Critical Digest. Ixiii 



the sensory nerve-cells of the earth-worm have neuraxons and dendrons. 

 The paragraph on neuroblasts and spongioblasts creates a sad confu- 

 sion. The germ cells become neuroblasts and these become spongio- 

 blasts. Another picture of the situation is the following sentence (p. 

 27): 'The size of the posterior spinal ganglia is in the main propor- 

 tionate to that of the nerves upon which they are formed.' The fact 

 is true ; but one might infer that the nerves are there before the gan- 

 glia are formed on them. The lateral nerve-roots of Gaskell (p. 28) 

 arise from two columns of nerve cells, viz. the columns of Clarke and 

 a column of the lateral horn. What idea is the student to form of the 

 following sentences (p. 28): ' Every fiber of the gangliated system be- 

 fore it reaches its final destination fuses more or less with other fibers 

 from the neuraxis. The Gasserian ganglion and other intracranial gan- 

 glia, as well as the posterior spinal ganglia have developed as offshoots 

 of the encephalospinal nerves or nerve-roots close to their central termi- 

 nations.' Then the development of the cerebral vesicles (p. 29): There 

 are 3 primary vesicles. * Soon the anterior and posterior vesicles each 

 subdivide into two, one at each side(!) the middle remains single. 

 These five vesicles give rise to the five rudimentary divisions of the 

 brain — the forebrain, hindbrain, midbrain, interbrain and afterbrain'. 

 And the flexures on p. 30 ! 



As a motto for this entire anatomical introduction we might sug- 

 gest the sentence on p. 70 ; 'In studying the cerebellum confusion 

 may be caused through consulting different books, not only because 

 of terminology, but also because of the different planes in which the 

 views are presented.' And we should modestly suggest that after the 

 use of one book we may create much confusion by confronting the 

 student with an actual brain after he has been trained on figures and 

 names only. The whole of pp. 1-94 is about the most confused con- 

 glomeration of terms and data imaginable. To pick out one instance: 

 One might expect a student to know something concerning the fillet 

 after reading this anatomy. The information is scattered over p. 5, 

 58, 62, 72, 82, 84, 85, 87, and amounts to this: on p. 5, where the lat- 

 eral fillet is shown in the drawing of a brain stem, it is called 'a white 

 band constituting one of the important tracts between the spinal cord 

 and the brain.' On p. 58, 'according to some authorities, the postcom- 

 missure is not a true commissure, but in part at least a decussation of 

 the fibers of the fillet.' On p. 62, a small tract from Meynert's basal 

 optic ganglion is 'supposed by some eventually to join the upper fillet, 

 while in front it may be connected with the lenticular'. On p. 72, 

 'the dorsal longitudinal bundle and the fillet receive fibers from the 



