340 



NATURE 



[February 9, 1893 



Selachia and Amphibia, and apparently corresponds to 

 the lobus olfactorius posterior described by His in the 

 human embryo, which forms the anterior perforated spot 

 in the adult human brain. As regards its structure the 

 hemisphere possessed central grey matter containing 

 nerve-cells which lay around the hemisphere ventricle ; 

 also a mass of grey matter which he calls corpus striatum ; 

 whilst in the more posterior part of the ventral region of 

 the hemisphere were nerve-cells which represented a 

 cortical layer. In the dorsal region of the hemisphere 

 also cortical nerve-cells were found, which were arranged 

 as an inner and an outer layer. The cells of the cortex 

 gave origin to nerve fibres. A definite anterior com- 

 missure was present, the fibres of which passed on each 

 side into the lobus hippocampi. Burckhardt, also, figures, 

 as distinct from the anterior commissure, fibres which he 

 regards as the corpus callosum of Osborn. The most 

 important tract of nerve fibres was the basal bundle, 

 which ascended from the spinal cord into the corpus 

 striatum. 



One of the most interesting chapters in Burckhardt's 

 memoir is that in which he gives an account of the saccus 

 endolymphaticus. Wiedersheim had described in 1876, 

 in Phyllodactylus europceus, a sac with many branching 

 diverticula, filled with otolith-sand and lying in relation 

 to the choroid plexus of the 4th ventricle. Hasse had 

 previously seen in Amphibia a similar structure which 

 Coggi had investigated in the frog. Burckhardt has for 

 the first time observed and figured it in Protopterus. The 

 saccus communicated by a narrow neck with the sacculus 

 and utriculus of the auditory vesicle, and with its diver- 

 ticula overlaid the region of the 4th ventricle, and ex- 

 tended as far back as the ist pair of spinal nerves. 



The memoir contains a short chapter on the phyletic 

 development of the brain of Protopterus. Starting with 

 Selachia, he considers that one line of development has 

 been through Protopterus to Ichthyophis, and thence to 

 the Urodela and Anura ; another through Ceratodus to 

 Reptilia and Mammalia ; whilst a third line is from the 

 Selachia to the Ganoids and Bony Fishes. 



OUR BOOK SHELF. 



The Chemical Basis of the Animal Body. An Appendix 



to Foster's " Text-Book of Physiology " (fifth edition). 



By A. Sheridan Lea, M.A., D.Sc, F.R.S. (London : 



Macmillan and Co., 1892.) 

 Like its parent volume, this well-known appendix has 

 grown in bulk considerably, so that it now constitutes a 

 treatise (separately paged and indexed) on the chemical 

 substances occurring in the body. It contains numerous 

 references to the text of Foster's " Physiology," and so the 

 two may be most profitably read together. 



The plan pursued in the present edition is the same as 

 in former editions ; the chemistry of the body is described 

 under the headings of the names of the chemical sub- 

 stances. This plan has its advantages. It for instance 

 gives a completeness to the description of any particular 

 substance, whereas the other plan of describing the facts 

 of animal chemistry, under the headings of the tissues, 

 organs, and functions involves a certain amount of 

 repetition and the facts relating to any one group, such 

 as the proteids and carbohydrates will be. found dis- 

 tributed in different chapters. Dr. Sheridan Lea's plan 

 NO. 12 I 5. VOL. 4.7 1 



has, however, the disadvantage that it destroys con- 

 tinuity. Many of the paragraphs are necessarily short,, 

 and one passes from one subject to another with a certain 

 amount of abruptness. The style of the writing is, how- 

 ever, interesting and clear, so that this disadvantage is 

 reduced to a minimum. The parts that treat the subject 

 in a fuller style, such as those in which ferment action, 

 the origin of urea in the economy, or the relation of 

 haemoglobin to bile pigment are discussed, are models of 

 lucid writing. 



The book opens with a description of the proteids and 

 ferments, the most important of physiological substances, 

 but those of which, from the chemical standpoint, we 

 know least. The simpler materials found in the body or 

 its excreta are treated next. This is the more chemical 

 part of the book, and the author expresses his indebted- 

 ness to Dr. S. Ruhemann for assistance here. One doubts 

 whether this part of the work will prove attractive to 

 ordinary students. There is no question that all medical 

 students should be educated up to it, but at present 

 organic chemistry and structural formulae are subjects 

 they are inclined to fight shy of. The concluding chapters 

 are again devoted to substances of which we have a 

 physiological rather than a chemical knowledge, namely, 

 the pigments. 



The figures of crystals, which form a new feature in the 

 present edition, have been taken from the works of 

 Krukenberg, Kiihne, and Funke. One cannot conclude 

 this notice without alluding to the extensive references 

 to literature that are given throughout. This will prove 

 a most valuable assistance to all original workers, and to 

 those more earnest students who desire to go deeper into 

 the subject. The references are provided with a separate 

 index. They are chiefly to German literature. The 

 German leanings of the author are seen also in the 

 spelling of sarkosin, kreatin, &c. The final e is always 

 omitted in the names of the amido acids. It would be a 

 good thing in the future if international uniformity in the 

 names of chemical compounds were adopted. In the 

 meantime it seems a pity that Dr. Lea has not seen fit 

 to use the spellings recommended by the Chemical Society 

 of London. 



The author is to be congratulated on having brought 

 his labours to a successful conclusion, and we can pay 

 the present volume no better compliment than to say 

 that it is well worthy of those that have preceded it. 



W. D. H. 



Cha7nber^s Encyclopcedia. New Edition. Vol.X. (London 

 and Edinburgh : W. and R. Chambers, 1892.) 



The editor and publishers of the present work may be 

 cordially congratulated on the fact that it has now been 

 successfully completed. A better encyclopaedia of like 

 scope does not exist in our own or any other language. 

 Nominally it is merely a new edition ; but in reality, as 

 the editor claims in the preface, il must be regarded as 

 to all intents and purposes a new work. One of the chief 

 difficulties in an undertaking of this kind is to secure that 

 each subject shall have the degree of attention which 

 properly belongs to it, no single subject or group of sub- 

 jects being permitted to usurp space which ought to be 

 otherwise occupied. The editor has grappled with this 

 difficulty so effectually that few readers will have occasion 

 to complain of any lack of proportion in the length of the 

 various articles. Another striking merit of the work is 

 that all important subjects have been entrusted to 

 specialists, so that students may have full confidence in 

 the accuracy of the information offered to them about 

 matters in which they happen to be particularly inte- 

 rested. The space at the disposal of the writers was so 

 limited that what they have to say is not, of course, 

 exhaustive, but it is sound as far as it goes, and is gene- 

 rally presented with most praiseworthy simplicity and 



