Literary Notices. xlv 



modern neurology. This work is not only comprehensive and exact 

 but it is conceived in the light of the recent discoveries which have 

 transformed our conceptions of structure and function of the nervous 

 system. It is not to be expected that a work devoted to pathology 

 should furnish an exhaustive account of the details of anatomy and his- 

 tology but it may be frankly admitted that the introductory chapters in 

 the book before us constitute a better general guide to the student of 

 these subjects than any English treatise we are familiar with. Where 

 the mass to be selected from is so large and the difficulty of harmonizing 

 discordant results is so great we could have condoned many imperfec- 

 tions and have only praise for the discriminating way in which the ex- 

 traordinarily wide field has been gleaned. Occasionally the English is 

 not quite smooth, as where the cranial nerves are said " to come and 

 go from the encephalospinal centres " and where the entering fibers 

 divide within the central system "into T-shapes," and it seems to us 

 that the dignity of the work suffers, without really enhancing its use- 

 fulness, by a somewhat condescending tone toward the reader who, 

 nevertheless, is assumed to be competent to follow the author through 

 the intricacies of one of the most difficult branches of descriptive 

 science. 



The nomenclature is that of Dr. Wilder throughout and as such 

 will give offence to those whose prejudices are now filling the journals 

 with personal abuse of the founder of that system. But in view of the 

 fact that this is the only complete system of nomenclature at present 

 before the pubhc and the only one which is self-consistent and carefully 

 elaborated in its details, the author who, is writing a comprehensive 

 work for practical use in the hands of busy men, is ambitious to have 

 his description formulated in brief and unambiguous language very nat- 

 urally preferred to accept what already exists to the necessarily unsatis- 

 factory attempt to formulate for himself out of scattered shreds and 

 patches an eclectic system. It seems to us that most practical men 

 who find their prejudices irritated by some of these terms will concede 

 that the author has pursued a reasonable course and that by supplying 

 a running glossary of other terms used by various authors the greatest 

 good of the greatest number has in this case been subserved. The in- 

 troductory chapter devoted to the anatomy and physiology as such 

 comprehends 125 pages and is amply illustrated but the illustrations in- 

 troduced in connection with the pathological descriptions greatly add 

 to the scope of even this generous allotment. The discussion of the 

 normal physiology is we think the weak part of the book and hope it 

 may be possible to extend this section in future editions. 



