  How elliptical galaxy dynamics relate to galaxy structure, stellar
populations, spiral galaxies and environment are reviewed. The evidence
assembled shows that most, if not all, galaxies originally classified as gE
contain disks within them. Taken together, the existing evidence are most
consistent with the gravitational, hierarchical, clustering, merging (HCM)
concept that all galaxies, including gE, are formed from the combination of
much smaller galaxies. Within the HCM picture, the evidence also strongly
suggests that the subunits which go into forming galaxies must be related in
specific ways both to the mass of the galaxy they will form, and to the
environment in which the galaxy forms. Despite the extensive data that we now
have on galaxies that can constrain their formation history, the lack of a
physical understanding of the stellar initial mass function prevents us from
developing realistic physical models for galaxy formation.
