First published in 1935 (this edition in 1946), this short account of the science of embryology was the first book in English to provide a simple outline of the whole of this important subject. The study of development is perhaps the best method of approach to the most fundamental of all biological problems, the problem of how all the diverse activities are integrated so as to make up a complete individual organism. The book gives a short sketch of the general pattern on which all animals are built, but devotes more attention to the factors which cause the development of the elements in the pattern, and which then bring them into correct relations with one another.

This volume is simply written in order to enable the general reader to understand the revolutionary advances made in the subject at that time.