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DOMESTIC
ESSENTIALS OF
ANIMAL
EMBRYOLOGY
Commissioning Editor: Robert Edwards, Joyce Rodenhuis
Development Editor: Nicola Lally
Project Manager: Nancy Arnott
Designer/Design direction: Charles Gray
Illustration Manager: Merlyn Harvey
Illustrator: Oxford Illustrators
DOMESTIC
ESSENTIALS OF
ANIMAL
EMBRYOLOGY
By
Poul Hyttel
University of Copenhagen, Denmark
Fred Sinowatz
LMU Munich, Germany
Morten Vejlsted
University of Copenhagen, Denmark
Foreword by
Eric W. Overström, Ph.D.
Professor and Head
Department of Biology & Biotechnology
Director, Life Sciences & Bioengineering Center
Worcester Polytechnic Institute
Worcester, Massachusetts
Edinburgh London New York Oxford Philadelphia St Louis Sydney Toronto 2010
First published 2010, © Elsevier Limited. All rights reserved.
No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or
mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without
permission in writing from the publisher. Permissions may be sought directly from Elsevier’s Rights
Department: phone: (+1) 215 239 3804 (US) or (+44) 1865 843830 (UK); fax: (+44) 1865 853333; e-mail:
healthpermissions@elsevier.com. You may also complete your request online via the Elsevier website at
http://www.elsevier.com/permissions.
ISBN 978-0-7020-2899-1
Notice
Neither the Publisher nor the Editors assume any responsibility for any loss or injury and/or damage to
persons or property arising out of or related to any use of the material contained in this book. It is the
responsibility of the treating practitioner, relying on independent expertise and knowledge of the patient,
to determine the best treatment and method of application for the patient.
The Publisher
The
Working together to grow publisher’s
policy is to use
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from sustainable forests
www.elsevier.com | www.bookaid.org | www.sabre.org
Printed in China
CONTENTS
Several highly qualified scientists have demonstrated their willingness to contribute to the book project.
vii
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PREFACE
For me, some of the most exciting and glorious spotlight that, in my view, obliges contemporary
moments in teaching gross anatomy of the domestic embryologists to participate in scientifically based
animals have occurred during days shared with societal debates.
open-minded students surrounded by steel tables For a while, ever more sophisticated assisted
full of pregnant uteri and fetuses in the dissection reproduction technologies moved the “cutting edge”
room. To examine those fetal specimens is to open of embryological research out of the body and into
an anatomy book; a book in which each organ and the in-vitro environment. However, the expansion
structure is perfectly defined and its developmental of this field to encompass embryonic stem cells has
history is perfectly retained – truly the optimal situ- refocused us on the embryo per se; the control of
ation for memorable anatomical “Aha-Erlebnishen” stem cell differentiation in vitro will depend abso-
for students and teachers alike! lutely on fundamental knowledge of the molecular
Embryology has always been a prerequisite for a regulation of developmental processes in vivo. The
real understanding of gross anatomy and of the tera- embryo itself has become the key to success – the
tology that results from development going awry. circle is closed!
Today, however, it is that and much more besides; “Cutting edges” are these days fashioned from an
contemporary biomedical research requires embry- amalgam of conventional embryology, genomics,
ology (or, rather, developmental biology) to play a transcriptomics and epigenomics applied to the
central role in its progress – a role with important investigation of the molecular mechanisms of
societal implications. Assisted reproduction tech- developmental biology. Information is growing
nologies, for example, are as much applied to exponentially, and to combine in-depth molecular
domestic animals as to humans in which vitro fer- understanding with overall holistic embryology is a
tilization has become a common step ex soma to challenge – a challenge that becomes crystal clear
bridge one generation of mankind to the next. In when writing a textbook on the essentials of domes-
the domestic animals, techniques such as cloning by tic animal embryology! For years, teaching the
somatic cell nuclear transfer have made possible subject has been hampered by the lack of such a
genetic modifications that offer the prospects of textbook and medical embryology textbooks were
modifying animals so that they produce valuable used as a poor compromise. By 2006, when McGaedy
proteins, serve as models of human diseases, or et al published their welcome textbook on veteri-
provide organs for xenotransplantation in the future. nary embryology, we had already embarked on the
All of these prospects depend upon a thorough present book with the goal of making our own
knowledge of embryology and many of them are research material, collected over several decades,
contentious. They put the discipline in an ethical palatable and stimulating for students. Working
Preface
towards this goal has been a great experience for us “Aha-Erlebnis” in the wondrous world of
and we hope that you the reader will find that we embryology!
have accomplished at least part of what we intended.
Future improvements, of course, will depend largely Poul Hyttel
on feedback and I would much appreciate receiving Vidiekjaer
constructive criticism. Valby, Denmark
In the meantime, it is my sincere wish that June 3, 2009
reading this book may lead you into at least one
My painting (2003) of the open horizon of Skagen, Denmark, where I grew up and was ‘imprinted’. I see embryology in the
same light: a vista with infinite potentials that are just waiting to be realized.
x
FOREWORD
Over the last 20 years, modern life science research Patton’s 1927 benchmark publication in English,
efforts have rapidly advanced our knowledge of the Embryology of the Pig, provided a wonderfully illus-
normal and abnormal processes of domestic animal trated, descriptive account of this often utilized
development. As our depth of understanding of the example of mammalian embryonic development.
cellular and molecular mechanisms has grown, so A concise descriptive publication of development
too has the recognition of the potential for, and in the pig, The Embryonic Pig: A Chronological
successful application of, this knowledge to enhance Account, was later published by A.W. Marrable in
animal-based food and fiber production. It is during 1971. In 1984, Drew Noden and Alexander de
embryo and fetal development, from the formation Lahunta, similarly recognizing the lack of an ade-
of competent gametes to parturition, that powerful quate text on domestic species embryology that
advancements in molecular genetic manipulation would be useful for veterinary students, published
and assisted reproductive technologies are employed, The Embryology of Domestic Animals: Developmental
and these efforts have had profound impact on Mechanisms and Malformations. An important con-
animal production worldwide. As a result of these tribution to veterinary curricula for many years to
advances, there remains an unmet need for a con- follow, this book presented traditional system-by-
temporaneous text of domestic animal development system descriptive material on the developmental
to support education and training of today’s veteri- anatomy of domestic species including birds, and
narians, animal scientists and developmental biolo- the authors also included many relevant experimen-
gists. Essentials of Domestic Animal Embryology fulfills tal and clinical case references throughout the book.
this need by providing the student, the instructor Unfortunately, a revised edition was not forthcom-
and the veterinary practitioner with an in depth ing, and is not currently available. More recently,
presentation of the elaborate, chronological proc- the finely detailed German text, Lehrbuch der
esses that culminate in formation of functional Embryologie der Haustiere (1991), was published by
embryonic structures from the development of Imogen Russe and Fred Sinowatz (current co-
gametes through the peri-partum period. As our author). Excellent illustrations and micrographs
understanding of the precisely orchestrated proc- characterize this comprehensive embryology refer-
esses of animal development advances, and animal ence text of domestic species. Printed only in
genomes are further unveiled and analyzed, the German, broad international adoption has been
importance of animal development becomes central limited. In 2006, McGaedy and colleagues pub-
to understanding and enhancing animal growth, lished Veterinary Embryology, a text targeting the
sustaining health and determining the underlying particular needs of the veterinary student. Accord-
causes of disease. ingly, the publication of Essentials of Domestic
Although there continues to be available a Animal Embryology is particularly timely as it fills a
number of quality texts of human embryology (for resource void for those students keen to study and
example Langman’s Medical Embryology), focus on a understand the fundamental processes of animal
single species remains a serious limitation for vet- development, be they students, instructors, research
erinary and animal science audiences and prevents scientists or veterinary practitioners.
a thorough view of the wide and distinct variations On reflection, this book project was conceived
that exist among domestic animal species, with following from a discussion Poul and I had during
particular reference to processes of blastogenesis, a scientific meeting in 2000. As we shared and com-
implantation and placentation. Certainly, Bradley pared our experiences teaching animal embryology
Foreword
and anatomy to veterinary students, there was and has received formal awards and recognition, as
mutual recognition that a modern text in domestic well as continuous accolades from students for his
animal development was sorely needed to contrib- passion and dedicated commitment to teaching.
ute to the essential academic underpinnings for 21st Under his direction, Poul has assembled a distin-
century veterinary and animal science curricula. To guished international group of contributing co-
appeal to a more global audience, contributions authors including professor Fred Sinowatz (Munich)
were solicited from established co-authors recog- and Dr. Morten Vejlsted (Copenhagen), among
nized internationally as experts in the field. Their others. Keith Betteridge, distinguished professor of
chapters have been seamlessly woven into a very animal reproduction at the University of Guelph,
readable and informative text book. Of particular has provided thorough editorial review of the text,
note are the inclusion of Chapters 1, 2, 20 and 21, This first edition presents a logical, contemporane-
each of which provides a distinguishing topic per- ous and comprehensive view of the current state of
spective, and include a historical account of the knowledge in the field. The format provides succinct
study of animal embryology, a discussion of current text information that is well supported by quality
cell and molecular-based regulatory mechanisms illustrations, photographs and micrographs. I
that govern key developmental processes, compara- believe that the student, instructor and practitioner
tive embryology of the chicken and mouse, and a alike will embrace this text as it will prove to be an
succinct summary of the advent, development and invaluable resource to further both their education
broad application assisted reproductive technolo- and their knowledge in the field of domestic animal
gies (ARTs) to enhance production of domestic embryology.
animals, respectively.
Lead author, professor Poul Hyttel is recognized May 2009 Worcester, Massachusetts, USA
internationally as a distinguished research scientist,
and a passionate educator and student mentor of Eric W. Overström, Ph.D.
animal reproduction and cell biology at the Royal Professor and Head
Veterinary and Agricultural University, and most Department of Biology & Biotechnology
recently the University of Copenhagen. He has Director, Life Sciences & Bioengineering Center
directed both the veterinary anatomy and histology/ Worcester Polytechnic Institute
cell biology courses for many years in Copenhagen, Worcester, Massachusetts
xii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Writing this embryology textbook set the authors on undertake a thorough linguistic edit of the com-
a long and winding road. The project was initially pleted text. Due to the breadth of Keith’s scientific
proposed by Eric Overström in 2000. At that time view, the linguistic affair developed into an inspir-
Eric taught a course on developmental biology at ing dialogue about many conceptual subjects of
Tufts University, Boston, US, and held a Fulbright embryology. It has been a pleasure to learn from the
stipend allowing regular trips to Copenhagen, extreme precision with which Keith has tackled each
Denmark. I am indebted to Eric for his enthusiasm step in the process.
in initiating the book project which resulted in Several qualified persons have devoted time and
many happy hours together in Copenhagen. given extremely valuable comments to the text.
I feel enormously privileged to have been able to I would like to thank Marie Louise Grøndahl, Vibeke
undertake this book project with cutting edge scien- Dantzer and Kjeld Christensen for their highly
tists who share my passion for scholarly university appreciated efforts.
life. My co-authors, Fred Sinowatz and Morten Vejl- Images have been an important issue in the pro-
sted, have both made extraordinary efforts in writing duction of the book. I would like to thank Jytte
their many chapters. In particular, Fred’s astonish- Nielsen and Hanne Marie Moelbak Holm for their
ing embryological breadth, ranging from the molec- skilled contribution to the preparation of thousands
ular to the gross anatomical levels, has been of sections for light and electron microscopy over
indispensable to the setting of our goals, and I am the years as well as for digital processing of the
truly grateful that we were allowed to use high micrographs.
quality drawings from the previous embryology Finally, I would like to thank Danish Pig
textbook that he produced with Imogen Rüsse and Production for a very fruitful collaboration enabling
published in German. Other highly qualified con- the collection of thousands of porcine embryos
tributors, Gry Boe-Hansen, Henrik Callesen, Ernst- over the years. The data generated from these
Martin Füchtbauer, Vanessa Hall, Palle Serup and resources have contributed significantly to the book
Gábor Vajta, have each brought their particular and many of the photographs are taken from these
expertise to bear on other chapters to ensure that the embryos.
text is as up-to-date as possible. I am greatly indebted
to all these colleagues who have so generously Poul Hyttel
shared their time and ideas with me. Vidiekjaer
As non-native English speakers the authors are Valby
extremely grateful for the willingness of Keith Bet- Denmark
teridge, one of the pioneers of embryo transfer, to June 3, 2009
This page intentionally left blank
CHAPTER 1
Poul Hyttel and Gábor Vajta
History of embryology
Embryology, the study of development from fertili existed, looking much like the gastrula stage of
zation to birth, has always intrigued philosophers ontogeny. This hypothesized ancestral metazoan, he
and scientists. Universal fascination with the way in thought, gave rise to all multi-celled animals. Such
which ‘life’ unfolds has led to spirited discussion of a ‘single straight line’ conception of phylogeny, with
the complexities of the process amongst embryo all creatures standing on the shoulders of predeces
logists over the years. In 1899, Ernst Haeckel sors in one trajectory, has now been abandoned;
(1834–1919) considered that ‘Ontogeny is a short phylogeny divides into a multitude of lines.
recapitulation of phylogeny’. In other words, ontog- Many of the ancient Greek philosophers were
eny (the development of an organism from the fer interested in embryology. According to Democritus
tilized egg to its mature form) reflects, in a matter (ca. 455–370 BC), the sex of an individual is deter
of days or months, the origin and evolution of a mined by the origin of the sperm: males arising
species (phylogeny), a continuing process that is from the right testicle (of course!) and females from
measured in millions of years. Although this is not the left. This hypothesis was somewhat modified by
entirely true, one has only to look at a 19-day-old Pythagoras, Hippocrates and Galen. However,
sheep embryo to understand Haeckel’s viewpoint; gender bias was always evident, for science was the
the gill-like pharyngeal arches and the somites, for privilege of men; philosophers mostly positioned
example (Fig. 1-1) are common to embryos of all females between man and animals, so males were
chordates. Although trained as a physician, Haeckel supposed to originate from the stronger sperm of
abandoned his practice after reading The Origin of the right testicle.
Species by Charles Robert Darwin (1809–1882) The first real embryologist that we know about
published in 1859 (and available at that time for was the Greek philosopher Aristotle (384–322 BC).
fifteen shillings!). Always suspicious of teleological In The Generation of Animals (ca. 350 BC) he
and mystical explanations of life, Haeckel used described the different ways that animals are born:
Darwin’s theories as ammunition for attacking from eggs (oviparity, as in birds, frogs and most
entrenched religious dogma on the one hand and invertebrates), by live birth (viviparity, as in placen
elaborating his own views on the other. However, tal animals and some fish) or by production of an
in projecting phylogeny into ontogeny, Haeckel egg that hatches inside the body (ovoviviparity,
made one mistake: his mechanism of change which occurs in certain reptiles and sharks). It was
required that formation of new characters, diagnos Aristotle who also noted the two major patterns of
tic of new species, occur through their addition to a cell division in early development: holoblastic
basic developmental scheme. For example, because cleavage in which the entire egg is divided into pro
most metazoans pass through a developmental gressively smaller cells (as in frogs and mammals)
stage called a gastrula (a ball of cells with an infold and the meroblastic pattern in which only that
ing that later forms the gut) Haeckel thought that at part of the egg destined to become the embryo
one time an organism called a ‘gastraea’ must have proper divides, with the remainder serving nutritive
Essentials of Domestic Animal Embryology
purposes (as in birds). The fetal membranes and the tomical lines. One of the first anatomical descriptions
umbilical cord in cattle were described by Aristotle of the pregnant uterus of the pig was by Kopho
and he recognized their importance for fetal nutri (years of birth and death unknown) in the early 13th
tion. By sequential studies of fertilized chick eggs, century in his work Anatomio Porci. Kopho worked
Aristotle made the very important observation that at the famous medical school of Salerno using pigs
the embryo develops its organ systems gradually – as models because human cadavers could not be
they are not preformed. This concept of de novo dissected for religious reasons. During the early
formation of embryonic structures, which is referred Renaissance, the famous and incomparably artistic
to as epigenesis, remained enormously controver anatomical studies of Leonardo da Vinci (1452–
sial for more than 2000 years before becoming fully 1519) included investigation of the pregnant uterus
accepted; Aristotle was way ahead of his time. The of a cow. His drawings of a pregnant bicornuate
enigma of sexual reproduction also intrigued Aris uterus and of the fetus and fetal membranes released
totle. He realized that both sexes are needed for from the uterus are reproduced in Fig. 1-2. In an
conception but felt that the male’s semen did not accompanying drawing, Leonardo depicted a human
contribute to conception physically, but by provid uterus cut open to ‘reveal’, not a human placenta
ing an unknown form-giving force that interacts but a multiplex, villous, ruminant placenta (see
with menstrual blood in the womb of the female to Chapter 9)! Clearly it had not been possible for him
materialize as an embryo. In this case Aristotle was to actually study a human pregnancy. The structures
wrong. Ironically, in contrast to the non-acceptance are described in the characteristic mirrored writing
of his correct views on epigenesis, his error about of Leonardo, who worked mostly in Florence.
conception prevailed for about 2000 years, and it The Renaissance, from the 13th to the 15th century,
took a battle of almost a hundred years to correct it! was a great time for anatomical studies and, happily,
During those 2000 years, the science of embryo coincided with the invention of book printing by
logy developed very slowly along descriptive ana Johann Gutenberg. Thus, the first major publication
2
History of embryology
A B
Fig. 1-2: Drawings of Leonardo da Vinci. A: Top: A pregnant bicornuate uterus of the cow. Bottom: Fetus and fetal membranes showing the cotyledons of
the placenta (see Chapter 9). B: Opened simplex uterus of human showing the fetus with the umbilical cord. Note that the placenta is of the ruminant
multiplex type with several placentomes drawn on the cut wall of the uterus and, at the right top, a single cotyledon drawn at a higher magnification
displaying its villous surface.
1
3
Essentials of Domestic Animal Embryology
on comparative embryology was De Formato Foetu (epigenesis), or they are already present in a mini
in 1600 by the Italian anatomist Hieronymus ature form in the egg (or the sperm when this cell
Fabricius of Acquapendente (1533–1619). Fabri was discovered), a concept referred to as preforma-
cius described and illustrated the gross anatomy of tion. We will return to this debate in a moment.
embryos and their membranes in that book, but was The new microscopic techniques also prompted
not actually the first to do so; another Italian anato a vigorous search for the mammalian gametes. The
mist, Bartolomeo Eustachius (1514–1574), had chicken egg and its initial transformation into a
previously published illustrations of dog and sheep chick were obvious, as Aristotle had described, but
embryos in 1552. We now recognize the names of what mediated the formation of the embryo in
Fabricius, in the term bursa Fabricii (the immuno mammals? Where was the mammalian egg to be
logically competent portion of the bird gut), and of found?
Eustachius in the Eustachian tube. One of the earliest and most influential names in
The work of Eustachius, Fabricius and others gave the fascinating story of the discovery of the mam
insight into how organs develop from their imma malian egg was that of William Harvey (1578–
ture to mature forms, but left unanswered the basic 1657), personal physician to the English kings
enigma of how and where the mammalian embryo James I and Charles I, and famous for his descrip
originates. However, the development of the micro tion of the circulation of the blood. In 1651, Harvey
scope by Zacharias Janssen, a Dutch eyeglass maker, published De Generatione Animalium (Disputations
in 1590 ushered in a new era of embryological touching the Generation of Animals) with a famous
science to tackle that 2000-year-old question. The frontispiece showing Zeus freeing all creation from
Dutch dominance in the optical field at that time an egg bearing the inscription Ex ovo omnia (All
may not be just a coincidence; the naval ambitions things come from the egg). However, it should be
of their new empire required excellent telescopes realized that, far from advancing 17th century knowl
and lens systems. Janssen’s microscope in its origi edge of reproduction and embryology, Harvey’s
nal form, however, was not really appropriate for observations in some ways impeded progress. From
cell and tissue research; it was approximately 2 having studied with Fabricius, Harvey was imbued
metres long, achieved only 10 to 20 times magnifi with Aristotle’s view that the semen provided a force
cation, and its principal use was to attract an audi that interacted with the menstrual blood to materi
ence at country fairs! In 1672, the Italian medical alize as an embryo. Harvey set out to understand
doctor Marcello Malpighi (1628–1694) published this process by looking for the earliest products of
the first microscopic account of chick development, conception in female deer killed during the breed
identifying the neural groove, the somites, and cir ing season in the course of King Charles I’s hunts in
culation of blood in the arteries and veins to and his Royal forests and parks over a 12-year period. In
from the yolk. Malpighi also observed that even the the red and fallow deer that he studied, the male’s
unincubated chick egg is considerably structured, rut begins in mid-September and so Harvey dis
leading him to think that a preformed version of the sected uteri throughout the months of September to
chicken resided in the egg. Later (in 1722), the December. Believing, wrongly, that copulation coin
French ophthalmologist Antoine Maître-Jan (1650– cides with the onset of the rut, Harvey was mystified
1730) pointed out that although the egg examined to find nothing that he recognized as an embryo
by Malpighi was technically ‘unincubated’, it had until mid-November, some two months later. This
been left sitting in the Bolognese sun in August and forced him to the erroneous, but entirely logical
so was certainly not ‘unheated’. Nevertheless, Mal conclusion that ‘nothing after coition is to be found
pighi’s notion of a preformed chicken initiated one in [the] uterus for many days together’. When he
of the great debates in embryology that was to last did find a conceptus, that, for Harvey, was the egg:
throughout the 17th and 18th centuries. The question ‘Aristotle’s definition of an egg applies to it, namely,
was: are the organs of the embryo formed de novo an egg is that out of a part of which an animal is
4
History of embryology 1
begotten and the remainder is the food for that were for a long time forgotten. Had he lived a little
which is begotten’. longer (he died tragically early, at the age of 32), the
Three factors of veterinary interest had led this discovery of the mammalian egg could probably
brilliant man astray. First, he did not appreciate that have avoided a delay of about 150 years!
the females did not come into oestrus until early As it was, the first scientist to actually see the
October and so his estimates of breeding dates were mammalian egg (which everyone believed to exist,
wrong. Second, he dismissed the ovaries (‘female but no one had seen) was the Estonian medical
testicles’) as making no contribution to conception doctor Karl Ernst von Baer (1792–1876). He
because they failed to swell up as the testes of males opened the ‘Graafian egg’, as the follicle was known
do during rut. Third, expecting to find an egg-shaped at that time, and saw with his naked eye a small
conceptus, he failed to recognize the ‘purulent yellow point which he released and examined under
matter … friable … and inclining to yellow’, which the microscope (Baer, 1827). There, upon a first
he observed much earlier after mating and describes glance, Baer was stunned and could hardly believe
quite vividly, as being the filamentous blastocyst so that he had found what so many famous scientists
characteristic of ruminants. Had Harvey used a lens, including Harvey, de Graaf, Purkinje and others had
or conducted his studies on species (like rabbits or failed to find. He was so overcome that he had to
horses) with spherical early conceptuses, discovery work up courage to look into the microscope a
of the real egg might have been advanced second time. The mammalian egg had been
considerably! identified.
It is easy to be critical with hindsight of course, How about the spermatozoa? Anton van Leeu-
and we should remember that Harvey made impor wenhoek (1632–1723), a Dutch tradesman and
tant contributions to embryology: his descriptions scientist from Delft, was the first to report having
of early development were impeccable; he was the seen moving spermatozoa. He constructed a single
first to observe the blastoderm of the chick embryo lens microscope that magnified up to about 300
(the small region of the egg containing the yolk-free times. Technically, this microscope was an amazing
cytoplasm that gives rise to the embryo proper) and achievement – no bigger than a small postage stamp
to indicate that blood islands form before the heart and resembling a primitive micromanipulator. It
does; and he was aware of the gradual development was used close to the eye like a magnifying glass.
of the embryo, subscribing to the school of epi Using this, Leeuwenhoek drew spermatozoa from
genesis as did Aristotle. different species. Initially, Leeuwenhoek was reluc
The observations by Harvey and the search for the tant to study sperm and he questioned the propriety
mammalian egg were extended by Regnier de Graaf of writing about semen and intercourse. When he
(1641–1673) who performed detailed studies of the first focused his microscope on semen, Leeuwen
female reproductive organs, especially the ovary. De hoek discovered what he then took to be globules.
Graaf, like his friend Leeuwenhoek, worked in Delft. However, he so disliked the prospect of having to
From a comparison of mammalian ovaries with discuss his findings that he quickly turned to other
those of chicken, de Graaf considered mammalian matters. Three or four years later, however, in 1677,
antral ovarian follicles to be the eggs; an assumption a student from the medical school at Leiden brought
he confirmed by tasting! His contribution to science him a specimen of semen in which he had found
was later acknowledged by the German medical small animals with tails, which Leeuwenhoek now
doctor Theodor Ludwig Wilhelm Bischoff (1807– observed as well. Consequently, Leeuwenhoek
1882) who introduced the nomenclature ‘Graafian resumed his own observations and, in his own
follicle’. De Graaf also noted some connection semen (acquired, he stressed, not by sinfully defiling
between follicular maturation and the development himself but as a natural consequence of conjugal
of oocytes but, without an appropriate microscope, coitus), observed a multitude of ‘animalcules,’ less
he could not substantiate this and his observations than a millionth the size of a coarse grain of sand
5
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certain feeling between them. But now each of them had discerned
something in the other that transcended anything that they had
previously known.
In short, I saw a man’s affection for another man shining from
each pair of eyes.
The rest of the gang, knowing the entire situation, chimed in with
a lot of Air Service kidding, about that last ride, as for instance,
Sleepy Spears’ remark:
“Any hop is foolish, and a last one is suicide. You’ve made it sure
death by letting Penoch fly you.”
“In fact,” Tex MacDowell chimed in, in his soft southern drawl,
“I’ve had a shovel all ready to pick Penoch up with, for a long time.
I’d pick a hang-over in preference to Penoch any time.”
I guess nobody outside of the men who fly understand what air
kidding is. Probably I don’t myself. But in my dumb way I think that
it’s like a kid’s whistling when he passes a graveyard, or, perhaps,
laughing at the worst that could happen, so that, when it does
happen, it won’t mean anything.
When lunch was over, and we were all drifting out of the mess-hall, I
suddenly realized that I would like to share, a little bit, those last
hours. I’d been so close to the thing that I wanted to hang around the
outskirts of it, until Kennedy left. In other words, I was sentimental,
and I thought quite a lot of Penoch, at that. So I said casually—“I
think I’ll take a little private hop for myself when you do—a sort of
chaser for the poker game, eh?”
Kennedy, I think, bewildered as he was at the world that had been
opened to him so recently, appreciated the impulse behind my
suggestion.
“Sort of be my guard of honor, eh?” he said. But those cold eyes
were soft. “In fact, we’ll be glad to have company, won’t we
Peewee?”
And so it happened that a half-hour later the three of us were on
the line. Our two ships were being warmed up, and the mechanics,
satisfied, had brought them down to idling.
“I’ll sit in the back seat, big boy,” Penoch told Kennedy, “but don’t
think that I won’t take the stick away from you any time!”
You know, of course, that De Havilands are dual-control ships,
but all the instruments are in the front cockpit, and that, in a manner
of speaking, is the driver’s seat.
I got into my own plane and, as I taxied out for the take-off, I
couldn’t exactly analyze my reason for being there. I guess it was a
sort of vague tribute to Kennedy, and yet I had a funny feeling that
something might happen—so much so that as I turned the motor full
on and pushed the stick forward I was so absent-minded that I nearly
broke the propeller, because I had the nose of the plane down so far.
Kennedy and Penoch had taken off first, and I just followed them
as they circled the field for altitude. When we got to the tremendous
height of fifteen hundred feet, Kennedy, who was doing the piloting,
started due west for Laredo.
I’ll swear that we were not a thousand yards from the airdrome
when it happened. I was flying possibly a hundred yards back of
them, and almost the same distance to the right. All of a sudden I
saw their ship go into a dive.
That meant something. When Kennedy started turning back
toward the field I knew that the motor had cut out. Then, as I noticed
the propeller, I knew that the motor had not only cut out, but had cut
dead. The stick was revolving slower and slower. There was no
motor power behind it.
The next second their ship was blanketed in fire. The motor was a
mass of blue flame. Kennedy had not cocked the ship up into a side-
slip soon enough. That blows the flames upward, away from the
pilot. The left wing was afire before he started slipping, and that
second of backward draught, because they were in a dive when the
fire started, had caused the fuselage to catch fire in a dozen places.
My body and brain were numb. Even so, I subconsciously knew
what had happened. The gas line had broken, and the gas, sprayed
over the hot motor, had ignited.
They had gone into the slip—too late—before I started toward
them. I was diving my ship, motor full on. There was nothing I could
do—Penoch and Kennedy burned to death before my eyes—I was
just getting nearer for no reason.
I suppose that it registered on me at the time, because I
remember it so vividly now. Penoch told me what was said. Anyway,
I saw Kennedy, bearing the brunt of the fire in the front cockpit, turn
and gesture. He was talking. I could see through the smoke and fire
his lips moving. Penoch told me that what he said was:
“Get out on the wing! I’m not leaving the ship— Let me jump! If
Slim sees you, he’ll get close. God! I can’t last long! It’ll just be two
instead of one—”
What I saw was Penoch getting out of the back cockpit, hanging
by his hands from the cowling. He hauled himself along the side of
the ship, his feet dangling over space. His head was turned
backward, to protect his eyes, and his clothing was charring,
because he was out where the air-stream could reach him, and no
flame could get a real start. But Kennedy, in the cockpit—
I was going through the most horrible nightmare that can be
conceived. And yet, I instinctively sensed the possibility of saving
Penoch, as he reached the right wing and started crawling along it.
Then Ralph brought the burning ship level; that blew the fire right
back on him. I was close, and for that horrible minute I guess I
ceased to think of my own safety. I knew that there was one
desperate chance to save one of the two, and Penoch, of course,
was the one, because Kennedy had willed it so.
Penoch was out of the fire now, at the edge of the right wing. He
was hanging from the edge of it by his hands as I flew my ship up
into position, my left wing underneath the other’s right one. And
Kennedy—I don’t know by what transcendent power he was able to
do it, as he burned to death—kept his ship level. Penoch dropped—
his only chance for life—and he landed on my left wing. He grabbed
the cabane strut, the little metal horn at the edge of the wing to which
the control wires for the ailerons are attached, and passed out.
An instant later, Kennedy, a human bonfire, leaped from his
burning ship. He fell out—blessed surcease from pain. And the ship,
like a flaming coffin, seemed to follow his body down.
Penoch eventually got back into the rear cockpit, of course, and
we’re both here to tell the tale.
Sometime I hope that a burning ship will cease to trace a crimson
path across my dreams. Probably it won’t.
Anyway, if Ralph is a spook in some spiritual village, teaching the
Twelve Apostles how to play poker, I hope he has time to tip his halo
in acknowledgment of the salute of Slim Evans to a crook and a
hero, a scoundrel and a man.
THE END
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