Experiments on Embryonic Induction

Abstract

1. Two cases of induction by coagulated organisers in the chick are described. The implants consisted of pieces of chick primitive streak, and previous to implantation they were killed and coagulated by immersion in boiling water. After this treatment they still retained the inducing capacity which they have been previously shown to possess in the live state. 2. Grafts of dead material into the chick blastoderm usually become enveloped in mesenchyme and thus isolated from the host ectoderm. 3. It is argued that, although there may in the normal egg be a gradient of inducing capacity, the inducing factor itself cannot be a gradient as such: and reference is made to the most recent work which shows that the factor is actually a chemical substance. 4. It is pointed out that there is as yet no evidence that dead organisers can determine the regional character of the embryonic axes which they induce, as live organisers can. 5. In one of the specimens described, the induced axis is accompanied by induced notochord. The question is raised as to whether this notochord is the direct result of the inducing stimulus acting on the host ectoderm, or whether the influence of the host's individuation field has played a part in its formation.