Gilbert, Scott F.

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Swarthmore College Works Biology Faculty Works Biology 3-1-1995 Review Of "Correspondence: Karl Ernst Von Baer [1792-1876] And Anton Dohrn [1840-1909]" By C. Groeben And J. Oppenheimer Scott F. Gilbert Swarthmore College, sgilber1@swarthmore.edu This work is brought to you for free and open access by . It has been accepted for inclusion in Biology Faculty Works by an authorized administrator of Works. For more information, please contact myworks@swarthmore.edu. Follow this and additional works at: https://works.swarthmore.edu/fac-biology  Part of the Biology Commons Let us know how access to these works benefits you  Recommended Citation Scott F. Gilbert. (1995). "Review Of "Correspondence: Karl Ernst Von Baer [1792-1876] And Anton Dohrn [1840-1909]" By C. Groeben And J. Oppenheimer". Quarterly Review Of Biology. Volume 70, Issue 1. 60-61. https://works.swarthmore.edu/fac-biology/384   The University of Chicago Press is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to The Quarterly Reviewof Biology.http://www.jstor.orgReview Author(s): Scott Gilbert Review by: Scott Gilbert Source:   The Quarterly Review of Biology, Vol. 70, No. 1 (Mar., 1995), pp. 60-61Published by:  The University of Chicago PressStable URL:  http://www.jstor.org/stable/3037134Accessed: 21-04-2015 17:51 UTCYour use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at  http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jspJSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of contentin a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship.For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.This content downloaded from 130.58.65.20 on Tue, 21 Apr 2015 17:51:05 UTCAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and ConditionsVOLUME 70, No. 1 THE QUARTERLY RE VIEW OF BIOLOGY MARCH 1995 REVIEWS AND BRIEF NOTICES History, Philosophy & Ethics .......... ...... 60 General Biology ................................. 62 For Tyros & Laics ............................. 64 Paleontology ................................. 66 Molecular Biology .............................. 70 Cellular Biology ................................ 72 Genetics & Evolution ...................... .... 74 Reproduction & Development ......... ...... 79 Microbiology ................................. 80 Botanical Sciences .............................. 82 Zoological Sciences ............................. 85 Aquatic Sciences ................................ 91 Environmental Sciences ............... ........ 96 Neural Sciences ................................. 107 Animal Behavior ............................... 109 Human Biology & Health ............ ........ 113 Biomedical Sciences ............................ 118 De Omnibus Rebus et Quibusdam Aliis ... 121 HISTORY, PHILOSOPHY & ETHICS THE BIOLOGICAL CENTURY: FRIDAY EVENING TALKS AT THE MARINE BIOLOGICAL LABORATORY. Edited by Robert B. Barlow, Jr., John E. Dowling, and Gerald Weissmann, with Pamela L. Clapp. The Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole (Massa- chusetts), distributed by Harvard University Press, Cam- bridge (Massachusetts). $45.00. xiv + 289 p.; ill.; index. ISBN: 0-674-07403-3. 1993. In eleven valuable and eminently readable essays, this volume looks at the Biological Century through the lens of the pioneering contributions of many ar- chitects of modern biology, all associated with the Ma- rine Biological Laboratory (MBL) in Woods Hole. Based on the renowned "Friday Evening Talks" given during the centennial year of MBL in 1988, the essays also reflect the individual approach the authors (speakers) have chosen to convey their ap- praisal of some crucial discoveries upon which the biological revolution is based. Appropriately, the first essay by G. Weissmann deals with the reductionist postulate that biological phenomena can be analysed in terms of physics and chemistry. "[Uacques] Loeb was the leader of the new, mechanistic school of American biology the adherents of which tried to explain the phe- nomena of biology by the equations of physics and not the quirky logic of vitalism" (p. 9). The centen- nial year of MBL in 1988 was highlighted by a dedicatory lecture in his honor. Further essays fo- cus on the pioneering work of T. H. Morgan and A. H. Sturtevant (byJ. H. Lederberg); of E. G. Conklin and F. R. Lillie on developmental biology (by J. B. Gurdon); of A. Szent-Gyorgyi on bio- chemistry (by B. Kaminer); of K. R. Porter on cell ultrastructure (by S. Inoue); of W. J. V. Oster- hout on ion permeability in membranes (by C. L. Slayman); of K. C. Cole and A. L. Hodgkin on the electrophysiology of the squid axon (by C. M. Armstrong); of S. Hecht and G. Wald on the molec- ular basis of vision (by M. L. Applebury); of H. E. Hartline and S. W. Kuffler on visual perception (by T. Wiesel); of C. 0. Whitman and W. H. Wheeler on behavioral biology (by E. 0. Wilson); and of S. F. Baird, H. Bigelow, and K. Redfield on ecology (by J. E. Hobbie and J. B. Pearce). This volume reflects the impact of the work and ideas of the above great scientists in the Biological Century. The essays are not intended to convey an overview of a century of discoveries at MBL; some readers would have appreciated a brief indi- cation of how the seminal discoveries were carried further by researchers at the laboratory. Still, this volume also represents a contribution to the histor- ical record of 100 years of existence of the foremost marine biological laboratory in the USA. ARNOST KLEINZELLER, Physiology, University ofPenn- sylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania CORRESPONDENCE: KARL ERNST VON BAER [1792- 1876], ANTON DOHRN [ 1840-1909]. Transactions of the American Philosophical Society, Volume 83, Part 3. Edited by Christiane Groeben; Introduction by Jane M. Oppenheimer, translated by Christiane Groeben and Jane M. Oppenheimer. The American Philosophical Society, Philadelphia (Pennsylvania). $15.00 (paper). v + 156 p.; ill.; index of names. ISBN: 0-87169- 833-1. 1993. It is a privilege to listen to intelligent scientists discussing important ideas. The scientists are Karl Ernst von Baer, discoverer of the mammalian egg, 60 This content downloaded from 130.58.65.20 on Tue, 21 Apr 2015 17:51:05 UTCAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and ConditionsMARCH 1995 NEWBIOLOGICAL BOOKS 61 premier comparative embryologist, and elder states- man of Russian biology (77 years old when the corre- spondence begins); and Anton Dohrn, 29-year-old embryologist/musician/entrepreneur, whose newly minted Habilitationsshrift concerned the embryol- ogy and phylogeny of arthropods. The ideas are those of evolution and the formation of an interna- tional facility for embryological research. Dohrn had the grand idea of a research center at Naples, whe e scientists from all over the world could study embryology and evolution. He pro- posed to fund this institute by selling tickets to its public aquarium and subscriptions to its journal, and most importantly, by renting "Tables" to gov- ernments and organizations. These Tables were to include aquaria, equipment, and skilled technical staff. This solution worked, and numerous young American embryologists - Morgan, Wilson, Ste- vens, among others -met their famous European colleagues while at the Smithsonian Table or the American Women's Table. In many of these letters, Dohrn tries (successfully) to convince von Baer to lend his good name to the project and to convince the Russian government to rent Tables. The fact that von Baer went out of his way to help this young biologist is a testament to the liber- ality of the great embryologist. Dohrn followed Haeckel's hypothesis that ontogeny recapitulated phylogeny, a view that von Baer ridiculed. Von Baer also did not believe Dohrn's contention that a structure in an organism could be modified for some other function in its descendants. He cer- tainly didn't believe Dohrn's specific theory that annelids had converted their ventral structures into dorsal structures and were the ancestors of verte- brates. Von Baer wrote that he didn't doubt evolu- tion, but that he doubted the efficacy of natural selection to produce the animal forms. Von Baer believed that more research was the answer and that Dohrn had made that possible. He wrote to Dohrn: "Be that as it may, let us not quarrel about Darwinism, etc; in any case by founding an estab- lishment where development can be carefully stud- ied because of the possibility of maintaining em- bryos alive, you have taken a step that will provide the bridle and reins for Darwin's speculations if bridle and reins are needed. If you do not find the reins in Naples, then they probably are not needed after all" (pp. 80-81). ScoTT GILBERT, Biology, Swarthmore College, Swarth- more, Pennsylvania IMAGES OF SCIENCE: A HISTORY OF SCIENTIFIC IL- LUSTRATION. By BrianJ. Ford. Oxford University Press, New York. $45.00. viii + 208 p.; ill.; index. ISBN: 0-19- 520983-4. 1993. This volume is typical of the kind of book one might find at an airport bookstall or at a museum gift shop. It is tailored to satisfy the curiosity of people who browse through a collection of natural- istic figures only once in their life and never again. From this point of view, the subtitle, A History of Scientific Illustration, seems a bit excessive. The text deals with the development of scientific illustration in eight chapters that cover beginnings, anatomy, zoology, botany, minerals and machinery, geogra- phy, astronomy, and microscopy. For each of these fields the exposition is chronological; philosophical, scientific, technical, and economic implications are not examined. Iconography (approximately 200 illustrations) seems to be selected on the basis of availability rather than exemplary models or any correlation with the text. Layout requirements re- sulted in enough disorganization to cause even spe- cialists to lose their way. The index is excellent. It could be even better with an index of the sources of illustrations. In the Introduction the author states that there are two main aims in scientific illustration: didac- tics and the recording of the state of human under- standing. Though he admits that there are hidden influences and cultural pressures underlying what people choose to illustrate (p. 2), unfortunately he does not go deeply into this crucial point. Conse- quently he formulates hypotheses that are frankly untenable: that the mosaics of fishes in Pompei may have had a didactic use (pp. 2 and 17). For whom? Fishermen, cooks in patrician houses, or schoolboys? Or that the distortion in figures of medieval herbals may be voluntary in order to confine the knowledge of herbs to the cognoscenti (p. 97). On the other hand, the author defines the idea of scientific icons very well. These are illustra- tions copied by unscrupulous illustrators that fre- quently gave rise to iconographic traditions that lasted for centuries (p. 56, Diirer's rhino; p. 72, Gessner's hyena). The author may have exploited the concept of icon not only for post-Renaissance zoological illustrations but also for botanical and anatomical illustrations of the classic and medieval eras. But it seems that illustration in manuscripts was less in favor than the printed illustration, per- haps because it was better known or more acces- sible. Let me note, in passing, some inaccuracy in captions. It is improperly stated that "the publication in 1531 of Otto Brunfels's Novi Herbarii marked a move towards a representational strand of botanical illustration" (p. 85). However, it is correctly stated that "botany took its greatest step with the publica- tion of the Herbarum vivae eicones (1530-36) by Otto Brunfels" (p. 89). The caption on page 85 might more usefully have translated the Latin explanation of the figure Viola tricolor (Herba Trinitatis). Everybody realized that poor Brunfels neither knew the Dioscor- ide's name nor the correct current name (H. Trinitatis wasAnemonehepatica, not Viola tricolor) but, as he says, This content downloaded from 130.58.65.20 on Tue, 21 Apr 2015 17:51:05 UTCAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

Review Of  Correspondence: Karl Ernst Von Baer [1792-1876] And Anton Dohrn [1840-1909]  By C. Groeben And J. Oppenheimer

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Review Of Correspondence: Karl Ernst Von Baer [1792-1876] And Anton Dohrn [1840-1909] By C. Groeben And J. Oppenheimer

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