Regeneration

This volume presents a systematic examination of how organisms restore lost parts, synthesizing experimental observations and theory across animals and embryos. It surveys regenerative phenomena in simple and more complex animals, describes experiments with tissue fragments, blastomeres, grafts, and amputations that reveal directional and positional limits, and treats embryonic regeneration as part of a general regenerative capacity. The author evaluates competing explanations, including preformed nuclear germ concepts and the application of natural selection to regenerative traits, and emphasizes experimental methods and a critical scientific attitude while expanding a short lecture course into a broader discussion of regenerative biology.