An examination of the effects of mechanical shocks and vibrations upon the rate of development of fertilized eggs

✍ Scribed by Whitney, David D.

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1906
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 324 KB
• Volume: 3
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0022-104X
• DOI: 10.1002/jez.1400030103

✦ Synopsis

I t has been shown in recent years by several investigators that mechanical shocks and vibrations may start the development of unfertilized eggs of certain animals.' It has also been stated by Meltzer2 that the early development of fertilized eggs of the sea urchin is greatly accelerated when the eggs are subjected to mechanical shocks and vibrations. Furthermore, Mathews and Whitcher3 believe they have obtained results which show that such influences may cause the embryos of the sea urchin to be either larger or smaller than those of the control eggs, or abnormal in shape, or to develop more slowly than normal eggs.

Assuming these results to be well founded, I undertook, during the summer of 1905, some experiments to determine the influence of shaking at different stages of development. I n order to exclude the obvious possibility, that the results of Meltzer, and perhaps those of Mathews and Whitcher, were due to differences in temperature, care was taken to make this factor the same in the shaken eggs and in the control. In some cases this was done by means of a water jacket around both sets of eggs. It soon became apparent that no difference at all in the rate occurred when this precaution was carried out; so that the work resolved itself into testing the claims of these investigators respecting the influence of shock on the early stages of development.

At the suggestion and under the kindly supervision of Prof.