ABSTRACT
Human embryology is not simply about embryos.Its aim is to recount what happens during the development of an individual, from first beginnings to fertile maturity. To do this, a descriptive embryology is necessary to detail the events that take place in develop ment. This is especially so in the embryonic period of intra-uterine existence, when the major organs and tis sues are formed, organogenesis, resulting in a fetus bearing the structural hallmarks of Mankind. Experi mental embryology seeks to explain the mechanisms of development, i.e. all those changes that culminate in the establishment of human anatomy. Undoubtedly, embry ology helps in the understanding of topographical anatomy, the foundation of medicine and surgery. But it also provides vital insights into human evolution, sup plementing comparative anatomy and the hard evidence of the fossil record. It is therefore an important compo nent of human morphology concerned with the interre lationships of human structure with the anatomy of the vertebrates.
