REVIEW. 
Principles of Human Physiology, by W1tu1aM B. CaRpENntTER, 
M.D. Sixth Edition, edited by Henry Power, M.B. 
London: Churchill. 
Tux sixth edition of a work of nearly one thousand pages 
is no mean testimony to its worth. We shall not, therefore, 
attempt to criticise this work, but simply afford our readers 
the means of judging whether the new edition has kept up 
with its predecessors in those departments where the use of 
the microscope is necessary. We are not sure that this is a 
work of supererogation. Researches with the microscope in 
this country do not at all command the attention which their 
importance demands, and if we examine the records of our own 
societies compared with those of other countries of Europe, it 
is very manifest that the easier methods of observation with 
the naked eye are favourites with the scientific men of Great 
Britain. As a physiologist, no microscopist could complain 
that Dr. Carpenter has neglected to chronicle and estimate 
those researches which alone could be carried on with the 
microscope. He has everywhere recognised research by the 
aid of this instrument, and in his work on the use of the 
microscope has shown how thoroughly he understands the facts 
that can alone be brought into consideration in the science 
of physiology by its aid. At the same time we cannot but 
regard a certain tendency to speculation in the direction of 
physical and chemical forces, as fraught with danger to phy- 
siology, unless accompanied with the sound observation of 
facts which the microscope alone supplies. On this ground 
we felt anxious lest Dr. Carpenter, in committing his work to 
the editorship of another, should diminish its value in relation 
to all those facts bearing on human physiology which can 
alone be properly understood by the use of the microscope. 
We are glad to say that, as far as our examination of this 
new edition of Dr. Carpenter’s work has gone, we observe no 
