LITERARY NOTICES. 



271 



cal specialists and exclusive students of the 

 human body. Human physiology of some 

 sort is as old as the practice of medicine, 

 but it became a new science under the in- 

 fluence of modern biology. The human body 

 is only to be understood in connection with 

 the general system of life in nature, and, as 

 this subject has recently been greatly de- 

 veloped, its results should contribute much 

 interesting interpretation to human physi- 

 ology. Dr. Martin, we think, has written 

 bis work from this point of view, and that 

 it may be taken as embodying all the lat- 

 est assured advances of science in their 

 bearing upon his subject. But, as there 

 is no sharp boundary where accredited sci- 

 ence stops, the author, in posting up his 

 work, necessarily encountered the perplex- 

 ity of dealing with facts and principles not 

 yet settled, for physiology is still an actively 

 progressive science. Dr. Martin does not 

 avoid " disputed matters," but simply aims 

 to do justice to the present state of his sub- 

 ject. He says in his preface : " This was 

 deliberately done, as the result of an expe- 

 rience in teaching physiology, which now 

 extends over more than ten years. It 

 would have been comparatively easy to slip 

 over things still uncertain, and subjects as 

 yet uninvestigated, and to represent our 

 knowledge of the workings of the animal 

 body as neatly rounded off at all its con- 

 tours, and complete in all its details totus, 

 teres, et rotundis. But, by so doing, no ade- 

 quate idea of the present state of physio- 

 logical science would have been conveyed ; 

 in many directions it is much further trav- 

 eled and more completely known than in 

 others ; and, as ever, exactly the most in- 

 teresting points are those which lie on the 

 boundary between what we know and what 

 we hope to know. In gross anatomy there 

 arc now but few points calling for a suspen- 

 sion of judgment ; with respect to micro- 

 scopic anatomy there are more ; but a trea- 

 tise on physiology which would pass by, un- 

 mentioned, all things not known but sought, 

 would convey an utterly unfaithful and un- 

 true idea. Physiology has not finished its 

 course ; it is not cut and dried, and ready 

 to be laid aside for reference like a speci- 

 men in an herbarium, but is comparable 

 rather to a living, growing plant, with some 

 stout and useful branches well raised into 



the light, others but part-grown, and many 

 still represented by unfolded buds." 



We have no space to go into the method 

 or classification of Dr. Martin's work, which 

 seems to be lucid and convenient, while the 

 share given to the leading subjects is well 

 proportioned to their importance. 



In one respect this manual is better 

 than we expected to find it: it is more 

 thoroughly practical than we were prepared 

 to expect from an experimental biologist, 

 and such a devotee of original scientific 

 study as Dr. Martin is well known to be. 

 We anticipated a valuable and trustworthy 

 scientific treatise, but we are glad to see 

 that the science is constantly and effective- 

 ly applied to the hygienic art. The appli- 

 cation of physiological principles for the 

 preservation of health, the care of the body, 

 and the improvement of the conditions of 

 life, are copiously interspersed through the 

 text, and they will have the effect both of 

 increasing the student's interest in the 

 study and of securing the first object of all 

 education the acquisition of knowledge in- 

 dispensable to self-preservation. 



YiCTOR Hugo : His Life akd Works. From 

 the French of Alfred Barbou. By 

 Frances A. Shaw. Chicago: S. C. 

 Griggs & Co. Pp. 207. Price, 1. 



The life of a man who has acquired such 

 a hold upon a nation as Victor Hugo has 

 gained upon the French people can not fail 

 to be full of interest and instruction, and 

 well deserves to be written. The great 

 French poet and patriot has found a com- 

 petent and appreciative biographer in M. 

 Barbou, who seems to be one of his most 

 enthusiastic admirers, and has associated 

 with him intimately. 



The Telescope : The Principles involved 

 IN the Construction of Refracting and 

 Beflecting Telescopes. By Thomas 

 Nolan, B. S, Reprinted from "Van 

 Nostrand's Magazine." New York : D. 

 Van Nostrand. Pp. 75. Price, 50 cents. 



This little book presents a brief exposi- 

 tion of the optical principles of lenses and 

 mirrors, and their application to the con- 

 struction of refracting and reflecting tele- 

 scopes, illustrated by several figures and 

 plates. 



