title: ["The first stages of the human egg" by Auguste d'Eternod published one hundred years ago in the Comptes Rendus de l'Association des Anatomistes].
abstract: The development of the embryo and foetus fascinates, but its study in humans is difficult because of both technical and ethical problems. Auguste d'Eternod, Swiss embryologist, published in 1913 an article entitled "The early stages of the human egg" in the Comptes Rendus de l'Association des Anatomistes, the ancestor of the journal Morphologie. This work is focused not only on the early stages of development: fertilization, cleavage of the egg, blastocyst formation, gastrulation, but also on the extra-embryonic processes characteristic of mammals. On the occasion of the centenary of the publication of this work, I propose a critical review by placing the data published in the literature and historical context of the time. Finally, I try to extract from these observations the concepts that are still used today by embryologists.
authors.affiliation: Fédération de neurologie, groupe hospitalier Pitié-Salpêtrière, 47-83, boulevard de l'Hôpital, 75651 Paris cedex 13, France; Laboratoire de biologie du développement, UMR 7622 CNRS, université Pierre-et-Marie-Curie, 9, quai Saint-Bernard, boîte courier 24, 75252 Paris cedex 05, France. Electronic address: mcatala@snv.jussieu.fr.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Catala
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004622:Embryo, Mammalian / Q000648:ultrastructure; D004626:Embryology / Q000266:history*; D047108:Embryonic Development; D005306:Fertilization; D049672:History, 19th Century; D049673:History, 20th Century; D006801:Humans; D009866:Oogenesis; D010063:Ovum / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D012958:Societies, Scientific / Q000266:history; D013557:Switzerland
keywords: Cleavage; Embryon humain; Fertilization; Fécondation; Gastrulation; Histoire; History; Human embryo; Segmentation