This detailed study of the different rates of growth of parts of the body relative to the body as a whole represents Sir Julian Huxley's great contribution to analytical morphology, and is still the basis for modern investigations in the field.

The evolutionist Ernst Mayr considered August Weismann "one of the great biologists of all time." Yet the man who formulated the germ plasm theory--that inheritance is transmitted solely through the nuclei of the egg and sperm cells--has not received an in-depth historical examination. August Weismann reintroduces readers to a towering figure in the life sciences. In this first full-length biography, Frederick Churchill situates Weismann in the swirling intellectual currents of his era and demonstrates how his work paved the way for the modern synthesis of genetics and evolution in...