The heritage of experimental embryology: Hans Spemann and the organizer

Abstract

The subject of experimental em- bryology is often thought to have reached its climax in the 1920s, with Spemann's organizer graft experiment of 1924 (for which he subsequently received the Nobel Prize) being seen as the crowning achievement of this period. By the middle of the century, the re- sources of experimental embry- ology seemed to many to have been exhausted. 'If', as Dr Ham- burger says 'experimental embry- ology has become a chapter in the history of biology', perhaps the time has come to record its history and take its measure. This fascinating book by Viktor Ham- burger describes experimental embryology in the Spemann lab during the 1920s and 1930s. There can be no-one better quali- fied to give a personal account of that area, and Dr Hamburger has done a superb job, paying great attention to detail and yet making the book extremely readable and enjoyable. Dr Hamburger worked in the same institute as Spemann in the 1920s, and can therefore report from personal experience what life was like in that laboratory at the time of such famous names as Johannes Holtfreter and Hilde Mangold. So often one can read turgid and indigestible accounts by historians of science about the past, with speculations as to what a long-since deceased scientist may or may not have meant in his writing. This book by Viktor Ham- burger is an entirely different production. Everything in it is from personal experience, and all current embryologists will be fas- cinated to read of the way experi- ments were planned and results assessed in a laboratory which must surely rank as one of the most pre-eminent in this field in history. I suspect that the reason for the, in my view, great success of this book is that it has been written by a scientist who himself has worked in this field through- out his career and with immense distinction. My only criticism of the book is that Viktor Ham- burger has been too modest about his own achievements, he and Johannes Holtfreter being the two most outstanding and suc- cessful colleagues of Spemann. There are so many parts of great interest in this book that it is hard to single out any one for special comment. To me a point of especial interest was the com- parison of activities in the Spemann laboratory based in Freiburg, FRG with those in another major centre of embryo- logical activity, Woods Hole, Massachusetts. It has always sur- prised me to note that the famous textbook of E. B. Wilson entitled