TRENDS IN MAMMALIAN TERATOLOGY

[摘要] It Might be worth while to begin a discussion of this topic with some historical considerations, because it may help to elucidate and to evaluate modern trends of mammalian teratology. It is probably true for all disciplines of science, but particularly so in the case of mammalian teratology, that the influence of the cultural environment of the time plays a decisive role in determining the attitude towards a particular science and its trends. It is obvious that teratologic phenomena are among those events of nature which fascinate and stimulate the imagination, not only of the scientist directly concerned with the problem, but also of the layman who happens to come across monstrosities of one or the other kind.Everybody knows of the role monsters played in Greek mythology. Descriptions of congenital abnormalities may be found in pre-Aristotelian times but it was Aristotle who made a first attempt at causal analysis, and thus introduced the scientific approach to problems of teratology. It is interesting to consider the argument with which he refuted the possible existence of monsters-which were thought to be part man, part animal: Aristotle was correct in denying the existence of such chimaerae but he was not correct in the choice of his argument which stated that different organisms could not develop together because of different gestation times. Modern trends of thought would lead us to argue against the existence of this type of monstrosity in terms of genetic differences.The generally static and dogmatic trend of the Middle Ages is reflected in the absence of any causal considerations of teratology during that time.

[学科分类] 儿科学