Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 17, 2026

Using Whole Mount in situ Hybridization to Link Molecular and Organismal Biology
Published on: March 31, 2011
Method as a function of "disciplinary landscape": C.D. Darlington and cytology, genetics and evolution, 1932-1950
1Harman@vms.huji.ac.il
Abstract:
This article considers the reception of British cytogeneticist C.D. Darlington's controversial 1932 book, Recent Advances in Cytology. Darlington's cytogenetic work, and the manner in which he made it relevant to evolutionary biology, marked an abrupt shift in the status and role of cytology in the life sciences. By focusing on Darlington's scientific method--a stark departure from anti-theoretical, empirical reasoning to a theoretical and speculative approach based on deduction from genetic first principles--the article characterises the relationships defining the "disciplinary landscape" of the life sciences of the time, namely those between cytology, genetics, and evolutionary theory.
Related Concept Videos
Karyotyping
Evolutionary Relationships through Genome Comparisons
Modern Molecular Taxonomy
Applications of Molecular Taxonomy
Synteny and Evolution
Around 80 million years ago, the human and mice lineages diverged from the common ancestor. During the course of evolution, the ancestral chromosome underwent...
Gene Flow

