Few concise summaries of the cardinal concepts and salient data of teratology are available to the general reader. This volume, one of the series, Monographies de physiologie causale, succeeds, with brevity of style and careful organization, in such a panoramic presentation without an overwhelming array of minutiae.
The main chapters reveal the scope of the book: "Les principales malformations," "Les methodes expérimentales en teratologie et leur resultats," "Les mecanismes réalisateurs des malformations," and "Etiologie des malformations spontanées." Each chapter summarizes a wealth of information and the consistent inclusion of comparative data provides insight into the impressive complexity of teratogenesis. The sections devoted to genetic factors in malformations, "chemoteratogenesis," and the pharmacological aspects of developmental abnormalities receive particular attention. The discussion of mechanisms of teratogenesis will particularly interest those concerned with the still mysterious process of normal embryonic development and, although it may be questioned whether their classification according to the