Introduction a L'Etude des Malformations. FREE

The authors state in their preface that they attempt to present the major problems posed by malformations in birds and mammals. Subsequently, an overall view of general teratology is given.

Following an historic introduction, the clearly written text is presented in four chapters: 1. The principles of malformations (28 pp); 2. The experimental methods in teratology and their results (40 pp); 3. The mechanisms causing malformations (43 pp); and 4. Etiology of spontaneous malformations (45 pp). In the historic introduction, one misses citation of Meckel's important work. Meckel was the first to apply embryological concepts to human teratology in a systematic way covering the whole spectrum of abnormal development. The publication of Volume 1 of his Handbuch der Pathologischen Anatomie in 1812 denotes the beginning of modern teratology. The authors lean, to a great extent, on Isidore Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire's classic text and the subdivision of chapter I is almost identical