The vertebrate eye has been, and continues to be, an object of interest and of inquiry for biologists, physicists, chemists, psychologists, and others. Quite apart from its important role in the development of ophthalmology and related medical disciplines, the vertebrate eye is an exemplar of the ingenuity of living systems in adapting to the diverse and changing environments in which vertebrates have evolved. The wonder is not so much that the visual system, like other body systems, has been able to adapt in this way, but rather that these adaptations have taken such a variety of forms. In a previous volume in this series (VII/I) Eakin expressed admiration for the diversity of invertebrate photoreceptors. A comparable situation exists for the vertebrate eye as a whole and one object of this volume is to present to the reader the nature of this diversity. One result of this diversification of ocular structures and properties is that the experimental biologist has available a number of systems for study that are unique or especially favorable for the investigation of particular questions in visual science or neurobiology. This volume includes some examples of progress made by the use of such specially selected vertebrate systems. It is our hope that this comparative approach will continue to reveal new and useful preparations for the examination of important questions.

With the research summarized in this monumental two volume treatise, Santiago Ramon y Cajal founded modern neuroscience and thus joined Darwin and Pasteur as the leading biologists of the 19th century. Starting around 1887, Cajal refined a neurological staining method developed almost 15 years earlier by the Italian histologist Camillo Golgi, and applied it first to relatively orderly parts of the nervous systems like the cerebellum, spinal cord, and retina. The conclusions he drew about the organization of neural circuits were, however, diametrically opposed to those advocated by Golgi, spurring an acrimonious debate that lasted well after the two shared the Nobel Prize in 1906. Early on, Cajal concluded that neural circuits are made up of individual units or nerve cells and interact by way of contact, whereas Golgi believed that such circuits are formed by a reticulum or net of contiguous nerve cells. Cajal was the first to see how neurons interact in the brain, laying the foundation for what came to be known as the neuron doctrine. His second great contribution was the ability to predict the direction of information flow in neural circuits based strictly on morphological criteria: dendrites and soma form the input side of a neuron while the axon forms its output side. This became known as the functional polarity hypothesis. Using these two foundation stones, Cajal went on to analyze systematically all parts of the mammalian nervous system, along with selected parts in all classes of vertebrates. A synthesis of that work, this volume, which is accompanied by over 1,000 original illustrations, is based almost entirely on personal observation and offers a wealth of factual, historical, and theoretical information.

This comprehensive textbook on veterinary physiology for undergraduates in veterinary medicine and animal science, as well as for graduate students, practicing veterinarians, and veterinary researchers, has been revised and updated to reflect new developments in the field since the 10th edition of 1984. Forty-two specialists from veterinary schools and research institutions in the US, Canada, Ireland, and Sweden treat the topics of blood, circulation, and the cardiovascular system; respiration and exercise; digestion, absorption, and metabolism; minerals and bones; water balance and excretion; endocrinology, reproduction, and lactation; and the nervous system, special senses, skeletal muscle, and temperature regulation. Annotation copyright by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

The Amphibian Visual System ...