Abstract
THE greater part of this remarkable book appeared in English dress in the Decennial Publications of the University of Chicago, and has been already noticed in our columns. As is well known, Prof. Loeb set himself some years ago the task of discovering chemical or physical methods of stimulating development in unfertilised eggs. Taking every precaution which he could conceive of, he has been able to induce artificial parthenogenesis in the ova of seaurchins, of the annelid Chetopterus, and of the gasteropod Lottia gigantea. He thinks that the list will be added to as our mastery of the technique increases, for he does not believe that there is any essential peculiarity in those ova which develop in response to the artificial stimulation. As to the nature of the stimulation, Loeb is more and more convinced that it depends on setting-up or increasing oxidation processes in the ovum, and also on the synthesis of nuclein substances from the protoplasmic materials. It is possible, he says, that the two processes are interdependent, and that oxidative syntheses take place. Everyone will wish more power to this ingenious experimenter's elbow in his untiring efforts to gain control of life.
Untersuchungen über künstlichen Parthenogenese und das Wesen des Befruchtungsvorgangs.
By Prof. Jacques Loeb. German edition, issued with the author's cooperation, by Prof. E. Schwalbe. Pp. viii + 532. (Leipzig: J. A. Barth, 1906.) Price 7.50 marks.
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Untersuchungen über künstlichen Parthenogenese und das Wesen des Befruchtungsvorgangs . Nature 75, 486 (1907). https://doi.org/10.1038/075486a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/075486a0