The Ontogenetic Basis of Human Anatomy

by BLECHSCHMIDT, ERICH MDFREEMAN, BRIAN

• ISBN13: 9781556435072
• ISBN10: 155643507X
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2004-07-12
• Publisher: North Atlantic Books

Summary

This book presents an anatomical overview of the changing form and structure of the human body. Although biomechanical embryology can be traced back to the 19th century, up until recently the most commonly accepted framework for the study of human ontogeny (development of the individual) was molecular biology, which all too frequently relied on findings from animal experiments that remained untested for humans. German embryologist and anatomist Erich Blechschmidt's research concentrates on the evidence presented by the human embryo itself. He offers a new approach to the study of early human growth as a way to shed light on the development of body build, instincts, gestures, language, mathematics, tools, and dress.

Author Biography

Erich Blechschmidt was an anatomist and embryologist who worked for more than forty years on the problem of human form and the way that form arises in the course of ontogeny, principally during the first eight weeks or so after conception. He has provided us with more than 120 scientific papers and numerous books concerning the development of human form and function. One unique aspect of Blechschmidt's research is that it concentrates on the evidence presented by the human embryo itself, in the form of a comprehensive collection of about 200,000 serial sections of embryos at different ages and sixty-four enlarged total reconstructions at the University of Guttingen (The Blechschmidt Collection and Museum). The sustained investigation of this wealth of material led to a totally new way of looking at early human development, which compels us to re-think older interpretations based mainly on phylogenetic or molecular biological studies. It is possible to see how adult functions arise naturally and consistently from the embryo's earlier growth functions. This present book is a condensation of many of these findings and a presentation of the new viewpoint.
—Brian Freeman, Ph.D. Anatomy, UNSW, from the Preface

Table of Contents

Foreword	xi
Chapter 1: General Introduction	1	(26)
Historical and Philosophical Background	1	(2)
Functionalism: The Concept of Functional Differentiation	3	(2)
The Concept of Phylogeny and Differentiation	5	(4)
The Relation of Embryology to Evolution	9	(3)
Developmental Physiology and the Concept of "Induction"	12	(3)
Molecular Biology and the Concept of "Genetic Information" in Embryology	15	(5)
Differentiation in Biodynamic Metabolic Fields	20	(7)
Chapter 2: Early Human Development	27	(34)
First Week: Development of the One-Chambered Conceptus	28	(5)
Second Week: Development of the Two-Chambered Conceptus	33	(3)
Third Week: Development of the Three-Chambered Conceptus	36	(2)
Formation of the Axial Process	38	(4)
Fourth Week: Formation of the Embryo	42	(19)
Chapter 3: Metabolic Fields	61	(30)
Limiting Tissues and Inner Tissues: A General Description	62	(3)
Limiting Tissues	65	(2)
Wedge Epithelia	67	(3)
Inner Tissues	70	(2)
Corrosion Fields	72	(2)
Suction Fields	74	(2)
Densation Fields	76	(2)
Contusion Fields	78	(1)
Distusion Fields	79	(2)
Retension Fields	81	(3)
Dilation Fields	84	(2)
Detraction Fields	86	(5)
Chapter 4: Nervous System	91	(22)
The Neural Tube	91	(2)
The Central Nervous System: Brain and Spinal Cord	93	(8)
Neurons	101	(1)
The Peripheral Nervous System	102	(11)
Chapter 5: The Major Sense Organs and the Face	113	(20)
Ear	113	(5)
Eye	118	(4)
Nose	122	(1)
The Broad Face of the Embryo	123	(2)
Organs in the Region of the Foregut	125	(8)
Chapter 6: The Organs of Movement	133	(34)
Axial Skeleton	133	(6)
Skull	139	(6)
Muscles	145	(6)
The Limbs	151	(11)
Joints	162	(5)
Chapter 7: Viscera	167	(32)
Heart Development	170	(6)
Descent of the Diaphragm	176	(2)
The Formation of the Major Glandular Organs: Liver, Lungs, Thyroid	178	(9)
Larynx	187	(1)
Lymph Vessels and Lymph Nodes	188	(1)
Excretory Apparatus Including Kidneys	189	(2)
The Gut	191	(5)
Genital Glands (Gonads)	196	(3)
Chapter 8: Human Behavior Patterns Are Initiated through Ontogeny	199	(16)
The Upright Gait	200	(1)
The Somatic Basis for Our Awareness of the Body As an Instrument	201	(4)
Hand Movements As Gestures	205	(6)
Instincts	211	(1)
Human Dress As an Anatomical Atlas	212	(3)
Appendix	215	(13)
Glossary	228	(15)
Selected References	243	(6)
Notes	249	(4)
Index	253