Metamorphosis: A Problem in Developmental Biology

"The old order changeth, yielding place to new. " When Tennyson wrote this, he was unfamiliar with the pace of modem science else he would have said the new is displaced by the newer. When Gilbert and I gathered the papers for the first edition of this overview of metamorphosis, we aimed to provide a broad basis upon which the experimental analysis of the developmental changes called metamorphosis could proceed. We were both aware then that with the new techniques of biochemistry and with the revolutionary breakthrough to the nature of the gene, countless new possibilities were being opened for the exploration of the molecular basis of development. The resources offered by metamorphic changes offered unique opportunities to trace the path from gene to phenotype. Our expectations were high. I visited Larry Gilbert and Earl Frieden in their laboratories and saw with envy how far advanced they were then in the use of molecular methods of analysis. I had started on a different approach to develop an in vitro test for thyroid action on amphibian tissue. But circumstances limited my own progress to the initial delim- itation of the technical possibilities of the in vitro system. Only from the sidelines could I watch the steady if slow progress of biology in penetrating the maze of molecular events by which animal tissues re- spond to hormonal and other developmental factors.