Jan. 23, 1890] 



NATURE 



269 



flora projected by the late Sir William Hooker) was for 

 a long time the only effort made in the cause of botanical 

 science in this part of the world. Since that time, both 

 the fauna and flora have received systematic attention in 

 this country and in the United States, and after a lapse 

 of nearly two hundred years we are beginning to have a 

 clear idea of the distribution of life in the Caribbean 

 Archipelago. 



A Joint Committee of the Government Grant Com- 

 mittee of the Royal Society and of the British- Associa- 

 tion, has been engaged for the last three years in 

 investigating ascertained deficiencies in the fauna and 

 flora. Almost every page of Mr. Bulkeley's work affords 

 ample evidence of the aid he has received, directly 

 or indirectly, from the botanical efforts of recent years. 

 More, however, might have been said of the special 

 plants which are characteristic of the several islands, and 

 which contribute so large a share to the interest of daily 

 life in them. 



It is to be hoped the day is not far distant when this 

 first unpretentious guide-book to the Lesser Antilles will 

 be followed by others, not less interesting, but still more 

 fully meeting the requirements of those who may visit 

 them for pleasure, or go to them in the hope of pursuing 

 some of the numerous industries opened to settlers in these 

 beautiful islands. D. M. 



A TEXT-BOOK OF HUMAN ANATOMY. 



A Text-book of Human Anatomy^ Systematic and Topo- 

 graphical. Including the Embryology, Histology, and 

 Morphology of Man, with special reference to the re- 

 quirements of Practical Surgery and Medicine. By 

 Alex. Macalister, M.A., M.D., F.R.S., Professor of 

 Anatomy in the University of Cambridge. (London : 

 Charles Griffin and Co., 1889.) 



WHEN it was announced some time ago that the 

 Professor of Anatomy in the University of Cam- 

 bridge was engaged in writing a systematic work on 

 Human Anatomy, its publication was looked for with 

 anticipation and interest. Prof. Macalister deservedly 

 enjoys a high reputation as a man of remarkable culture 

 in many branches of knowledge, and as an anatomist in 

 the comprehensive meaning of the term. Curiosity was 

 excited, therefore, as to the mode in which he would 

 treat the subject : whether he would follow the old lines 

 pursued by so many of those who have preceded him in 

 the writing of text-books, or if he would strike out a new 

 path for himself. 



In his preface he tells us that he has endeavoured to 

 ■give a comprehensive account of the Anatomy of Man 

 studied from the Morphological standpoint. Accordingly, 

 we find that, after a few explanatory paragraphs on the 

 meaning of terms used in description, he proceeds to 

 state his conception of a Cell. His definition is so com- 

 prehensive that he regards it in its simplest form as a 

 minute speck of protoplasm without either nucleus or 

 •cell-wall ; and, in this respect, he may be said to coincide 

 with the view held by Strieker in his well-known article 

 -on the Ceir. He then briefly describes the process of 

 Karyokinesis, and very properly states that the study of 

 the specialization of the products of cell multiplication 



is the only trustworthy guide to the solution of the many 

 morphological problems which Human Anatomy presents. 

 This very naturally leads to an account of the Development 

 of the Embryo, which is, however, compressed into so few 

 pages that we doubt whether a beginner can derive from 

 it a clear conception of the very elaborate set of changes 

 which lead from the simple laminated blastoderm to the 

 form of the foetus at the time of birth. 



A chapter on Histology or tissue-anatomy comes next 

 in order. He groups the tissues into five classes — 

 epithelial or surface limiting ; connective or skeletal ; 

 nervous or sensory ; muscular or contractile ; blood and 

 lymph or nutritive. This classification is both simple and 

 convenient, and is much to be preferred to the grouping 

 into cellular, fibrous, membranous and tubular tissues, 

 sometimes adopted. In the course of this chapter he in 

 part fills up some of the gaps in the section on embryo- 

 logy, by describing the development of the nervous and 

 vascular systems. 



The skeleton is next described, and following the plan 

 pursued by Prof Humphry in his well-known treatise* 

 and by Hyrtl, Gegenbaur, Krause, and others in their 

 systematic works, he describes the joints and ligaments 

 along with the bones with which they are associated. 

 This arrangement, undoubtedly, has certain advantages 

 more especially in the direction of economizing space in 

 description. 



About one-third of the work, extending to 248 pages, is 

 occupied with the chapters to which we have just referred, 

 and the remaining two-thirds is devoted to an account of 

 the soft parts, including the anatomy of the brain and 

 organs of sense. In this, the larger division of his text- 

 book, Prof. Macalister alters his mode of treating the 

 subject, and departs from the method which systematic 

 writers are in the habit of pursuing. 



The rule, almost without exception, has been to describe 

 in separate chapters the muscular, vascular, nervous, ali- 

 mentary, respiratory, and genito-urinary systems, so as 

 to bring before the student in a continuous series all 

 those organs which possess corresponding properties. 

 To some extent, therefore, the arrangement adopted in our 

 text-books of systematic anatomy has had a physiological 

 basis. 



Dr. Macalister has not followed this plan. He has 

 adopted an arrangement on a topographical basis, i.e. 

 according to the method pursued in the dissecting-room, 

 in which the student works out for himself the constituent 

 parts of the body as he displays them in the course of his 

 dissections. This method of studying the anatomy of the 

 human body is, as everyone will admit, of enormous import- 

 ance — indeed, we may say of primary value — to the prac- 

 titioner of medicine and surgery. But it is the custom of the 

 schools to distinguish between the analytical or dissect- 

 ing-room method, in which the body is picked to pieces by 

 the dissector himself, and the synthetical or systematic 

 method, in which the body is, as it were, built up by the 

 teacher for the student. This custom is the fruit of long 

 experience, for whilst giving full value to the topographical 

 or regional aspect of anatomy, it enables the teacher to 

 show to the student the continuousness of such systems 

 as the vascular, nervous, and alimentary, and to point 

 out their physiological relations. For it should be kept 

 in mind that anatomy is the basis of physiology, as well 



