Evolution of knowledge in reproductive physiology.

IN this paper, I shall not attempt to list chronologically the advances which have been made in reproductive physiology but will merely discuss a few which happen to be of greater interest to me. Regrettably, modern biological textbooks provide little information on the historical background to the advances which have been made in various phases of biology. Obviously, teachers have had to choose between presenting students with a methodical step-by-step development of a given area of biology or presenting the results of current studies, many of which in the long run will prove to be trivial. To show how far this has gone, the 1966 edition of "General Endocrinology" by C. Donnell Turner provides no information on the discovery of the growth hormone, even though the book contains an introductory chapter on the Science of Endocrinology. It is clear that today's teachers have "opted" for the "current status" concept. Though swimming against this tide, I am an advocate of the step-by-step approach of teaching leading up to our modern knowledge in a given area of science.