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Dogiel V. A., Poljanskij J. I., Chejsin E. M.
General Protistology.
Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1965. - 747 p.
PREFACE
Biologists have always given great attention to Protozoa because of the striking peculiarity that they combine features of both the single cell and the complete organism in their organization. A number of large and valuable monographs and books of the advanced type have been written concerning different aspects of their morphology and biology, and many reviews dealing with the taxonomy of various groups of Protozoa have appeared. In some works Protozoa have been examined from medical and veterinary points of view. For example, in 1930 two books by Russian authors appeared- Veterinary Protozoology by V. V. L. Yakimov and The Pathogenetic Protozoa, Spirochetes and Fungi by G. V. Epstein.
Comparatively little has been written on the more general aspects of Protozoology. Among other books, The Biology of the Protozoa by G. Calkins (1933), Protozoa in Biological Research edited by G. Calkins and F. Summers (1945), and General Protistology by V. A. Dogiel (1951) deserve to be mentioned. These, as well as some other large textbooks (Lehrbuch derProtozoenkunde, i-6 Auflage, by F. Doflein and E. Reichenow (1909-53); Protozoology by C. Wenyon (1925); and others) in which a great deal of attention was paid to the general aspects of Protozoology, played an important role in the development of this aspect of the subject.
Nowadays, however, these books have become rather out of date. Within the last 10-15 years, studies of unicellular organisms have advanced very quickly owing to the development and employment of new methods of investigation of the cell. Tremendous progress in electron microscopy, biochemistry, and cytophysiology has enriched our knowledge of Protozoa and allowed expansion into new aspects of research on unicellular animals.
Some new reviews and monographs have appeared which treated Protozoa from different points of view. Among the most significant contributions the following books must be mentioned: Biochemistry and Physiology of Protozoa edited by A. Lwoff (vol. i, 1951) and by A. Lwoff and S. Hutner (vol. ii, 1955), The Genetics of Paramecium aurelia by G. Beale (1954), The Biochemistry of Intracellular Parasitism by J. Moulder (1962), and Electron-microscopical Structure of Protozoa by D. Pitelka (1963). However, in some new textbooks on Protozoology, such as Protozoologie by O. Jirovec et al. (1953), Protozoologie by R. Hall (1953), Protozoology by R. Kudo (first edition 1931, fourth edition 1954), Introduction to the Study of Protozoa by D. Mackinnon and R. Hawes (1961), as well as in Traite de Zoologie edited by P. Grasse (1952-3), general problems of Protozoology have not received much attention. Only in the Protozoologie by K. Grell (1956) and in the recently published Introduction to Protozoology by R. Manwell (1961) are the general aspects of Protozoology touched upon more thoroughly.
The vast amount of material obtained from recent research in the field of Protozoology has created an urgent need for summarizing the new facts available. It has made us think that such a work ought to be done as soon as possible, taking into consideration that the basis of the book had already been created in General Protistology written by our teacher, the late Professor V. A. Dogiel, and published in the USSR in 1951. In this textbook a good deal of data concerning the morphology, ecology, and evolution of Protozoa were generalized at the level of the fifties.
Thus this new book represents a remade, extended, and advanced version of Dogiel's General Protistology. Some old data have been withdrawn from it, while a lot of new findings have been included. Several chapters and sections have been rewritten, including those on the nucleus and reproduction, life-cycles, and the species problem. The chapters devoted to the organization of the cytoplasm, fibrillar structures, and the physiology of metabolism have been enlarged. In 1962 the Russian edition, entitled General Protozoology, was published by the Publishing House of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR. The English translation of the book was made from the manuscript, some additions being made to the Russian edition. As concerns literature sources used, most of them terminate in 1961 and only a few papers of 1962 were included in the reference list and referred to in the text.
Nowadays, Protozoology has undergone such a tremendous development that it seems next to impossible, in one book, to elucidate and to cover all aspects equally; greatest attention is given to the morphology, reproduction, and evolution of Protozoa; questions of physiology and biochemistry of Protozoa are covered much less completely. Aspects of medical and veterinary Protozoology are not touched upon at all, though some general questions concerning host-parasite relationship are dealt with in the chapter devoted to the ecology of Protozoa.
Protozoological problems are being studied throughout the world. A great deal of work is being done in the Soviet Union, but many of the Russian papers remain relatively unknown in Western Europe and on the American continent. In the present book the authors have endeavoured to evaluate, to an equal degree, the contributions made by both Russian and Western protozoologists.
In some chapters debatable points of view are expressed on, for example, the question of 'neuromotor apparatus', the species problem in Protozoa, and regularities in the evolution within the phylum. In the authors' opinion scientific discussions are always fruitful because they allow the truth to be born.
We are very much obliged to Dr. C. A. Hoare, F.R.S., who so kindly edited the English text of the book and without whose help the book could not have been published in England.
We owe a debt of gratitude to the staff of the laboratory of cytology of unicellular organisms of the Institute of Cytology in Leningrad- Drs. K. M. Sukhanova, I. B. Raikov, M. N. Golikova, T. V. Beyer, Ò. Ì. Poznanskaya, A. A. Dobrovolski, G. I. Sergejeva, N. N. Bobyljeva, and Dr. L. N. Seravin, a scientific worker of the Department of Invertebrates of the University of Leningrad-for their efforts in preparing the Russian text for publication.
We would also like to thank N. G. Korobova for her labour in making most of the figures exhibited in this book.
J. I. POLJANSKIJ
E. M. CHEJSIN
Institute of Cytology, Leningrad
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