Literary Notices. xiii 



gard of consequences. As a reflex of the present condition of neu- 

 rology the book is reahstic but as a consistent picture of the brain and 

 nervous system it is a failure all the more regretable for the vast amount 

 of valuable material collected in it. 



We seek in vain for the accuracy, uniformity and intelligibility 

 that should constitute its chief claim to recognition. We are not in- 

 clined to be arbitrary in matters of nomenclature— we are heartily tired 

 of " neuronomy " — but here, if anywhere, is a justification of the cru- 

 sade for revised nomenclature. Terms of direction and position are 

 mingled in the same sentence in inextricable confusion until, unless 

 one knows where an organ is and whither it tends, he would be unable 

 to discover from the description. The same thing lies in front of and 

 ventral to some other thing which tends forward or upward or in a 

 cephahc direction. In the description of the oUves, for example, the 

 following terms occur in the same paragraph : anterior, superior, dor- 

 sally, dorsolaterally, lateral, ventral, beneath, upward, upper, posterior, 

 and so on to the end of the section. The terms posterior, anterior, 

 etc., are retained in the names of parts but in descriptions the same 

 positions are called dorsal ventral or posterior and anterior indiscrimi- 

 nately. The term behind is used to mean dorsal to and in the latter 

 part of the same sentence posterior and dorsal are used in the same 

 sense. We are treated to such novelties as " chromophyUic granules " 

 in connection with Nissl's discoveries, and other technical infelicities 

 occur. These inconsistencies are perhaps less important, they are 

 certainly less unusual, than the repeated description of the same part 

 or organ where the several desciptions disagree in important particulars. 



To cite a single instance, the " superior peduncles " are thrice de- 

 scribed. On page 1 88 we read " The superior peduncles (processus 

 ad cerebrum) appear to come from the region just beneath the corpora 

 quadrigemina, where they decussate, extending from one cerebral hem- 

 isphere to the opposite cerebellar hemisphere." A foot note states, how- 

 ever, that they run the other way. On page 229 a more extended descrip- 

 tion is given which would not be recognized as relating to the same 

 organ, but the author adds at the close that some anatomists do not 

 agree with what he stated. Another description is given, like the above 

 under a full heading, on page 202 and this is materially different from 

 the other two. While this is perhaps an extreme illustration, it indicates 

 a fundamental and vital defect in the book. 



The chapter on peripheral nerve terminations seems weak and not 

 up to date. As a whole, it may be said that the book will prove help- 

 ful to many by reason of the collection in convenient form of so large 



