May 3T. 1 888] 



NATURE 



99 



at a short distance from another in the path of the 

 projectile," and contrived a self-recording apparatus 

 reading to the one-thousandth part of a second. As at 

 that time Hutton and the ballistic pendulum reigned 

 supreme — and this is not an experiment easily made in a 

 laboratory — it does not appear that he carried it out. 

 Perhaps the most elaborate of his numerous researches 

 is that on the transmission of sound in relation to fog- 

 signalling, carried on at the expense of the United States 

 Lighthouse Board for several years from 1865 onwards, 

 concurrently with those on which Prof. Tyndall was at 

 that time engaged for the Trinity Board. That these 

 distinguished men did not always meet with the same 

 effects, or draw the same conclusions from them, is but a 

 natural consequence from the extreme complexity of the 

 phenomena. 



The great work of Prof. Joseph Henry's life — in which 

 his strength and calmness of judgment, his high-minded 

 independence and self-effacement, enabled him to achieve 

 the highest results — was the organization of the Smith- 

 sonian Institution upon its present liberal basis, in the 

 face of not a little opposition from persons of more 

 contracted views. 



" These I's are egos, and not oculi" is a line from some 

 forgotten squib which he was wont to quote when self- 

 interest seemed to obscure the only interest precious to 

 him — that of science in its widest scope, and the advance- 

 ment of human knowledge. He lived to see the wisdom 

 of his policy gratefully acknowledged by his countrymen 

 and the scientific world. Although a very fertile inventor, 

 and the author of many ingenious contrivances now in 

 use to facilitate the working of the electric telegraph, 

 he never patented anything. In his own words, he "did 

 not consider it compatible with the dignity of science to 

 confine the benefits which might be derived from it to 

 the exclusive use of any individual." The expression is 

 not carefully chosen ; it simply means that he declined to 

 derive selfish advantage from his discoveries. A very 

 brief and modest statement by himself of what these were 

 in relation to the electro-magnetic telegraph is reprinted 

 in vol. ii. from the Smithsonian Annual Report for 1857. 

 In collecting and reprinting these papers, the Institution 

 has raised a worthy monument to Henry's memory, and 

 made a valuable contribution to the history of physical 

 science. J. H. L. 



AN ELEMENTARY TEXT-BOOK OF 

 PHYSIOLOGY. 

 An Elementary Text-book of Physiology. By J. 

 McGregor Robertson, M.A., M.B., Senior Assistant 

 in the Physiological Department, University of Glas- 

 gow. 350 pp. (London: Blackie and Son, 1887.) 

 T N compiling this volume the author has sought to 

 -*- "present the essential facts and principles of 

 physiology, not in a series of disconnected paragraphs, 

 but woven into a continuous story." This being so, we 

 look for a readable book rather than for the more 

 empirical treatise nowadays predominant ; and the 

 the success of the work must consequently depend, in 

 the main, upon the manner in which the narrative is 

 strung together. That the book really is a readable 

 one there can be no doubt, and for style and general 



accuracy it is very satisfactory. When we consider 

 the method of arrangement adopted, however, we must 

 confess that it is disappointing. The author lays it down 

 as a tenet that " we cannot properly understand the physio- 

 logy of the human body without reference to the form 

 and build, . . . and thus we shall have to note the main 

 anatomical facts regarding a part of the body before going 

 on to consider the work which that part does." Very 

 proper, and true to the letter. In spite of this, however, 

 the reader is led straight away into a consideration of 

 the chemical constitution of the body as a whole. 

 Surely it would be more logical to treat of the constitu- 

 tion of the several structural elements in order of presen- 

 tation, deferring the more general statements for a final 

 re'sumL A similarly dangerous position is approached 

 when the writer deals with structure itself. Chapter II. is 

 devoted to "Elementary Structures," that is to say, the 

 author discusses the structural unit before entering upon 

 a consideration of those organs and tissues which are its 

 aggregates. This is an old grievance, and all experience 

 shows that this method, though at first sight apparently 

 natural, is in reality seductive, if not illogical. It is 

 fair to the author to state that he does not adopt it 

 throughout. In view of it, however, the following state- 

 ments are the more unfortunate : " cells are little masses 

 of a jelly-like material " ; " usually the cell has an outer 

 covering or membrane, called the cell-wall"; "from little 

 nucleated masses of protoplasm cells are produced, and 

 then from cells all the other textures of the body are 

 derived." 



As the work is of a readable character, we expect, 

 furthermore, to find comparisons and illustrations drawn 

 from the experience of daily life, and in this we are not 

 disappointed. Stock comparisons, like that of the human 

 body with the steam-engine, come in as a matter of 

 course, and in his choice of novel ones the author has 

 been very successful. Nothing can, however, be more 

 easily overdone than this. If, for example, the human 

 eye is compared with the photographer's camera, care 

 ought to be taken to point out in what the two differ, 

 especially when considering the lens in accommodation. 

 This has not been done. 



Taking the book as a whole, the author is to be con- 

 gratulated, and especially so upon his treatment of certain 

 leading topics — notably that of diet. By far the weakest 

 parts of the work are those devoted to histology. The 

 interminable striped muscle question is most feebly treated, 

 and who but the author is to know what is meant by 

 the words "the nerve-tubes end, it has been seen, in 

 the (muscle) fibres"? The description of a secreting 

 gland generally given is so worded as to imply that 

 the " basement membrane " is a leading, if not the 

 chief, constituent thereof. These and other defects re- 

 ferred to in the sequel demand immediate attention, and 

 we would fain see the elimination of such old heresies as 

 the capillary or "hair-like vessel" and the transmission 

 of " messages " along the nerve-fibre. There would 

 appear to be a fatality in the persistency with which 

 teachers of a certain class continue to thrust these and 

 similar stumbling-blocks in the way. 



This volume is confessedly designed for the " require- 

 ments of candidates for the examinations of the Science 

 and Art Department and of the Local Examination 



