28 



NATURE 



[May 8, 1890 



The second section, on muscles, has not been changed. 

 Here Fuerbringer's and de Man's nomenclature might, 

 with great advantage, have been added to, or rather 

 given instead of, many of the antiquated synonyms of 

 Zenker and Duges. These, however, are points of minor 

 importance, and are, after all, matters of opinion. 



The account of the central nervous system, and that of 

 the sympathetic system, are quite new. The same applies 

 to the heart. Some excellent figures illustrating the anatomy 

 of the heart have been added, or have taken the place of 

 old illustrations. The account of the arterial system 

 remains practically unaltered, but many additions have 

 been made to the venous system, and the description of 

 the lymphatics has been rearranged. Much labour has been 

 devoted to the histology of the alimentary canal and its 

 appendages, to a great extent based upon original re- 

 search made by the translator himself. A summary 

 tabulation of the ^researches on the structure of the 

 intestinal epithelium will be found on pp. 288-290. 

 Section VI. is devoted to the respiratory organs and the 

 neighbouring glands. A second carefully-finished and 

 coloured plate contains many histological drawings, 

 mostly original, of lungs, liver, and kidneys. The histo- 

 logical account of the thyreoid and thymus is almost 

 entirely new, and a pair of lymphatic glands in the hyoid 

 region, hitherto mentioned by Tolldt only, have been 

 rediscovered and have been described as tonsils. 



" A very large number of preparations have been made to 

 investigate the vessels and uriniferous tubes of the kidneys ; 

 and the description of the remaining organs of this section 

 (genital organs, adrenals, and fat-bodies) has received 

 large additions from recent publications." The descrip- 

 tion of the minute structure of the fat-bodies, with 

 illustrations, is a new and original contribution. The 

 eighth, or last section, treats of the skin and sense- 

 organs. The latter were treated somewhat summarily, 

 and meagrely illustrated, in the original edition. This 

 defect has been amended by so many new illustra- 

 tions, and by the addition to the text of the results 

 of so much recent research, that the whole section 

 has assumed a completely new aspect. Especially may 

 be mentioned the structure and distribution of the 

 peculiar tegumentary papillae and other tactile organs. 

 The various other sense-organs, especially the ear, and 

 above all the eye, have received much painstaking atten- 

 tention, and have been amply illustrated by copies from 

 the works of the mo^t recent writers. 



Of the 227 woodcuts we may say that they have 

 been so carefully cut, and come out so clearly on 

 the good paper, that the blue and red colours used 

 for the vessels and muscles in the original edition 

 are not at all missed. It would be going far be- 

 yond the scope of a general review to point out 

 all the important additions and emendations which 

 the new book contains (by the way, clearly indicated by 

 square brackets), nor would it be fair to search for 

 mistakes— of which, after all, there seem to be remark- 

 ably few. Those who use the work, whether for the sake 

 of the many hundreds of references to the literature, or in 

 order to be guided in the dissection necessary for a 

 delicate experiment, will soon find that Dr. Haslam has 

 greatly improved a book which was already good. 



H. G. 



OUR BOOK SHELF. 



Syllabus of Elementary Dynamics. Part I. Linear Dy- 

 namics ; with an Appendix on the Meanings of the 

 Symbols in Physical Equations. (London : Macmillan 

 and Co., 1890.) 

 This is a small pamphlet in which the author defines the 

 terms usually found in works on dynamics. When deal- 

 ing with measurements of quantities, he adopts an 

 appropriate series of capital letters for specified units, and 

 another set where the units are left undefined ; thus 

 equations containing the latter class of symbols possess 

 more generality. Other units of higher dimensions are 

 represented by capitals which are over-marked. Thus 

 an acceleration of 10 feet per second per second is written 

 as loF. These are very useful for the author's purpose, 

 though it requires no little time to become used to them. 

 A few formulae and results are obtained in connection 

 with falling bodies, energy, and centre of mass. 



Where quantities are represented by certain units and 

 multipliers, it becomes necessary in every case to state 

 any existing relations between the units employed. In- 

 stead of being under any such necessity, many physicists 

 prefer to regard these multipliers as completely repre- 

 senting the quantities themselves. The advantages of 

 such a system are discussed in the appendix, and a series 

 of examples worked out in parallel columns, showing the 

 advantage of the one or the other of the two methods 

 suggested. G. A. B. 



Organic Evolution, as the Result of the Inheritance of 

 Acquired Characters accordittg to the Laws of Organic 

 Growth. By Dr. G. H. Theodor Eimer. Translated 

 by J. T. Cunningham, M.A., F.R.S.E. (London : Mac- 

 millan and Co., 1890.) 

 The work of which this is a translation we have already 

 reviewed. The only additional matter contributed by 

 the translator seems to be an ill-advised reference to 

 Nature in the preface. 



LETTERS TO THE EDITOR. 



[ The Editor does not hold himself responsible for opinions ex- 

 pressed by his correspondents. Neither can he undertake 

 to return, or to correspond with the writers of, rejected 

 manuscripts intended for this or any other part of NATURE. 

 No notice is taken of anonymous coiiuminications.'\ 



Bison not Aurochs. 



In his excellent article on the extermination of the American 

 bison, "R. L." remarks (Nature, p. 11) on the transatlantic 

 practice of miscalling that animal a "buffalo" ; but on the next 

 page he writes of "its European congener the Lithuanian 

 aurochs." This is to perpetuate a common error at least as bad. 

 The " aurochs" (= ox of yore), Latinized by Ca;sar in the form 

 urus, is or was the Bos primigenius or B. urus of scientific 

 nomenclature. It is wholly by mistake that in its extinction as a 

 wild animal its ancient name was transferred to the bison, or 

 Zubr. I would invite " R. L. " to turn to the word " Bison " in 

 Dr. Murray's "New English Dictionary," where he will find a 

 reference to an article ^'Wisunt" in Schade's " Altdeutsches 

 Worterbuch," which ought to settle the question. I only wish 

 one could ascertain to what animal the name "buffalo" strictly 

 belongs. There unfortunately Dr. Murray does not help us. 



Alfred Newton. 



Magdalene College, Cambridge, May 4. 



Unstable Adjustments as affected by Isolation. 



In a brief passage in his very suggestive volume on "Dar- 

 winism," Mr. Wallace refers to a principle which seems to me 

 to be worthy of much wider application than he has given. It 

 is a key which requires only a little filing to prepare it for un- 

 locking Fcme difficult problems in diveigent evolution. Speak- 

 ing 01 the infertility of ciosses, he says:— "It appears as if 



