack of space, the contribution of the 

 Editor could not be included, but it will appear as a separate book, also published 

 by Elsevier. 



A new feature is included in the present book: because morphological growth 

 problems are becoming increasingly bound up with biochemistry, which is 

 manifested in practically every chapter, the book starts with a comprehensive 

 summary of intermediary metabolism, written by Dr. S. Kit. This chapter can be 

 either read as a whole, or used as a source of reference to recall certain metabolic 

 pathways or enzymic reactions, referred to in other chapters. 



We wish to express our deep gratitude to Dr. Chauncey D. Leake, Professor of 

 Pharmacology, Ohio University Medical School, and President of the American 

 Association for the Advancement of Science, who — while he was Dean and 

 Executive Director of the University of Texas Medical Branch — brought us 

 into personal contact with the executives of Elsevier, thus contributing to the 

 realization of our plans. 



Our sincere thanks are due to our friend, Dr. John G. Sinclair, Professor of 

 Embryology at the University of Texas Medical Branch, who with his wise 

 council often helped us to make the right decision. He also took over the editorial 

 duties for five months, when the Editor of this book was lecturing as Visiting 

 Professor at the University of Buenos Aires. We also wish to thank our collabo- 

 rator, Mr. William C. Mahaffey, M. Sc, for his help in compiling the Index, and 



