Memoirs: The Effect of a Temperature Gradient on the Early Development of the Chick
1. Owing to the difficulty of ascertaining the exact position of the embryo in the egg there was much waste of material. Hens' eggs are not ideal for temperature gradient experiments, for the mean between the temperatures which can be used is below normal incubation temperature. The egg of a cold-blooded animal would be far simpler to deal with. 2. The part most easily affected by a temperature gradient was the area vasculosa and its blood-vessels. This was to be expected, since the size of this extra-embryonic part is not strictly limited; the arrangement of the blood system of the area vasculosa was also modified in some cases. 3. Slight disproportion of parts was effected in some cases. The head was sometimes slightly more developed than the posterior end, and in some cases the posterior limbs were precociously developed. Differences in size between the limb buds on each side also occurred. The ratio of embryo to primitive streak was decreased considerably in the case of two embryos, treated with antagonistic gradients. 4. In some embryos treated with a lateral temperature gradient the somites had become shifted up on the heated side. The greatest effect was obtained in an embryo whose somites of one side alternated with those of the opposite side. It is possible that this condition may be regulated after normal incubation; results, however, were too few for certainty. 5. The numbers used were not sufficient for the conclusive determination of the degree of regulation which experimentally treated embryos underwent. However, all late stages when examined were normal; whether these cases were correctly treated or not it is impossible to say.