LITERARY NOTICES. 



753 



will take the pains to consult and compare 

 these works cow issued will quickly see 

 that we are entering upon a new stage of 

 social ideas and knowledge. " The proper 

 study of mankind is man," but it is far from 

 being the same study in different ages. 



A Text-Book of Hcmax Physiologt. De- 

 signed for the Use of Practitioners and 

 Students of Medicine. By Austin Flint, 

 Jr., M. D. Illustrated by Three Litho- 

 graphic Plates and 313 Woodcuts. Pp. 

 5*78. Price, %Q. D. Appleton & Co. 



Tms work is an abridgment or conden- 

 sation of Dr. Flint's large treatise upon 

 physiology, in five volumes. The biblio- 

 graphical and historical features of the 

 larger work are mostly omitted, and various 

 subjects, which are there much elaborated, 

 are more concisely presented in the single 

 volume. The more extensive treatise will 

 retain its place for purposes of reference, 

 as giving a full account of the literature of 

 physiology, and a systematic representation 

 of its facts and principles. Out of this Dr. 

 Flint has educed a complete working manu- 

 al, which brings the treatment of the sub- 

 ject within convenient limits for students, 

 while it is much more complete as a repre- 

 sentation of the present state of the science 

 than any other book we know upon this 

 topic. A marked feature of the work is its 

 illustrations, which are large and especially 

 fine. Many of them are new, and all are 

 executed in the best style of the engraver's 

 art. The book is beautifully printed and is 

 most attractive in appearance ; it may be 

 commended to all who desire a comprehen- 

 sive and trustworthy work up to the latest 

 date, by authority, on the interesting and 

 important subject of physiology. 



Animal Parasites and Messmates. By J. 

 P Van Beneden, Professor at the Uni- 

 versity of Louvain. With 83 Illustra- 

 tions. Pp. 2*74. Price, $1.50. D.Apple- 

 ton & Co. No. XIX. of the " Interna- 

 tional Scientific Series." 

 We give in the body of the Monthly a 

 sample of the curious and interesting infor- 

 mation on the economy of animal life to 

 which this book is devoted. It opens a 

 new chapter of strange things in the field 

 of life, to the common reader, and will be 

 perused' with avidity by all lovers of natural 

 history. The names of most of the little 

 VOL. Till. 48 



creatures described will be found somewhat 

 new to general readers ; but the lively, fa- 

 miliar, and graphic style of the writer will 

 go far to compensate for this drawback, as 

 he is not without a very decided sense of the 

 comical and humorous side of his remark- 

 able subject. The author is an eminent au- 

 thority in zoology, and the work is largely 

 the result of his own observations and 

 studies. It is one of the most original 

 monographs in the series to which it was 

 contributed. 



Life Histories of Animals, including Man : 

 OR, Outlines of Comparative Embry- 

 ology. By Dr. A. S. Packard, Jr. New 

 York : Henry Holt & Co., 1876. Pp. 

 243. Figures 268. 



Since the translation of Siebold's "Com- 

 parative Anatomy of the Invertebrata," by 

 Dr. Burnett, accompanied by the valuable 

 investigations of the translator, and the 

 publication of " Mind in Nature," by Prof. 

 H. James Clarke, there has been no general 

 work published in this country equaling in 

 importance the one before us. Indeed, we 

 cannot now recall any work which covers 

 the same ground ; and as an evidence of its 

 value it may be stated that the English mag- 

 azines of science have repeatedly made lib- 

 eral quotations from some of the chapters, 

 as they originally appeared in the American 

 Naturalisf. 



Dr. Packard has not only brought to- 

 gether and richly illustrated a resume of 

 the labors of the leading embryologists of 

 Europe Kowelevsky, Schultze, Schneider, 

 Metschnikoff, Salensky, Cienkowski, and 

 others equally distinguished and also the 

 work of American naturalists, too, but has 

 contributed much original matter from his 

 own published works on insects and Crus- 

 tacea. The various classes are conveniently 

 but not too rigidly grouped in a natural 

 sequence, commencing with the 2foncra, 

 and ending with Man. 



It is refreshing to get hold of a general 

 work which is strictly in accordance with 

 the latest interpretations of science, and it 

 must remain for many years the one stand- 

 ard work on the subject. 



The author, as is the case with ninety, 

 nine hundredths of the leading investiga- 

 tors, is an evolutionist, and indeed it would 

 be difficult to conceive a work of this na- 



