1 24 Review of Mathematical Researches. 



useless. It is but due, before dismissing the subject, to express our ob- 

 ligations to the type founder and printer, for the clearness and accuracy 

 with which the book is struck off; which is peculiarly creditable, where, 

 from the numerous indices and accents in different positions, misprints are 

 so difficult to avoid. 



Outlines of Comparative Anatomy. By R. E. Grant, M.D., F. R.S.Ed., ^c. 



Parti. Svo, pp. \A4, with sij;ty-Jive wood cuts. 1835, London, Balliere. 



Bristol, Hardwick. (To be completed in four parts.) 



The fasciculus before us, describes the osseous, ligamentous, and a part 

 of the muscular system of animals. 



The osseous system is traced up from the transparent plates of the lower 

 infusorial animalcules, through the horny zoophytes, or keratophytes, — in 

 some of which the skeleton forms a tubular sheath, enveloping the fleshy 

 substance through all the ramifications of the body, — and the calcareous 

 zoophytes, as the corals, etc. — in which the skeleton becomes stronger, and 

 is for tlie most part internal and in a single piece, — to the external case or 

 crust of the star fish, urchin, and other eciiinodermata ; and thence through 

 the insects, Crustacea, etc. to the vertebrated animals. The osteology of 

 each order is illustrated by a wood cut, and in the skeletons of the higher 

 animals, the several bones are numbered, and their use, and mode of action 

 clearly exhibited. 



The two first sections contain a great deal of original and very curious 

 matter, concerning the organization of the horny zoophytes, (sponges, etc.) 

 the manner in which they are nourished, and the double system of pores 

 with which they are provided. Dr. Grant observes, that the abundance 

 of spicular silicious crystals contained in the skeletons of the lowest of 

 the poriphera, is likely to have assisted in their conversion into flint, 

 where their remains have been exposed for ages in chalk or other strata, 

 traversed by silicifying percolations. 



The observations upon the osseous system of the vertebrata are worthy of 

 all attention, since they present, in a very intelligible manner, some of those 

 anatomical views now generally adopted on the continent, and in some mea- 

 sure among anatomists in England. We may particularly instance the analysis 

 of a vertebra, the elements of which are delineated, together with some of the 

 most striking of the u edifications which they undergo in different animals. 



To judge from the specimen before us. Dr. Grant's book seems likely to 

 prove a valuable one. Its details are minute without being tedious, and 

 the style employed is concise without being obscure. Our plan does not 

 permit us here to enter at any length into its contents, which however we 

 have studied with attention, and we feel the more desirous of recommending 

 the work to our non- anatomical readers, because it will enable them to do 

 justice to the zoological articles in this journal, and successfully to attack 

 some of those " terribly hard names," of the use of which many of our most 

 valuable friends so pathetically complain. 



