July 28, 18&2.] 



KNOWLEDGE 



147 



found there. Woody Nightshade, on the contrary, is often 

 seen. It should have been added to our list of poisonous 

 plants. It may be known by its zigzag stem, with alter- 

 nate leaves, the lower lanceolate or cordate, the upper 

 hastate or jagged. The flowers resemble those of the 

 potato, but they are smaller. The berries are red or 

 crimson, and are not unfrequently mistaken by cliildren 

 •for red-currants. The taste is bitter at first, then sweetish, 

 whence the names Bitter-sweet and Dulcamara (Didcis et 

 amara). The poisonous eflects are similar to those pro- 

 duced by Belladonna Airopa, and though not so active for 

 ■equal quantities, whether of berry, root, or leaves, are 

 sufficiently dangerous, resulting even, in some cases, in 

 fatal consequences. 



LOWER LIFE FORMS.* 



THIS book will be welcomed heartily by students of 

 zoology, because it shows them just the sort of work 

 which is most instructive. The author has not here given 

 a text-book of zoology, but a hand-book for the thorough 

 study of certain typical forms. Most teachers of natural 

 science find so much time and space required for the pre- 

 sentation of the facts on which philosophical discussion is 

 to be based, that little room is left for the investigation of 

 scientific relations resulting from the study of facts. Dr. 

 Brooks shows the student how to acquire a knowledge of 

 the facts for himself. He takes a few types for descrip- 

 tion ; calls the attention of the student to those structural 

 features which he can readily observe for himself ; 

 points out by admirably-drawn pictures the methods and 

 results of dissection and microscopical study ; and 

 indicates the significance of the observed facts. The 

 complicated figures which accompany most monographs 

 are not given, but the drawings of the author, or made 

 under his direction from nature, have been reproduced by 

 photographic processes. " 1% is hoped," says the author, 

 " that the practicability and significance of the cuts, as 

 guides to dissection and study, will more than compensate 

 for the artistic finish and technical skill which has been 

 lost by the employment of this method of reproduction." 

 But the apology is not needed ; we have seldom seen more 

 effective illustrations. The following are among the sub- 

 jects dealt with in this excellent hand-book : — The structure 

 of Amoba, Paramn^cium, and Yortieella ; the Multiplication 

 of Vorticella ; Calcareous Sponge ; the Starfish ; the Sea- 

 Urchiii ; Eirthworms ; Laeches ; Crabs, Crayfish, and 

 Lobsters ; the Anatomy of Cyclops ; the Grasshopper ; 

 Lamellibranchs ; and the Squid (Loligo). 



PROFESSOR OWEN OX VIVISECTION-t 



Ox March 28 last a meeting was held at the Royal 

 College of Physicians, in London, attended by many 

 of the most distinguished medical men of the day, the 

 object being to " bring the legitimate influence of the 

 medical profession more eflcctually to bear on the pro- 



• " Haadbook of Invertebrate Zoolo^-, for Lnbriatinos and Sca- 

 8ido Work." By W. K. Brooks, Ph.D., Director of the Clicsapcako 

 'AimU'iwa.X Labo^jrtorj of the John Hopkin's University. 



t " K\pori mental Physiolopry, its benefits to Mankind ; With an 

 A'Mress on Unveiling the Statue of William Harvev at Folkestone." 

 By Uichard Owon, F.R.S., &c. (Longmans * Co., London.) 



motion of those exact researches in physiology, pathology, 

 and therapeutics, which are essential to sound progress in 

 the healing art." The Master of the Eolls remarked on 

 that occasion, that " it would be most desirable that the 

 public should be informed upon tho matters contemplated 

 by the Association." The book before us has been written 

 in response to this wish. 



It will probably be useless to commend the careful 

 study of this little book (full of most interesting matter 

 outside its special purpose) to the more sentimental of the 

 anti-vivisectiouists, for wliom, by-tlie-way, Professor Owen 

 adopts the title of Bestiarians. But for those anti-vivisec- 

 tionists who are not prepared to allow a regard (very just 

 in itself) for inferior auituals to overrule all other feelings, 

 the study of this treatise will be useful and instructive. 

 They will see how much of the humanity of modem 

 medical and surgical practice is due to the practice which 

 the Bestiarians describe as inhuman. Professor Owen 

 shows that even inquiries not necessarily directed at their 

 outset to pain-preventing discoveries, have led to the relief 

 of an enormous amount of human suffering and untimely 

 death. As a striking example, consider the case of John 

 Hunters researches into the annual growth and shcddum 

 of the antlers of deer. A buck having been put at his 

 disposal, Hunter placed a ligature around the carotid artery 

 supplying the growing antler, on which the pulsations of 

 the formative " velvet " ceased, and the antler began to cool. 

 The buck was released, and examined a week later. To 

 Hunter's surprise the velvet had recovered its warmth, and 

 the growth was proceeding as usual The buck was there- 

 upon killed (a " fearful piece of cruelty," though the annual 

 hunting and killing of scores for venison is a " noble sport "). 

 He found the canal of the carotid had been obliterated ; 

 but sundry ordinarily minute branches sent off below (I'.t' , 

 between the heart and the ligature) had enlarged, had 

 carried the blood to other capillaries communicating with the 

 carotid above the ligature, and the enlargement of these 

 previously inconspicuous vessels had restored the supply to 

 the cold antler, and with it the power of growth. Take 

 now the other side of the picture. Not long after, a 

 coachman, suffering from popliteal aneurism (caused by tli^' 

 pressure of the hard margin of the box-seat on the vesstK 

 of the ham), lies at Hunter's (now St. George's) Hospital 

 awaiting amputation of the leg, to which operation ho ha> 

 given liis consent. Hunter says to him, "If you will 

 let me make a small cut in your thigh, I may save your life 

 and limb both." "God bless you, sir," says the sufleror : "do 

 what j'ou thijik best, so you put me soon out of this torment. " 

 A ligature is thereupon put on the femoral artery, and imme- 

 diately the tumour ceases to beat and begins to diminish. 

 The patient exclaims that his agony is over. True, the leg 

 begins to chill. Hunter will have no artificial heat applied, 

 only flannels swathed round the foot and leg. In a day tbr 

 natural warmth begins to return, but not the pulsations in 

 the tumour. The morbid mass grows smaller and smaller, 

 and in six weeks the coachman walked out of the hospital 

 on both legs, cured of his aneurism. This was in 170.'). 

 In the years which have elapsed since, how many hundreds 

 have been saved from torture and the risk of deatli by th.' 

 application of this method, which substituted a compara 

 tively trifling operation for rarely successful aiuput.ation. 

 Even the operation is now usually avoided, pressure being 

 substituted for ligature. And this is but one instance 

 among n»any. Every one who wishes to gain a just ar.d 

 honest opinion on the vivisection question, should ivad this 

 interesting work by our veteran naturalist But those who 

 wish to gain a cheap reputation for tender heartedness 

 should avoid it, lest it convince them, against their will, 

 that their tender mercies are very cruel. 



