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REVIEWS. 



Lectures on Histology, delivered at the Eoyal College of Surgeons of 

 England in the Session 1851-52. By John Quekett, Professor of 

 Histology. Vol. II. Bailliere. London, 



In pursuance of the plan laid down in his first volume, 

 Professor Quekett has in this work presented us with another 

 instalment of the histology of organic beings. The subject 

 here taken up is the structure of the skeleton of plants and 

 invertebrate animals. Although we hope Mr. (^uekettt may 

 be encouraged to proceed with the publication of his lectures, 

 we think he has very judiciously selected his present subject 

 as supplying a want of the physiologist and the mici'oscopic 

 inquirer. The fact is, at the present day, there is little to be 

 added to our knowledge of the histology of the human body, 

 and what we really want to complete our knowledge of the 

 structure of organized beings, is more extended researches 

 upon the lower animals. Our knowledge of vegetable struc- 

 ture, also, is much more extensive than it is of the lower 

 animals. To all inquirers, then, in the field of comparative 

 histology, this volume of Mr. Quekett's lectures will be found 

 very acceptable. We cannot commend Mr. Quekett's volume 

 as a comprehensive treatise upon all that is known with 

 regard to the hard parts of plants and invertebrate animals ; 

 but, like that which renders all his other writings valuable, 

 it bears the impress of original observation, and in all cases 

 the reader may rely upon the accuracy of the author. Mr. 

 Quekett nowhere commits himself to physiological inferences 

 or speculations, leaving those who follow him to form their 

 own opinions with regard to the functions and relations of 

 the parts he describes. 



We shall now endeavour to give our readers an idea of the 

 general contents of this volume, and are enabled, through the 

 kindness of the publisher, to present specimens of the illus- 

 trations with which the work abounds. The first lecture is 

 devoted to some general remarks on the nature of the skeleton, 

 and to the skeleton of plants and sponges. The propriety of 

 the application of the term skeleton to any part of a plant 

 may, perhaps, be doubted. It is very certain that we have 

 no organ, or set of organs, in plants, whose homologues we 

 can point out in the vegetable kingdom. Every tissue in the 



