710 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



the case than to any one symptom which may 

 be presented by the injured person. The 

 characteristics of the cases described by it 

 indicate some functional or dynamic dis- 

 turbance of the nervous equilibrium or tone, 

 rather than structural damage to any organ. 

 Another class of effects is included under 

 the designation of fright neurosis or trau- 

 matic hysteria. The diagnoses of these 

 phenomena are complemented by the cita- 

 tion of considerable numbers of cases which 

 illustrate the almost capricious variety of 

 the forms under which they are mani- 

 fested. In treatment a pre-eminently im- 

 portant factor is rest ; but, besides this gen- 

 eral remedy, there are special forms of affec- 

 tion that require special applications. The 

 mental condition is all-important; and in 

 this connection special stress is laid upon 

 the effect of the expectation of compensa- 

 tion, and upon malingering, into which the 

 patient is to a greater or less extent seduced 

 unintentionally and unconsciously by the 

 trend of his thoughts and fancies ; so that 

 complete recovery is not assured till the mind 

 is cleared, to which payment of damages 

 contributes greatly; yet this is predicated 

 without reflection on the character, motives, 

 or entire honesty of the patient. The clos- 

 ing chapters are devoted to the discussion of 

 this branch of the subject in its medico-legal 

 aspects. 



A Text-book or Physiology. By M. Foster, 

 M. A., M. D., LL. D., F. R. S., Professor 

 of Physiology in the University of Cam- 

 bridge, etc. Sixth edition, revised. Part 

 IV. London and New York : Macmillan 

 & Co., 1891. 



This part of this excellent text-book 

 treats of the physiology of the various 

 senses, of that of certain special muscular 

 mechanisms, as of the voice, of speech, and 

 of looomotion ; of the tissues and mechan- 

 isms of reproduction, including impregna- 

 tion, menstruation, pregnancy, parturition, 

 the phases of life, and death. Preceding the 

 physiology of each organ there are descrip- 

 tions of its anatomy and histology, as in the 

 other parts of this work. 



The great caution that Prof. Foster dis- 

 plays throughout the work in judicially pre- 

 senting both sides of a moot point is well 

 shown in the section on color sensations. 

 Both the Young-Helmholtz and the Hering 



theory of color perception are explained, but 

 the author is inclined to accept the latter, 

 both because there is a recorded case in 

 which only white and black could be seen, 

 and because the phenomena of peripheral 

 color vision better accord with Hering's 

 theory. 



In the chapter on hearing the author 

 states that the exact nature of the process 

 by which the vibrations of the perilymph, 

 produced by waves of sound, give rise to 

 auditory impulses is uncertain. Even ac- 

 cepting the theory that the basilar mem- 

 brane may be considered as consisting of a 

 number of parallel radial strings, each ca- 

 pable of independent vibrations, the other 

 structures in the auditory epithelium present 

 problems that are as yet unsolved ; for the 

 true function of the rods of Corti and of the 

 reticulate membrane of which these form a 

 part, of the cells of Deiters, and of the inner 

 as distinguished from the outer hair-cells, 

 are yet unknown. 



The author considers, in the section on 

 taste and smell, that certain recorded cases 

 lead to the provisional conclusion that the 

 gustatory fibers are fibers belonging to the 

 fifth nerve, though they may reach the 

 tongue partly by way of the glosso-pharyn- 

 geal, partly by way of the chorda tympani 

 nerves. 



While we agree with the author that cu- 

 taneous pain is a separate sensation, devel- 

 oped in a different way in the skin than is 

 pressure or temperature sensation, we think 

 that he should have laid stress on the latter 

 as being developed in a different way than is 

 pain or pressure sensation. In fact, recorded 

 cases of nervous diseases suggest that, though 

 correlated, the pressure, pain, and temperature 

 senses are distinct entities. 



He does not regard " muscular sense " as 

 an appropriate term for the recognition of 

 impulses that are derived not only from the 

 muscular fibers, but also, and possibly to a 

 large extent, from the tendons and other 

 passive instruments of the muscles. There- 

 fore this so-called muscular sense is the out- 

 come of afferent impulses proceeding from 

 the periphery and started in the parts con- 

 cerned in the movement, and it should not 

 be described by a term that implies a single 

 source of the phenomenon. 



The entire volume exhibits the same care- 



