Foreword to Volume 1
Since 1907, Tissue Culture has been used and misused in a wide variety
of ways and in a number of branches of biology. A few years ago, the
idea was mooted that it was time to make an assessment of the achievements of Tissue Culture. This assessment should not only consider the
technique in itself, but more particularly should evaluate the effects
that Tissue Culture has had in the solution of problems in cellular and
histological biology. What, indeed, are the contributions which Tissue
Culture has made to biology, and what are they likely to be in the
future ? Has Tissue Culture altered our approach to cellular behaviour
or opened up any new fields ?
This book is an attempt to show what has been achieved so far and to
discuss where, when and how the technique may be most profitably
employed.
In 1960, a number of investigators in the various fields of Tissue
Culture were approached and asked if they would evaluate the uses and
applications of the technique in their particular areas of study. They
were asked to assess what contributions the method had made, was
making, or was likely to make to our understanding of normal or pathological cells and tissues, and to point out those features which, though
they may be peculiar to life in vitro, are nevertheless of value to our
understanding of cells and tissues in general.
The problem of selecting suitable authors for the task was, of course,
both difficult and invidious. For the final choice, the editor accepts full
responsibility, well-knowing that, despite his efforts, there will be many
who would have chosen quite differently. Some investigators, whose
contributions would have been most valuable, were unfortunately, for
one reason or another, unable to accept the challenge; a few accepted
the challenge and then found it impossible to carry on with the task;
finally, in two cases, alas, illness and untimely death intervened.
The first volume covers many of the more general fields of Tissue
Culture, including such topics as the evaluation of the methods as such,
the study of metabolic processes and growth, the action of hormones
and vitamins and the use of the method in genetics. The second volume
is devoted to studies of certain particular tissues or systems which have
either been extensively investigated in themselves or which, for one
reason or another, accentuate some achievement or contribution which
vii
Since 1907, Tissue Culture has been used and misused in a wide variety
of ways and in a number of branches of biology. A few years ago, the
idea was mooted that it was time to make an assessment of the achievements of Tissue Culture. This assessment should not only consider the
technique in itself, but more particularly should evaluate the effects
that Tissue Culture has had in the solution of problems in cellular and
histological biology. What, indeed, are the contributions which Tissue
Culture has made to biology, and what are they likely to be in the
future ? Has Tissue Culture altered our approach to cellular behaviour
or opened up any new fields ?
This book is an attempt to show what has been achieved so far and to
discuss where, when and how the technique may be most profitably
employed.
In 1960, a number of investigators in the various fields of Tissue
Culture were approached and asked if they would evaluate the uses and
applications of the technique in their particular areas of study. They
were asked to assess what contributions the method had made, was
making, or was likely to make to our understanding of normal or pathological cells and tissues, and to point out those features which, though
they may be peculiar to life in vitro, are nevertheless of value to our
understanding of cells and tissues in general.
The problem of selecting suitable authors for the task was, of course,
both difficult and invidious. For the final choice, the editor accepts full
responsibility, well-knowing that, despite his efforts, there will be many
who would have chosen quite differently. Some investigators, whose
contributions would have been most valuable, were unfortunately, for
one reason or another, unable to accept the challenge; a few accepted
the challenge and then found it impossible to carry on with the task;
finally, in two cases, alas, illness and untimely death intervened.
The first volume covers many of the more general fields of Tissue
Culture, including such topics as the evaluation of the methods as such,
the study of metabolic processes and growth, the action of hormones
and vitamins and the use of the method in genetics. The second volume
is devoted to studies of certain particular tissues or systems which have
either been extensively investigated in themselves or which, for one
reason or another, accentuate some achievement or contribution which
vii