Literary Notices. xvii 



book is provided with author's and subject indexes, but neither of these 

 is as complete or free from error as should be the case in a work of this 

 character. It is not to be expected that the literature of all parts of so 

 vast a field should be worked over with equal care. In some cases, as 

 as in the accunt of the peripheral gustatory neurones, the presentation 

 gives a false (or at best a very incomplete) view of the present status. 

 Questions of nerve components are briefly touched upon under the 

 head of the peripheral motor neurones. One would have expected this 

 principle to have received recognition also in the classification of sen- 

 sory impressions, where it is of still more importance to sound morphol- 

 ogy, but here we see no use made of the idea of functional systems as 

 introduced by Strong. Finally, we feel inclined to deprecate the ap- 

 pearace of special pleading for a particular phase of the neurone the- 

 ory, notably evident in the discussions of the anatomical independence 

 of the nerve units, and manifested especially in a tendency to minimize 

 the importance of conflicting evidence. 



Taken as a whole the work is a remarkably able and objective 

 summary of present knowledge. Dr. Barker possesses the rare gift of 

 being able to give in few words a useful and readable abstract of an in- 

 tricate discussion, and he has put all working neurologists under very 

 special obligations in the present contribution. The reviewer has read 

 every one of his pages, and all with interest, as weU as profit. 



c. J. H. 

 Bibliograpliica Medica. 



The Index Medicus, after having been carried at a financial loss for 

 many years by the American publishers, was suspended last year for 

 want of support. Following its demise, there appears from Paris, be- 

 ginning with January of this year a monthly bibliography planned along 

 similar lines and designed to succeed the Index, as a universal bibliog- 

 raphy of the medical sciences. It is published by the '' Institut de 

 Bibliographic," edited by Marcel Baudoin, under the direction of C. 

 Potain and Charles Richet. The price is (to foreign countries) 60 Fr. 

 per year. c. j. h. 



Le Nevraxe. 



Under the title ^' Le Nevraxe, Recueil de Neiirologie Normale et 

 Pathologiqiie," a new journal is issued from Louvain by Professor van 

 Gehuchten. For several years neurologists have welcomed the semi- 

 annual " Iravaux^' from his laboratory, made up chiefly of the reprints 

 from various journals of his own work and that of his pupils. The 

 motive for the new journal lies in the need for greater promptness and 



