Jan. 25,1872] 



NATURE 



245 



HUXLEY'S MANUAL OF THE ANATOMY 

 OF VERTEBRATED ANIMALS* 



THIS long-expected work will be cordially welcomed 

 by all students and teachers of Comparative Ana- 

 tomy, as a compendious, reliable, and, notwithstanding 

 its small dimensions, most comprehensive guide in the 

 subject of which it treats. 



To praise or to criticise the work of so accomplished a 

 master of his favourite science would be equally out of 

 place. It is enough to say that it realises in a remarkable 

 degree the anticipations which have been formed of it ; 

 and that it presents an extraordinary combination of wide, 

 general views, with the clear, accurate, and succinct state- 

 ment of a prodigous number of individual facts. The 

 extreme brevity, indeed, takes one in some degree by 

 surprise ; and it is only on repeated reading that one 

 feels assured that the facts exposed have been stated with 

 sufficient fulness, 



( It IS a wholesome and encouraging sign of the scientific 

 literature and teaching of the day, that men of the highest 

 eminence devote a portion of their time to the com- 

 position of elementary manuals or short guides in their 

 respective sciences. The abuses to which such short 

 manuals are subject are well known, and have been often 

 commented on ; and they are no doubt serious when 

 leading to the formation of imperfect knowledge and the 

 exclusion of more extended study. The objections, how- 

 ever, have weight chiefly as applied to the inferior 

 class of such treatises, which, certainly, have too much 

 abounded in this country. A thoroughly good manual, 

 even though strictly elementary, besides forming the first 

 secure basis of correct knowledge, excites a desire for 

 fuller reading, and serves at later periods for useful revisal 

 of more complete information ; while its small size 

 obviously places it within the reach of many whose means 

 do not enable them to become possessed of larger treatises, 

 and has thus considerable influence in extending the 

 study of the branch of science to which it is related. 



Nor is Prof. Hu.xley's manual so very short as might 

 at first be supposed from the unpretending form given to 

 it ; but rather the abundance of facts is surprising which 

 the author has contrived to compress into the space, 

 without any loss of that clearness and comprehensive- 

 ness of statement for which he is so well known. 

 The amount of printed matter, indeed, is very nearly 

 the same as that comprised in the portion devoted to ver- 

 tebrate animals in the second edition of Gegenbaur's 

 " Outlines," the most approved recent German elementary 

 treatise on Comparative Anatomy. 



It is also deserving of note that there is an entire 

 absence of speculation and theory, as well as of any vague 

 generalities. The words " teleology," ''design," " type of or- 

 ganisation," " descent," "natural selection," "genesis of 

 species," find no place in this manual, which deals simply 

 with ascertained facts and principles. In most instances, 

 where uncertainty prevails, the grounds of doubt are 

 stated, or the subject is altogether omitted ; but on the 

 whole, as is perhaps right in a manual, the author leans 

 to the side of positive statement of his own views, when he 

 has made up his mind on any disputed point. 



So much for the manner of the book. As regards the 

 matter, it may be said that, while it presents a masterly 

 and decided statement of the great principles of Ver- 

 tebrate Morphology, the most characteristic and im- 

 portant feature which pervades the whole, is the constant 

 reference of all anatomical description and zoological 

 distribution to the facts and laws of organogenesis, as 

 ascertained from the observation of fcetal development. 

 This is well known to be one of the great merits of Prof. 

 Huxley's researches and writings, and he has made it 



* "A Manual of the Anatomy of Vertebrated Animals." Uy Thomas H. 

 Huxley, LL.D., F.R.S. (London : J. and A. Churghill. 1871.) 



truly the key-note and whole tenor of the manual, so as 

 assuredly to prove one of its most valuable qualities in its 

 future influence on the study of Comparative Anatomy. 



The first two chapters of the manual, extending to one 

 hundred and eleven pages, are devoted to an exposition 

 of the general organisation of the Vertebrata, as exhibited 

 in the skeleton (endoskeleton and exoskeleton), the mus- 

 cular system, the nervous system with the organs of sense, 

 the alimentary canal including the teeth, the sanguiferous 

 and lymphatic systems, the respiratory organs, and the 

 renal and reproductive organs. This is premised by a 

 statement of the distinctive characters of the vertebrate 

 organisation, in which the double cavity of the body, 

 neural and visceral, is taken as the most marked basis of 

 distinction between vertebrate and invertebrate mor- 

 phology ; and a clear short sketch is added of the most 

 prominent phenomena of fcetal development. 



The remaining six chapters contain a systematic ex- 

 position of the classification, organisation, and distribution 

 of the several classes of vertebrate animals, under the 

 three provinces of i, Ichthyopsida, 2, aauropsida, and 



3, Mammalia ; thus recognising the important approxi- 

 mations now established between Fishes and Amphibia 

 under the first, and between Reptiles and Birds under the 

 second of these provinces. In each class the position 

 and organisation of extinct and fossil animals is also given. 



The third chapter begins with the statement of the ana- 

 tomical characters of the three great provinces ; after 

 which the organisation of fishes is described under an 

 arrangement which is a modification of Johannes Mid- 

 ler's in the following groups, viz., i, Pharyngobranchii 

 (Amphioxus) ; 2, Marsipobranchii (the Myxines and 

 lampreys) ; 3, Elasmobranchii (the sharks and rays) ; 



4, Ganoidei (Lepidosteus, sturgeons, &c.) ; 5, Teleostei 

 (osseous fishes) ; and 6, Dipnoi (Lepidosiren, transitional). 



In Chapter 4 the structure of the class Amphibia is 

 similarly given, under the following distribution — viz., I. 

 Saurobatrachia, including, i, Proteida (Siren, AxolotI, &c.), 

 2, Salamandrida (newts, &c.) ; II. I.abyrinthodonta; III. 

 Gymnophiona (Csecilia, &c.) ; and IV. Batrachia (Anura, 

 frogs and toads). 



In Chapter 5, after giving the distinction between Rep- 

 tiles and Birds as included under the province of Sauro- 

 psida, the class Reptilia is distributed under the following 

 groups— viz., I. Chelonia ; II. Plesiosauria ; III. Lacertilia; 

 IV. Ophidia ; V. Ichthyosauria ; VI. Crocodiha ; VII. 

 Dicynodontia ; VIII. Ornithoscelida(Megalosaurus, Igua- 

 nodon, (Sic, transitional ; IX. Pterosauria (Pterodac- 

 tyles) ; and the comparative osteology of these groups is 

 described. 



In Chapter 6 Birds are distributed, and their Osteology 

 is described under the following classification — viz., I. 

 Saururas (Archaeopter>'gidae, the metacarpals not anky- 

 losed together) ; II. Ratida;, including birds with more or 

 less rudimentary wings, and in which the sternum is 

 without a keel ; III. Carinata;, the large tribe in which 

 the sternum is keeled, including four groups, viz., i, Tina- 

 momorphffi (Tinamous), 2, Schizognathaj, (the Plovers, 

 Gulls, Penguins, Cranes, Hemipods, Fowls, Sand Grouse, 

 Pigeons, Hoazin) ; 3,/Egithognath;E, (the Passerines, Swifts, 

 and Woodpeckers) ; 4, Desmognathw (the Birds of Prey, 

 Parrots, Cuckoos, Kingfishers, Anserinte, Flamingoes, 

 Storks, Cormorants). 



In Chapter 7 the Muscles and Viscera of the Sauro- 

 psida are described together. 



Chapter 8 (180 pages) is devoted to the Mammalia, dis- 

 tributed in three great groups, as follows : — 



I. Ornithodelphia (i, Monotremata). 



II. Didelphia (2, Marsupial animals). 



III. Monodelphia, divided provisionally into twelve 

 orders as follows — 3, Edentata, 4, Ungulata, 5, Toxodontia, 

 6, Sirenia, 7, Cetacea, 8, Hyracoidea, 9, Proboscidea, 10, Car- 

 nivora, 11, Rodentia, 12, Insectivora, 13, Cheiroptera, 14, 

 Primates. The first of these twelve orders is separated 



