3IO 



NA TURE 



\Feb, 8, 1877 



languages, very probably, as Mr. Douse suggests, through 

 the medium of ky. But in spite of his arguments to the 

 contrary, kw still seems to me a harder sound than simple 

 /', so that even if we accept his own test of the principle 

 of least effort, the latter sound should be derived from the 

 former, and not the converse.^ He confesses himself, more- 

 over, that his theory fails to explain the equivalence of the 

 Sanskrit jiv and the European reduplicated root gwi-givi 

 " to live " (as in the Latin vive7-e and our quick), an equi- 

 valence which can only be accounted for by supposing 

 that in this particular instance the Indian dialect has pre- 

 served the labial semi-vowel of the original root. Equally 

 instructive is the equivalence of the Greek yaarrip, and 

 the Latin venter {(or gweJtSei-), which Mr. Douse does not 

 notice, as it shows that Greek could sporadically deal 

 with the guttural in the same way that Indian and Lithu- 

 Slavic habitually did. I can see no reason why these dia- 

 lects should nothave sibilated k pure, very possiblythrough 

 an intermediate ky, at the same time that kxu was being 

 reduced to simple k. I have heard kyi/id and conker from 

 the same lips. To the instance of words with primitive 

 ghw given by Mr. Douse, may be added eXa^vs, Lat. 

 /evis (for legvis), and j3paxys, Lat. brevis (for bregvis). 



The excellence of Mr. Douse's book has led me to dwell 

 upon the points which seem to me open to objection, and 

 I have left myself no space to draw attention to the many 

 striking suggestirns and new points of view scattered 

 through the volume. I cannot, however, quite pass over 

 the note in which he maintains the existence of bivocal- 

 ised roots {aka, ata, &c.), and acutely suggests that the 

 Greek i\ik and eKfivos imply dissyllabic roots as much 

 as the archaic Latin enos or the Sanskrit ana, Lat. 

 olle (for omdus). Mr. Douse has materially helped for- 

 ward the solution of the problem of Grimm's Law, and if 

 his theory is not secure from attack in every particular, in 

 its main outlines it will doubtless prove correct. At all 

 events the chronological hypothesis which derives the 

 phonetic systems of the Indo-European languages from 

 one another can never again be upheld. 



A. H. Sayce 



STEELE'S ''EQUINE ANATOMY" 



Outlines 0/ Equine Anatomy. By J. H. Steele, M.R.C.V.S. 



(London : Longmans and Co., 1876.) 



ALTHOUGH this manual is intended, as we are in- 

 formed on the title-page, for the use of veterinary 

 students in the dissecting-room, we think it quite possible 

 that it may have a larger sphere of usefulness. 



As long as the study of zoology and comparative 

 anatomy was confined to those who had entered on the 

 medical profession, the human frame formed an excellent 

 standard with which every mammalian animal might be 

 compared in all its parts. Of late, however, since biology 

 has been introduced into general education, those who 

 have taken to it in earnest have not been long in finding 

 that without a pretty thorough knowledge of the details of 

 what may be termed the typical vertebrate structure they 

 arc on all sides beset with difficulties ; they make errors 

 in nomenclature, they cannot appreciate the significance 

 of bony processes, and are unable to generalise with 

 safety. 



* Mr. Rh^s reminds me that in the Keltic languages at any rate kzv (//?/) 

 is proved to have passed into simple k (c). 



Whether it is possible that the requisite amount of 

 detail will be mastered by those who are not stimulated 

 by the severity of rigid examinations on the way to a 

 professional career is a question which we will not dis- 

 cuss upon the present occasion ; nevertheless, those 

 teachers who are anxious that their pupils should have a 

 reliable work on the anatomy of some one of the lower 

 animals cannot do better than recommend the one at 

 present under notice. The ass is an animal the expense 

 of whose carcase is not excessive. Its size is sufficient 

 for the easy investigation of all its important parts, and 

 its structure is normal enough to form the basis for a 

 competent knowledge of all the essential parts of the 

 mammalian organisation. It is superior to the dog or 

 the cat, because both are as a rule too small for the satis- 

 factory demonstration of many of the more delicate 

 systems, such as the vascular and nervous, except by 

 those who have already had considerable experience in 

 dissecting. Another advantage is that the requirements 

 of the veterinary colleges have led to the production of 

 such works, and there are more elaborate ones, such as 

 that of Chauveau, the translation of which by Mr. George 

 Fleming we reviewed some time ago (Nature, vol. viii. 

 p. 158), to fall back upon where greater detail is called for. 

 On the other hand, a treatise on the anatomy of the dog 

 would with great difficulty repay any author for the time 

 and labour required in its production. 



Mr. Steele's work commences with a chapter on the 

 methods and terms employed. The osteology of the 

 horse is then considered in detail, each bone being fully 

 described. This is followed by a section on arthrology, 

 in which the nature and action of each joint is explained. 

 The fourth part of the volume is devoted to special ana- 

 tomy, which is treated in the same way as is human 

 anatomy in dissecting manuals generally. Appended 

 are tables of nerves and vessels. The style in which the 

 whole subject is treated is not inferior to that adopted in 

 the best works on anthropotomy, at the same time that 

 the language is clear and concise. We do not quite 

 know why fascia should be spelt " faschia " throughout. 



In his account of the liver, Mr. Steele reproduces an 

 error found in most works on the subject. This we can- 

 not correct better than by quoting the accurate descrip- 

 tion given by Prof. Flower in his Hunterian Lectures 

 before the College of Surgeons in 1872.1 There we learn 

 that " The liver is tolerably symmetrical in its general 

 arrangement, being divided nearly equally into segments 

 by a well-marked umbilical fissure. Each segment is 

 again divided by lateral fissures, which do not extend 

 quite to the posterior border of the organ. Of the cen- 

 tral lobes thus cut off, the right is rather [decidedly] th^ 

 larger, and has two fissures in its free border dividing it 



into lobules The two lateral lobes are subtriangU'^ 



lar in form. The spigelian is represented by a flat surface 

 between the portal fissure and the posterior [the vertebral| 

 border, not distinctly marked off from the left lateral by ; 

 fissure of the ductus venosus, as this vessel is buried deep 

 in the hepatic substance ; but the caudate is distinct and 

 tongue-shaped, its free apex reaching nearly to the border 

 of the right lateral lobe. In most works on the anatomy 

 of the horse (as those of Gurlt and Leisering) [to which 



' Medical Times and Gazette, August 31, 1872, p. 219. 



