Edited by Ernst Knobil and Jimmy D. Neill. 1297 pp. in four volumes, illustrated. San Diego, Calif., Academic Press, 1998. $495. ISBN 0-12-227020-7.
The word "encyclopedia," according to one dictionary, is derivedfrom Greek words meaning to "encircle education." The titleof the four volumes reviewed here thus claims to encircle whatis known about reproduction. Certainly, these volumes draw avery large circle, and within its confines there is a fascinatingrange of topics. For example, in the first volume, one findsdiscussions of reproduction in elephants and Caenorhabditiselegans — the former, an impractical model but a grandanimal fascinating to everyone, and the latter, a lowly wormthat has rewarded numerous investigators in multiple areas ofbasic biologic science. In . . . [Full Text of this Article]
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