AuGust 1899] THE BRAINS OF MAMMALS 143 
THE BRAINS OF MAMMALS. 
Handbuch der Anatomie und vergleichenden Anatomie der Centralnerven- 
Systems der Saiugethiere: I. Makroscopischer Theil. By Drs. E. Fuarau 
and S. JACOBSOHN. 8vo, pp. xvi. +578, with 7 plates and 126 figs. 
Berlin: S. Karger, 1899. Price 22 marks. 
Perhaps we can bestow no greater praise on this elaborate and bulky 
treatise (which, by the way, only forms a first instalment of the complete work) 
than the expression of the wish that it may be found possible to republish it 
on a reduced scale in English. We say in an abbreviated form on purpose, 
because in these high-pressure times there is scarcely any one save the 
specialist who can afford time to wade through the mass of detail brought 
together by the learned author ; and it is important that students of mammals, 
other than brain-specialists, should make themselves acquainted with the lead- 
ing facts of the present line of investigation. Although, so far as we are 
aware, there is no work in English specially devoted to the central nervous 
system of mammals, we are glad to see the authors of the volume before us 
confessing their indebtedness to British investigators like Cunningham, Bed- 
dard, and Garrod. 
The plan adopted by the authors is to take leading representatives of the 
various mammalian orders in regular sequence and to describe in detail the 
brain-characters in each, more space being naturally devoted to the complicated 
brain of the Chimpanzee than is assigned to its simpler representative in the 
Duckbill or Echidna. One method of illustration that especially commends 
itself to us is the delineation of the position of the chief cerebral sulci on the 
outer surface of the skull of the animal to which the brain in question pertains. 
By this means an excellent idea is gained not only of the relative proportion of 
the brain to the skull, but also as to the relative complexity of brain-convolu- 
tion in different animals. At the close of the work are given the general 
results of the authors’ investigations; and some very interesting facts are 
recorded as to the relation of the volume of the brain to that of the skull, the 
absolute brain-weight, and the relation of the latter to the corporeal weight. 
Needless to say that these investigations tend in no wise to a revival of the 
cerebral classification of Mammals attempted by Owen. 
In only one respect have we to find fault with the authors, and this relates 
to the names employed for some of the animals treated of. It is a well-known 
complaint on the part of systematists that anatomical and physiological writers 
are generally remiss in regard to nomenclature, but it is seldom that we 
encounter such a gross anachronism as the retention of the name Sima troglo- 
dytes for the Chimpanzee. Several minor errors in nomenclature also occur. 
And here it is desirable to warn the advocates of radical changes in mammalian 
nomenclature that such are scarcely ever adopted by non-systematists (who 
probably never see them), so that instead of promoting uniformity, which is 
the only justifiable plea for their introduction, such changes in names only lead 
to worse confusion than ever. The volume closes with a comprehensive list of 
literature, in regard to which it may be remarked that it is a pity some person 
with a better knowledge of English than is apparently possessed by the authors 
was not asked to read the proof-sheets. 
The work, when complete, will doubtless long remain the standard authority 
on the interesting but difficult subject of which it treats. 
