September 29, 192 1] 



NATURE 



141 



tion of subdivision that is found in laboratories 

 of university rank. 



For schools a much simpler scheme of fittings 

 is necessary ; it is in connection with schools 

 rather than with colleges that new buildings 

 are likely to be required in the near future, 

 although it is impossible to standardise their 

 requirements. The author rightly points out 

 that a great change is taking place in educa- 

 tional methods, and that natural science is 

 likely in the future to become, at least in its 

 elementary stages, more and more diffused into 

 other school subjects, so that eventually ever}' 

 class-room may require special fittings, while the 

 r6le of the laboratory as a thing apart may gradu- 

 ally disappear. Such evolution is well exemplified 

 in the teaching of geography. Hence considera- 

 tions such as these must materially afi'ect all labora- 

 tory arrangements and must not be lost sight of 

 in the development of any scheme embarked upon ; 

 provision must always be made for extension or 

 adaptation. 



The book is refreshingly free from bias ; alterna- 

 tive plans are discussed, advantages and disadvan- 

 tages pointed out, and it is wisely left to the 

 reader to decide what to adopt, modify, or omit. 



It is difficult to find any subject concerning the 

 equipment of laboratories and lecture theatres 

 omitted, no matter how trivial. Every possible 

 fitting seems to be described, and the latest 

 designs referred to, in addition to the many valu- 

 able hints as to the general arrangements of 

 rooms, their accessibility, relative position, and 

 organisation. Thus while the book itself is not so 

 much constructive as descriptive, it will enable 

 those upon whom is placed the responsibility of all 

 future buildings for science teaching to have at 

 hand a useful guide and trustworthy adviser. 



Chap. 2 concerns the requirements of chem- 

 istn.-, chap. 3 those of physics, and chap. 4 

 those of biology and geology. In chap. 5 the 

 supply of gas, water, steam, and electricity, the 

 ventilation of fume cupboards and hoods, and the 

 more detailed forms of drains are discussed. 



The last chapter contains a good description of 

 -cience buildings : (i) of recent school designs, 



(2) of recent designs for advanced work, and 



(3) of recent foreign designs. 



Mr. Munby has ably presented his subject, the 

 mass of detail and information being admirably 

 arranged and indexed. The well-executed plans 

 of the various types of laboratories drawn to scale 

 will enable the reader to compare the merits of 

 the various designs, and the many sectional draw- 

 ings which illustrate points of special construction 

 add much to the value of the book. 



Chas. E. Broavne. 

 NO. 2709. VOL. 108] 



The History of Anatomical Illustration. 



History and Bibliography of Anatomic Illustration 

 m its Relation to Anatomic Science and the 

 Graphic Arts. By Ludwig Choulant. Trans- 

 lated and edited, with notes and a biography, 

 by Dr. Mortimer Frank. With a biographical 

 sketch of the translator and two additional 

 sections by Dr. F. H. Garrison and Dr. E. C. 

 Streeter. Pp. xxvii-f 435. (Chicago, 111. : The 

 University of Chicago Press ; London : The 

 Cambridge University Press, 1920.) 10 dollars 

 net. 



SCIENTIFIC books have short lives. A text- 

 book that makes an especial appeal is 

 sometimes edited and re-edited, and may last, in 

 a form scarcely recognisable from its first state, for 

 a generation or even for two. On the other hand, 

 works containing new and original contributions 

 are eagerly read for a short time, and their results 

 rapidly absorbed into the pages of their suc- 

 cessors. The older work then takes its place on 

 the less accessible shelves of the library, and is 

 sought from time to time only by the conscientious 

 bibliographer. The ecological relationships of 

 living and of dead literature may be compared to 

 that of certain plant masses in which the upper 

 surface alone is living and growth takes place on 

 the hidden mass of dead vegetation. 



It is the special and probably unique distinction 

 of Ludwig Choulant (professor of medicine at 

 Dresden, 1823-60) that he was the author of two 

 works of reference that have remained in con- 

 tinuous, unedited, and constant use for man's 

 allotted span. These works are, it is true, 

 limited in range and used by few, but within their 

 own field they stand as yet unrivalled and un- 

 challenged. Choulant was a man without genius, 

 but of wonderful erudition and sound judgment, 

 and with a real gift for the most minute accuracy 

 combined with great power of literary condensa- 

 tion. His "Handbuch der Bucherkunde fiir die 

 altere Medicin," first published in 1828, appeared 

 in a new edition in 1842. This second edition is 

 still by far the best and most complete biblio- 

 graphy of ancient medicine, and is an essential , 

 reference book in every medical librar}-, and quite 

 indispensable to the medical historian. It may 

 be doubted if there has ever been printed another 

 reference book in any field that exhibits such 

 extreme accuracy. Knowledge has naturally 

 advanced in the century that has passed since 

 it first appeared, and there are, therefore, lacunae 

 in Choulant 's work. But the constant use of the 

 book for many years has never revealed to the 

 present reviewer a single error that its author 



