37 
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NATURE 
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 7, © 1907. 
ANATOMY OF THE HORSE. 
(1) Surgical Anatomy of the Horse. Part I. By John 
T. Share-Jones. Pp. xii+159; with 33 plates. 
(London: Williams and Norgate, 1906.) 
(2) Le-Cheval. By H.-J. Gobert. Pp. vili+412; with 
80 figures. (Paris: Bailliére et Fils, 1907.) Price 
7 frencs. 
(1) © INCE 1832, when William Percival produced the 
first work exclusively devoted to the anatomy 
of the horse, considerable advances have been made in 
the methods of teaching veterinary anatomy; but it 
cannot be said that the production of anatomical litera- 
ture has been correspondingly abundant in this 
country. The veterinarian has not had his time too 
heavily taxed by the examination of frequent new 
publications. Consequently, he will welcome with all 
the more interest the first part of a ‘* Surgical Ana- 
tomy of the Horse,’’ from the pen of Mr. J. T. Share- 
Jones, of the ‘Liverpool Veterinary School. The 
present volume deals with the anatomy of the head 
and neck, as applied to the surgery of these regions ; 
and it is to be followed by further parts devoted, in 
like manner, to the rest of the body. 
The author, while admitting the psychological value 
of anatomy as a means of developing the faculty of 
observation, “is impelled to the conclusion that the 
subject is primarily and fundamentally utilitarian, 
and that the teaching of it should always be in asso- 
ciation with the subject of surgery.’’ Such an ex- 
pression of opinion leads to the conclusion that the 
author is a surgeon at heart, and not an anatomist, as 
the term is generally understood nowadays. The 
modern anatomist has become much more a student 
of the scientific and comparative side of his subject 
than of its surgical or—to quote the author—utili- 
tarian aspect. Surgery occupying the first place in 
his affections, and anatomy coming second, Mr. Share- 
Jones is clearly the proper person to write a ‘‘ Surgical 
Anatomy.’’ But even a surgeon, in producing such 
a work, should bear in mind that ‘‘ anatomy ”’ is the 
substantive, and ‘‘ surgical ’’ not. more than an ad- 
jective. The work before us is rather more surgical 
and much less anatomical than are most standard 
publications bearing the same title. The various 
operations performed on the regions discussed are 
described at some length, with the consequent curtail- 
ment of the space allotted to topography. The result 
is not satisfactory from an anatomical point of view, 
for it means that the descriptions, as given, are of 
only moderate value to the student or practitioner to 
whom the structures have been made familiar by dis- 
section, and of less value to the student entering upon 
a course of practical anatomy. 
Certain statements, moreover, are of doubtful clarity 
and accuracy. For example, in speaking of the rudi- 
mentary first premolar teeth of the horse (referred to 
as ‘‘ wolf’s teeth’), it is said that ‘each is developed 
in the same dental groove as the corresponding row 
NO. 1945, VOL. 75] 
of molars, and is probably due to the displacement 
of a supernumerary dental germ in the groove.” 
This scarcely squares with phylogeny. Again, the 
short section on the development of the teeth might 
have been omitted with profit, for from it the reader 
will gather little accurate knowledge of the process. 
To justify this assertion we may quote the first part 
of the section. ‘‘ The first stage in the development 
of a tooth is the appearance in a groove in ‘one of 
the maxillary bones of a little closed sac, which is 
called the dental follicle. The membranous wall of 
the follicle encloses a papilla, which is at a later stage 
termed the dental pulp, and from which the dentine 
is secreted. The enamel is developed from a special 
layer of epithelium which covers the upper aspect of 
the pulp, and which is called the enamel organ. As 
the dentine is formed from the superficial cells of the 
pulp, it becomes deposited between the latter and the 
follicular wall. From the superficial cells the tubular 
processes of the dentine are thrown out, but the inter- 
tubular substance is secreted by the deeper layer of 
cells. This latter substance contains the earthy 
salts.” 
The prefatory statement that ‘‘an endeavour has 
been made to illustrate graphically wherever possible, 
and to reduce the written matter to a minimum,” 
leads to a close examination of the illustrations. Of 
these it may be said that they are of unequal merit, 
and few of them will compare favourably with illus- 
trations in Continental works on topographical 
anatomy. In Plate xii. we notice a rather glaring 
inaccuracy in regard to the teeth, which leads us to 
suspect that the drawing was not made from an actual 
section. It is not stated at what level the section was 
supposed to have been made, and it is, therefore, 
not easy to form a correct judgment of its truth to 
nature; but surely there is something wrong with 
the mylo-hyoid and digastricus muscles ? 
That, in spite of the blemishes to which we have 
referred, the work will fill a gap in veterinary litera- 
ture is undoubted, inasmuch as there is no other bools 
in the English language which claims to be a sur- 
gical anatomy of the horse. That it will be of service 
to the student and practitioner may also be taken 
for granted. The publisher and _ printer deserve 
praise for the manner in which they have turned out 
the book. 
(2) M. Gobert has endeavoured, with a considerable 
measure of success, to provide a short, popular treatise 
on the organisation, maintenance in health, and 
utilisation of the horse, for the use of those who desire 
to possess a greater knowledge of the animal than 
can be acquired through the more customary channels. 
From the nature and scope of the book, it is not 
expected that the section which deals with the 
anatomy of the horse will be other than extremely 
elementary. For the same reason it is unnecessary to. 
submit it to elaborate criticism. The section has 
many merits. Its facts are set forth in clear terms, 
shorn, as far as possible, of technicalities. At the 
same time the author has fallen into the error, so 
frequently made by writers of similar popular works, 
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