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Classic Works on Human Development



The Foetus As A Personality

Sir Albert W. Liley (the Father of Fetal Therapy):

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From, A.W. Liley, “The Foetus as a Personality,” Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry (1972) Vol 6: 99
Reproduced with permission.

Note from the Editors:

Sir William Liley was one of the fathers of fetal therapy and paradoxically one of the greatest early influences acting to retard the development of fetal surgery. If the group in Auckland, New Zealand, had not been so outstandingly successful in the development of percutaneous fetal transfusions, then fetal surgery would have had to have developed to a point where major fetal surgery could have been routine by this time. His untimely death in 1983 robbed the field of fetal therapy of a mentor of incredible experience, breadth of vision and wisdom.

This paper was based on an invited paper delivered to the Eighth Annual Congress of the Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatry in October, 1971. A wide variety of facts about fetal physiology are reviewed, exploding the myth of the foetus as a passenger carried to term, and pointing out that the foetus is an active, developing individual responding to his environment in ways designed to improve his comfort. Liley’s humor and tremendous breadth of knowledge are both amply illustrated in this article. He is sorely missed.



Atlas of Human Embryos

Raymond F. Gasser PhD:

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From Gasser RF. Atlas of Human Embryos. 1975.
Reproduced with permission.

Excerpt from the Preface:

The most important and yet most difficult part of gross anatomy is the understanding and remembering of adult anatomic relations. This task is made easier if one is aware of early prenatal conditions when the body is more simply arranged. The most logical and meaningful way to formulate concepts and principles of adult anatomy is to become familiar first with the embryonic form. This knowledge will better enable one to relate and store the voluminous details of adult anatomy.

This atlas was assembled with the hope that it will help students obtain a firm foundation on which to organize and understand adult human anatomy. It may also serve investigators as a reference for the arrangement of normal human embryos during the period when most birth defects occur.



Developmental Stages in Human Embryos

Ronan O'Rahilly and Fabiola Müller:

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From O'Rahilly and Müller. Developmental Stages in Human Embryos. 1987.
Reproduced with permission.

Excerpt from the Preface:

During the past one hundred years of human embryology, three landmarks have been published: the Anatomie der menschlichen Embryonen of His (1880–1885), the Manual of Human Embryology by Keibel and Mall (1910–1912), and Streeter's Developmental Horizons in Human Embryos (1942–1957, completed by Heuser and Corner). Now that all three milestone volumes are out of print as well as in need of revision, it seems opportune to issue an updated study of the staged human embryo.

The objectives of this monograph are to provide a reasonably detailed morphological account of the human embryo (i.e., the first eight weeks of development), a formal classification into developmental stages, a catalogue of the preparations in the Carnegie Collection, and a reference guide to important specimens in other laboratories. The Carnegie staging system has now been accepted internationally and, when carefully applied, allows detailed comparisons between the findings at one institution and those at another.