This volume is intended to cover research in the field of muscle
morphology since publication of the previous edition by Haggquist in
1956. The development of new techniques, coupled with an intensified
interest in muscle, has resulted in a vast literature which no single
person could review, especially within the limitations of one volume.
When I accepted the flattering offer to write a new edition, I quickly
abandoned any hope of a comprehensive review. Instead, I tried to
consider, within my limits, those lines of research which I believe to
be important for the understanding of mammalian and ultimately human
muscles under normal, experimental, and pathological conditions. It
would be naive to suggest that muscle can be adequately described in
purely morphologi- cal aspects; I would characterize the results of my
effort as "muscle as seen with the eyes of a morphologist". It gives me
pleasure to acknowledge the help of several colleagues who read and
commented on drafts of individual chapters: Dr. Brenda Eisenberg,
Chicago; Dr. Else Nygaard, Copenhagen; Dr. Stefano Schiaffino, Padova;
Dr. Michael Sjostrom, Umea; Dr. Lars Erik Thornell, Umea. None of these
individ- uals can be held responsible for any error or obscurity that
persists. Indeed, without their assistance there would have been more. I
also thank those col- leagues who allowed me to include their published
and unpublished material; their names, and also those of the publishers
who kindly granted copyright permission, are given in the individual
figure captions.