Human chromosomes / E.H.R. Ford.

  • Ford, E. H. R. (Edward Hugh Rawlinson)
Date:
1973
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)

Credit: Human chromosomes / E.H.R. Ford. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    12/408 (page VI)
    VI PREFACE approach to others better qualified to deal with it, except where some topic clearly demands insertion. The breadth of the field covered, ranging from the ultrastructure of chromosomes through the cytogenetics of human mitosis and meiosis to population cytogenetics, mutagenesis and neoplasia, and chromosome mapping, means inevitably that some topics are covered in greater depth than others. I was uncertain, for example, whether or not to include a section on molecular genetics; but decided that it would be right to do so (even if the approach will seem very elementary to most present day students) for the sake of complete¬ ness, and because of its bearing on recently introduced differential staining methods for human chromosomes, which must relate to their physicochemical structure. I have deliberately steered clear of consideration of sex determination, and the problem of inter- sexuality in man, partly because I have little personal experience in this complex field, and partly because Hamerton's recent book deals with such problems in considerable detail. The reference list is somewhat like the top of an iceberg; it represents the top of a larger list, which I considered unnecessary to give in to to. The list given is rather loaded in favour of recent references, on the grounds that older references are more fruitfully covered by the reading of review articles. But a representative selection has been included of original references to most important topics, and these, together with the books and review articles quoted, will lead the enquiring reader as far as he or she wants to go. It is a humbling experience to attempt to write a book of this kind; one realizes the insignificance of one's own contribution to the subject, and the immensity of one's indebtedness to the thousands who have toiled all over the world to bring our knowledge to its present state. It would be impossible to read all the relevant contributions which have been made; indeed they are probably being written even now at such a rate that no individual could read them as fast as they are produced. However, as an Englishman, I count myself extremely fortunate that English is now the most used scientific language, and I would like to express my personal gratitude to all those workers who write their papers in English, although it is not their mother tongue. If the reference list displays a certain chauvinism, this is due to the relative availability of journals to me; thus if two equally relevant papers have appeared in the Lancet and the New England Journal of Medicine, or in Nature and Science, N. Y. the former is most likely to have been selected, for the reason given above. It is in the nature of scientific research that when a new