The Beginnings of Human Life

1 Introduction.- Classical Anatomy.- … Is Enlarged to Kinetic Morphology.- Developmental Movements Are Detectable Today.- Serial Section Reconstructions Yield New Data about the Human Embryo.- 2 A Proper Concept for Human Embryology.- A New Concept: Differentiation in Biodynamic Metabolic Fields.- Adaptation through Growth and Heredity through Propagation.- 3 The Initial Development of the Ovum.- Life Processes during the First Cell Differentiations.- The Individuality of the Germ.- The Germ Performs Functions.- Differentiations Are Directional.- Genes Have Passive Functions.- Life Processes in the Metabolic Field of the Blastocyst.- 4 Ontogenesis and Phylogenesis.- The Error of the So-called Basic Law of Biogenetics.- Erroneous Conclusions Drawn from Phylogenetic Series.- Differentiations Are Partial Processes of Individual Development.- 5 Development of Functions.- The Different Functions of Limiting Tissue and Inner Tissue.- The Secret of the Center of Organization.- Each Cell Aggregation Has Formative Functions.- Teleological Thinking Led to Confusions.- The Earliest Differentiations Are a Development of Functions.- The Secret of the Gills.- Early and Late Functions of the Nervous System.- The Face between Brain and Heart.- 6 The Embryo’s More Differentiated Developmental Movements.- The First Breath.- Early Developmental Movements in the Region of the Viscera.- The First Grasping Movements.- 7 Basic Rules of Biodynamic Differentiations.- 8 Gestures Initiated by Elementary Functions.- The Hand in the Service of Grasping.- Physiognomy and Physiognomics.- Embryonic Calendar.- Survey of Developmental Stages.- Plates.