this embryologist 's ideas against the historical background 

 of studies of evolution. An analogous article by B. E. Raikov 

 concluded the first volume of Baer's work. 7 The appearance 

 of these articles has reduced the corresponding chapters of 

 the present book, but the author considers it necessary to 

 give a brief, thorough review of the basic works of Wolff 

 and Baer in connection with their other embryological and 

 teratological works. 



The works of Russian embryo logists of the eighteenth 

 and the beginning of the nineteenth centuries — Wolff, 

 Tredern, Pander, M. G. Pavlov, and Baer — are, in part, 

 written in Latin and cannot be read in the original by the 

 majority of our young contemporaries. The literary legacy 

 of Baer is extremely vast and difficult to review. 



It seemed to the author that it is important to 

 explain not only the most important works of the Russian 

 embryologists of the second half of the eighteenth century 

 and the first half of the nineteenth century, but also 

 their less important works, in order to present the contribu- 

 tion which Russian investigators made to world science. The 

 activity of the Russian embryologists coincided closely 

 with the development of world embryological science. The 

 importance of the Russian investigations can be correctly 

 evaluated only in comparison with the works of the foreign 

 embryologists, which are explained by short comments in the 

 present book. Expansion of these excursions into the history 

 of world science did not seem possible without significantly 

 increasing the size of the book. 



In presenting the contents of the Russian embryological 

 works, sometimes sufficiently long extracts are presented 

 that the reader can form an impression not only about the 

 contents, but also about the scientific literary style of 

 the investigations discussed.** 



7. B(oris) ECvgen'evich] Raikov, "On the Life and Scientific 

 Activity of K. M. Baer," in an appendix to K . M. BAER: 

 THE HISTORY OF ANIMAL DEVELOPMENT, Vol. I (Moscow: 

 Akademii nauk , 1950), pp. 383 - 438. 



8. All the citations printed are underlined by the authors of 

 the discussed works permitting the reader to see exactly 

 what the authors, themselves considered most essential in 

 their works . 



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