1895 ATLAS FERTILIZATION OVUM Microscope Photography EXCEEDINGLY RARE BOOK ~ CELL BIOLOGY FERTILITY EMBRYOS Start Price USD 24.00 Current Price USD 104.49 Time Left - Bid Count 8 Buy It Now Price - Reserve Price - Start Time Monday, November 17, 2008 End Time Monday, November 24, 2008 Location Vermont See more about '1895 ATLAS FERTILIZATION OVUM Microscope Photography' Description An Atlas Of the Fertilization and Karyokinesis of the Ovum. By Edmund B. Wilson, Ph.D.Professor of Invertebrate Zoology in Columbia CollegeWith the Cooperation ofEdward Leaming, M.D.Instructor in Photography at the College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia College. It is the object of this work to place before teachers and students of biology a series of figures, photographed directly from nature, to illustrate some of the principal phenomena in the fertilization and early development of the animal ovum. In no branch of biological inquiry has knowledge advanced of late with such rapid strides as in the new science of cytology, which deals with the internal phenomena of cell-life. Within the past two decades this science has brought forward discoveries relating to the fertilization of the egg and the closely related subjects of cell-division and karyokinesis that have called forth, on the part of Weismann and others, some of the most important and suggestive discussions of the post-Darwinian biology. These discoveries must in some measure be dealt with by every modern text-book of morphology or physiology, yet they belong to a region of observation inaccessible to the general reader or student, since it can only be approached by means of a refined histological technique applied to special objects not ordinarily available for practical study or demonstration. A knowledge of the subject must, therefore, as a rule, be acquired from text-books in which drawings are made to take the place of the real object. But no drawing, however excellent, can convey an accurate mental picture of the real object. It is extremely difficult for even the most skillful draughtsman to represent the exact appearance of protoplasm and of the delicate and complicated apparatus of the cell. The best drawing must necessarily be in some measure schematic and embodies a considerable subjective element of interpretation ; it is, moreover, impossible adequately to reproduce it in a black and white text-book figure. The photograph, whatever be its shortcomings (and no photograph can do full justice to nature), at least gives an absolutely unbiassed representation of what appears under the microscope; it contains no subjective element, save that involved in focussing the instrument, and hence conveys a true mental picture. Even a technically perfect photograph, however, is defective in that it sharply reproduces only what is seen at a single level of the focus. In using high powers, moreover, the sharp image at the exact focus is always blurred to some extent by indistinct images of higher and lower levels, and this is the case with even the thinnest sections. Protoplasm is thus made to appear in the photograph more coarsely granular than it does to the eye, the asters are less sharp and brilliant, the apparent size of chromosomes and other minute bodies may be slightly exaggerated, etc. Nevertheless, on the whole, these unavoidable defects of the photograph introduce negative rather than positive errors, — they are faults of omission rather than commission, — and I believe that the photographic plates here presented give, on the whole, a clear and accurate impression of the preparations. How far, then, do the preparations themselves correspond with the conditions existing in life, and what sources of error may be sought in the methods of preservation . This question is always a difficult one to answer in work of this character, since, as a rule, many of the most important elements of cell-structure are invisible in life, and can only be brought to view by means of suitable fixation, staining, and clearing. In the present case, however, the eggs are so transparent as to show many of the phenomena (though by no means all) in life so that the preparations could be carefully tested by direct comparison with the living object. The result of such tests, which have been very carefully made, shows that the methods employed afford preparations whose general fidelity to nature is beyond question, and I believe, for reasons stated below, that they may be trusted even for the minutest details....The plates of this atlas are reproduced from photographs of the eggs of the sea-urchin, Toxopncustcs variegatus, Ag., procured at Beaufort, N.C. The eggs, carefully selected from ripe females, were artificially fertilized in sea-water, and preserved at regular intervals. The eggs of this species have the great advantage of being devoid of pigment and very transparent, so that nuclei, asters, and spindles can be clearly seen and their general history followed in life. -Preface New York: Published for the Columbia University Press by Macmillan & Co., 1895. Exceedingly rare first edition. Large thin volume, 11.5 x 13 inches, 32pp. +10 full page plates. Many other illustrations in text. Original blue cloth boards, quite worn, esp. at spine; spinestrip coming undone. Ex-library with markings. One plate detached, some light edgewear to text. Impossible to find another such volume these days. "Edmund Beecher Wilson (October 19, 1856 – March 3, 1939) was a pioneering American zoologist and geneticist. Wilson was born in Geneva, Illinois, and graduated from Yale in 1878. He earned his doctorate at Johns Hopkins in 1881. He was a lecturer at Williams College in 1883-84 and at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1884-85. He served as professor of biology at Bryn Mawr College from 1885 to 1891. He spent the balance of his career at Columbia University where he was successively adjunct professor of biology (1891-94), professor of invertebrate zoology (1894 - 1897), and professor of zoology (from 1897). Wilson is credited as America's first cell biologist. In 1898 he used the similarity in embryos to describe phylogenetic relationships. By observing spiral cleavage in molluscs, flatworms and annelids he concluded that the same organs came from the same group of cells and concluded that all these organisms must have a common ancestor. He also discovered the chromosomal XY sex-determination system in 1905—that males have XY and females XX sex chromosomes. Nettie Stevens independently made the same discovery the same year. Professor Wilson published many papers on embryology, and served as president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 1913." -wikipedia ********** Sales tax for Vermont buyers. International buyers please note only airmail is available. Payment must be received within seven days of auction's end. Please do not inquire about ending an auction early. I reserve the right to not sell to those whose trustworthiness is questionable. Please note that I never use Second Chance Offers and that all such offers should be viewed as highly suspicious. My books & other items are fully guaranteed and may be returned within seven days of receipt if not as described. Good luck. Take care. On Nov-16-08 at 19:21:18 PST, seller added the following information: Use the FREE Counters 1 million sellers do - Vendio! Place a Bid!