LITERARY NOTICES. 



Johnston, J. B. The Nervous System of Vertebrates. Philadelphia, P. Blakistons Son & Co. 1906. 

 Pp. XX + 370, 180 Figs. $3.00. 



Progress in the investigation of animal behavior has, undoubtedly, been retarded 

 by the imperfections of our knowledge ot the nervous systems of the animals under 

 investigation, and especially by the fact that the published data, which are by no 

 means inconsiderable, are technical anatomical descriptions usually imperfectly 

 correlated among themselves and always written in a scientific vernacular which is 

 unintelligible except to the initiated. And conversely, morphological research has 

 often signally failed to make the most of its own material because of lack of attention 

 to the functional relations of the parts under investigation. The time for more 

 perfect correlation of structure and function has come, and that not merely by the 

 arm-chair neurologist and psychologist, but by all investigators as a matter of 

 routine method. 



Professor Johnston's book is most timely. It gives a brief yet comprehensive 

 summary of the present status of the functional analysis of the vertebrate nervous 

 system in form comprehensible to any one with a rudimentary foundation of verte- 

 brate morphology and a willingness to apply himself seriously to the mastery of con- 

 siderable rather intricate detail. The style is direct and clear and the text is illus- 

 trated by numerous excellent diagrammatic figures; the book should present few 

 serious difficulties to the properly prepared student who will read the earlier chap- 

 ters faithfully and get the author's point of view. And this is a matter which should 

 be emphasized for the benefit of those who have had occasion to go to the technical 

 literature on the brains of lower vertebrates for either general or special information. 



The first chapter is brief, devoted to a statement of the point of view and an ex- 

 position of the more important neurological methods. The orienting of the student 

 is fairly well accomplished within the compass of about ten pages. I distinctly do 

 not concur in the author's suggestion that this chapter may well be omitted by the 

 elementary student. No student can read intelligently the subsequent anatomical 

 descriptions without some knowledge of the procedures involved in their prepara- 

 tion. Indeed I would go even further and recommend that in the description of all 

 figures of actual sections the method of preparation be stated. The advanced student 

 as a rule does not require this; but the beginner will often be helped by it. The second 

 chapter, devoted to general morphology of the nervous system, is also brief. It 

 might well be expanded a little and a few additional figures introduced to illustrate 

 the external form of some of the leading types of brains to which constant reference 

 is made in the following chapters. The third chapter, on the development of the 

 nervous system, is devoted chiefly to histogenesis and the general morphology of the 

 head. Readers of this journal are already familiar with Johnston's studies in the 

 latter field. In the fourth chapter, nerve elements and their functions, attention is 

 directed chiefly to the external forms of neurones and their modes of inter-relation. 

 A conservative position is taken with reference to the neurone theory and the modi- 



