22 THE AMERICAN MONTHLY [January, 



NOTICES OF BOOKS. 



Dissection of the Dog as a Basis for the Study of Physiology. 

 By W. H. Howell. Henry Holt & Co. New York, 1888. 

 There have appeared during the year several books containing guides 

 for mammalian dissection, and there were in existence previously a host 

 of others. And yet one cannot say that most of them are not a decided 

 gain. For the requirements of different courses are not often exactly 

 alike. In fact, what teacher does not feel that no text-book yet written 

 fully meets his special needs. But Dr. Howell has produced a book 

 whose counterpart will not be easy to find. Nearly all the guides to 

 mammalian dissection are the production of morphologists, and there- 

 fore dwell most upon topics of interest in comparative anatomy. The 

 one we are now reviewing is written by a physiologist expressly to 

 prepare students for a practical or theoietical course in physiology. It 

 does not follow the dissection with exhaustive thoroughness, but, taking 

 out of the vast detail the parts of most use in an elementary physiology 

 course, tells the seeker how to discover them with his own scalpel. 

 From practical experience in conducting college courses in animal 

 physiology we can testify to the value to the student of a clear, even 

 though not exhaustive, knowledge of anatomy and histology before he. 

 attempts to proceed far in pure physiological study. It has a twofold 

 use : — it not only shows him the elaborate complexity of the animal 

 body and helps him to realize how very much more needs to be taken 

 into account in studying physiological problems, but it also makes it 

 possible for him to closely follow steps in the processes. For instance, 

 the absorption of carbohydrate and its storage in the liver or secretion 

 by the salivary gland become real processes to him in proportion as he 

 understands the morphological factors involved. Dr. Howell has un- 

 dertaken to provide a practical treatise for such a purpose, and net an 

 exhaustive work on mammalian anatomy. It is decidedly convenient 

 to have in a brief and inexpensive form a book which can be put into 

 the students' hands as a guide to elementary dissection of a mammal pi"ior 

 to the study of animal physiology. The subjects taken up cover most 

 of the anatomy of muscles, the principal nerve and blood vessels, the 

 glandular, excretory, and reproductive systems, the dissection of the 

 brain and eye. It would seem as if any one without assistance could 

 use this work to guide him in the dissection of a dog or cat. Since it 

 was written for use whei'e abundant material would be at hand for 

 dissection, it is not as economical of material as one would perhaps be 

 compelled to be in many places. 



The Home of Shakespeare. L. Prang & Co. Boston. Mass., 188S. 

 Nature was very kind to William Shakespeare and Anne Hathaway 

 in adorning their homes with picturesque surroundings to entice the eye 

 and cheer the heart. All the interesting and now familiar scenes of 

 Shakespeai'e's birthplace and early life are here depicted by full-page il- 

 lustrations from water-color sketches taken on the spotbv Louis K. Har- 

 low, with such extracts from the great poet's writings as fitly describe 

 the spot or appear to have been themselves suggested by it. The con- 

 tents include the Poet's Home, the Grammar School, the West Gate. 



