204 



NATURE 



[October 13, 192 1 



well be doubted. By the time the last appears the 

 first will be at least fifteen years old, and scientific 

 works age very rapidly. The division of the hand- 

 book into several volumes for each of which one 

 or more experts should be responsible would 

 appear to be a better plan. 



Human Physiology. 



Human Physiology. By Prof. Luigi Luciani. 

 With a preface by Prof. J. N. Langley. (In 

 five volumes.) Vol. 5. Metabolism — Tempera- 

 ture — Reproduction, etc. Edited by Prof. M. S. 

 Pembrey, Pp. viii + 422. (London: Mac- 

 millan and Co., Ltd., 1921.) 30s. net. 



THIS, the fifth and final volume of Luciani's 

 notable "Human Physiology," is as full of 

 interest and originality of treatment as any of the 

 previous volumes. Messrs. Macmillan deserve 

 every credit for having borne the cost of trans- 

 lation and production of probably the last great 

 attempt by a single individual to deal with physio- 

 logy in full detail. It is true that for exhaustive- 

 ness of treatment we must resort to works pre- 

 pared by several authors, or to the still fuller 

 monographs. Undoubtedly we get a more com- 

 plete account written by a specialist in the par- 

 ticular section, but it is questionable if the light 

 and shade are so good as in the old-fashioned 

 single-author type of book. Too often the little 

 section, no doubt an important part of the whole, 

 is almost dragged from its context and set in the 

 full glare of the limelight. For specialists in the 

 subject this is perhaps of no great moment, as 

 they can perform the necessary correction, but for 

 the average intelligent worker who desires in- 

 formation in a subject perhaps cognate to his own 

 this triumph of specialism may be neither suitable 

 nor very enlightening. Granted that the great 

 chance of failure in the one-man book lies in the 

 fact that the author has a bias, nevertheless this 

 very deficiency lends a colour and virility which 

 are frequently absent from the more scientific and 

 coldly critical monograph— indeed, provided the 

 author is broad enough in his views, this bias may 

 be regarded as a definite asset. 



Luciani's work, despite its defects, is a living, 

 stimulating book written by a physiologist with 

 a broad and sane outlook. It is a work which 

 the professional physiologist, the ordinary medical 

 practitioner, and the medical student can read 

 with pleasure and profit. Its great value — and 

 the present volume is no exception — is the amount 

 of space which is devoted to sections of physio- 

 logy which are, as a rule, but shabbily treated 

 in other text-books. On the other hand, sections 

 NO. 271 1, VOL. 108] 



which might merit more complete treatment in 

 the light of modern interest and research are, on 

 the whole, less thoroughly done than in many 

 smaller books. Thus, in the volume under review 

 the question of the accessory food factors is con- 

 fined to a brief note by the editor. 



As regards the present volume, the first three 

 chapters deal with different phases of metabolism. 

 These chapters give a most excellent historical 

 survey of the development of the subject. The 

 account of the gradual appreciation of the fact 

 that all proteins are not of equal value, gelatine 

 being taken as the example, is particularly in- 

 teresting and valuable, and, in view of the modern 

 trend of ideas, very suggestive. A good deal of 

 space is also devoted, with propriety, to the much- 

 neglected subject of mineral metabolism. Luciani's 

 final conclusion as regards metabolism in the ex- 

 change both of matter and of energy, whether of 

 each tissue or of the organism as a whole, is of 

 interest, as he believes that the regulation is "the 

 fundamental function of the nervous system con- 

 sidered as a whole and a unit, and not of one or 

 other part or segment." 



The next three chapters are devoted to a full 

 discussion of reproduction. These chapters are 

 full of valuable information — perhaps not quite so 

 detailed as in the original — much of which is very 

 difficult to find elsewhere. The fact, too, that par- 

 turition is dealt with in considerable detail as a 

 purely physiological phenomenon is excellent. 

 These chapters are followed by a suggestive and 

 stimulating chapter on the stages of life and death. 

 Apart from Dastre's book — and in some respects 

 this single chapter even excels that striking work 

 — it would be impossible to refer to a more com- 

 plete source for out-of-the-way details in many 

 varied aspects of physiology. It has also the 

 merit of being eminently readable philosophy. Like 

 Luciani's sane pronouncement on the rival claims 

 of vitalism and materialism in an earUer volume, 

 his closing sentence to this chapter, and incident- 

 ally to his own part of the work, is personally 

 illuminating : — 



" In order to ensure ourselves this ideal euthan- 

 asia, we have but to convince ourselves that 

 materialism is utterly unable to afford any explana- 

 tion of the most ancient problems of man and the 

 universe; belief in philosophy, in the spiritualistic 

 or even the idealistic hypothesis, is all that is 

 needed to enable us to estimate life aright and to 

 look death in the face, if not with a smile on our 

 lips, at all events with calm resignation and con- 

 fidence based upon hope." 



The final chapter, as Luciani states in a foot- 

 note, was prepared by his assistant, Prof. 



