Back in the Day - Wallingford Lab 2009

"The production of monsters is of little value without a clear insight into the nature of the distortion. "
-Thomas Hall, 1942

"The greatest progressive minds of embryology have not looked for hypotheses; they have looked at embryos." -Jane Oppenheimer, 1955
"I have learned to rely chiefly on the study of the living egg, since prolonged study of preserved specimens has served to convince me of the confusing nature of the evidence derived from comparison of different eggs at different stages." -Edwin O. Jordan, 1893

"...in order to understand how gene transcription and translation relate to gastrulation (and other morphogenetic movements), we must know the discrete cellular changes involved. It is meaningless to talk about genes "controlling gastrulation." It is meaningful only to discuss genic control of detailed cellular events, and eventually their biochemical basis." -J. P. Trinkaus, 1969
"I have not been able to picture to myself clearly the cell-migrations that bring about or are involved in this process. The phenomenon is a most important one, and I regret exceedingly that I have not mastered the situation." -Thomas Hunt Morgan, 1895

Here, then, we are confronted with one of those mysterious looking cases where an organismic principle, not explainable by the combined function of the parts, seems to pervade the system and exert its dictatorial power. Vitalistic sceptics will strongly doubt that further dissecting analysis of single processes will lead to a deeper insight into the apparently superimposed principle of the whole. However, the results of a more intimate analysis of the problem here at hand refute an over-hasty scepticism. The following sections give evidence that the directed movements of embryonic regions can actually be traced back to the basic faculties of the single cells..." -Johannes Holtfreter, 1944

"And reference may be made to those directed cell streams, the existence of which is so important for early differentiation, and the nature of which is so obscure." -Joseph Needham, 1942

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	"The production of monsters is of little value without a clear insight into the nature of the distortion. " -Thomas Hall, 1942
"The greatest progressive minds of embryology have not looked for hypotheses; they have looked at embryos." -Jane Oppenheimer, 1955 "I have learned to rely chiefly on the study of the living egg, since prolonged study of preserved specimens has served to convince me of the confusing nature of the evidence derived from comparison of different eggs at different stages." -Edwin O. Jordan, 1893 "...in order to understand how gene transcription and translation relate to gastrulation (and other morphogenetic movements), we must know the discrete cellular changes involved. It is meaningless to talk about genes "controlling gastrulation." It is meaningful only to discuss genic control of detailed cellular events, and eventually their biochemical basis." -J. P. Trinkaus, 1969		"I have not been able to picture to myself clearly the cell-migrations that bring about or are involved in this process. The phenomenon is a most important one, and I regret exceedingly that I have not mastered the situation." -Thomas Hunt Morgan, 1895
		Here, then, we are confronted with one of those mysterious looking cases where an organismic principle, not explainable by the combined function of the parts, seems to pervade the system and exert its dictatorial power. Vitalistic sceptics will strongly doubt that further dissecting analysis of single processes will lead to a deeper insight into the apparently superimposed principle of the whole. However, the results of a more intimate analysis of the problem here at hand refute an over-hasty scepticism. The following sections give evidence that the directed movements of embryonic regions can actually be traced back to the basic faculties of the single cells..." -Johannes Holtfreter, 1944
"And reference may be made to those directed cell streams, the existence of which is so important for early differentiation, and the nature of which is so obscure." -Joseph Needham, 1942

		Home