22 



NATURE 



{Nov. II, 1875 



In the Dublin University there are thirty-three fellow- 

 ships, which are tenable for life, irrespective of the restric- 

 tion of celibacy, and are now open to all without 

 distinction of creed. The Commissioners think that it 

 would be very desirable that in the election to Fellow- 

 ships important original research should be regarded as 

 a substantial element of merit. 



The nature of the constitution of the Queen's University 

 Ireland, and its three colleges at Belfast, Cork, and Galway, 

 is well known. The education to be obtained at these 

 colleges is fairly complete, both on the scientific and 

 literary side, and the examinations imposed by the Uni- 

 versity are such as to make its degrees of real value. 



The evidence shows that the appliances for teaching 

 are in some respects insufficient, and that there is a serious 

 deficiency of funds for maintaining the efficiency of the 

 Queen's Colleges in this respect. The Report concludes 

 and recommends as follows with regard to the Queen's 

 University in Ireland : — 



" In founding the Queen's Colleges, the State did not 

 adopt the principle of assisting and stimulating local 

 efforts, and if we except the exhibitions and prizes, to 

 which reference has been already made, as having been 

 provided by public subscription, and a few other exhibi- 

 tions which have been founded at Belfast, no voluntary 

 contributions have been received by them. They are 

 institutions for which the State has made itself respon- 

 sible, and in which, as part of a University system, a 

 complete scientific training is implied. 



" As we think it ot great importance that the sanc- 

 tion of the State should not be given to the teaching of 

 science on a scale inadequate to ensure its efficiency, we 

 recommend ( i) That an increased annual grant be made to 

 the Queen's Colleges for the purpose of providing assis- 

 tants, apparatus, and the other necessary appliances of 

 practical scientific teaching. We further recommend (2) 

 that the Professorship of Natural History in the Queen's 

 College, Belfast, be separated from that of Geology and 

 Mineralogy." 



The general conclusion reached, then, in this Seventh 

 Report is that it would take very little to make London 

 University nearly perfect as an examining and degree- 

 granting body ; that Dublin University is in a healthy 

 condition, and by a little amendment in the subjects of 

 examination for her Scholarships and Fellowships, she 

 might be an example to her sister Universities in Eng- 

 land ; that the Queen's University, Ireland, and the four 

 Scottish Universities are all working in the right lines? 

 and that what they mainly require in order that they may 

 develop into perfectly efficient teaching bodies, so far as 

 science is concerned, are funds to provide the necessary 

 men, buildings, and apparatus. No doubt the recom- 

 mendations of the Commissioners in reference to these 

 and other matters will receive serious attention in the 

 proper quarter. 



HERMANN'S ''ELEMENTS OF HUMAN 

 PHYSIOLOGY" 

 Elements of Human Physiology. By D. L, Hermann, 

 Professor of Physiology at the University of Zurich. 

 Transiatea oy Arthur Gamgee, M.D., F.R.S. (London : 

 Smith, Elder, and Co., 1875.) 



FOR a considerable time a first-class work on the 

 Elements of Physiology in our own language has 

 been a desideratum. Tht bulky Handbook by Carpenter 



was framed in a nearly bygone era of the science ; Kirkes' 

 smaller volume is under a similar disadvantage'; Huxley's 

 excellent little book does not appeal to others than be- 

 ginners, and the " Handbook to the Physiological Labo- 

 ratory," by Drs. Sanderson, Foster, Brunton, and Klein, 

 was never intended to fill the place of a manual. Dr. 

 Gamgee steps forward to fill the gap with a carefully 

 conducted and excellent translation of the fifth edition of 

 Prof. Hermann's deservedly esteemed "Elements of 

 Physiology," a work unequalled in the care which has 

 been bestowed on the collecting and balancing of the 

 investigations of authors from all quarters, as well as in 

 its general construction and inherent unity of design. 



Dr. Gamgee tells us, " After much hesitation and many 

 doubts I decided not. to annotate the text, for had ex- 

 planatory notes, of the nature of commentaries with 

 illustrations, been added to it, as I once intended, its 

 appearance would have been still further delayed, and 

 the work would have been materially altered in character 

 — it would have ceased to have been Hermann's Phy- 

 siology." We have a sufficiently high estimation of Dr. 

 Gamgee's abihty to think that the English'reading public 

 are the sufferers from his change of determination. The 

 work being Hermann's therefore, and not in any way 

 Gamgee's, except as far as the translation is concerned, 

 cur remarks apply only to the former. 



The subject is treated in four sections, or parts. The 

 first is entitled " The Exchanges of the Matter of the 

 Organism'/' ; the second, " The Activities or Energies of 

 the Body " ; the third, *' The Liberating Apparatus ; the 

 Nervoas System " ; and the last, " Origin, Development, 

 and Death of the Organism." As in most works on 

 general subjects written by authors with any special pre- 

 dilections, the space devoted to the different functions is 

 not quite that which would suggest itself to the unbiassed 

 reader. As an instance of this in the present case we 

 may refer to the fact that the account of the organ of 

 sight alone occupies more than one-eighth of the volume, 

 and nearly three times as much space as that devoted to 

 the circulation of the blood. 



The first part treats of the chemical constituents of the 

 human body, the blood, and the circulation. The most 

 advanced method of notation is adopted, and Baeyer's 

 observations on the relations of uric acid are incor- 

 porated. 



In the chapter on the blood we find one section devoted 

 to the death of that fluid, the expression being employed 

 to indicate those effects which follow its withdrawal from 

 the influence of the walls of the living vessels. With 

 reference to the movement of the blood in the circulatory 

 system, we cannot help feeling that there is considerably 

 more that might have been said about it with advantage, 

 and that it might have been treated in a more connected 

 and precise manner. Too much stress is laid on the 

 aspiratory power of the thorax, which is assumed to be 

 so continuous that "an ordinary expiration merely removes 

 the inspiratory increase of the negative pressure." The 

 duration of the systole of the ventricles of the heart 

 is said not to vary with differences in the pulse-rate, 

 according to the observations of Donders, which have 

 been since shown to be incorrect. We are also led, in- 

 correctly, to infer that the blood-pressure in the ventri- 

 cles at the end of the diastole is a negative one ; that the 



