aS ge ee ee ee eS ee 
- Jungs, and stomach is given, with full reference to their 
remarkable inhibitory and depressing powers. 
In the description of the anatomy of the spinal cord, 
Dr. Flint takes Gerlach’s article in Stricker’s Handbook as 
his guide, and gives the following as the results of his 
own experiments, and those of others which he regards 
as most reliable. ‘The gray substance is probably in- 
excitable and insensible under direct stimulus. The 
antero-lateral columns are insensible, but are excitable 
both on the surface and in their substance, zc. direct 
stimulation will produce convulsive movements in certain 
muscles, which movements are not reflex and are not 
attended with pain. The lateral columns are less ex- 
citable than the anterior columns. The surface at least 
of the posterior columns is very sensitive, especially near 
the posterior roots of the nerves. The deep portions of 
the posterior columns are probably insensible, except very 
near the origin of the nerves.” Dr. Flint then proceeds 
to describe the functions of the grey matter, and of the 
several columns of the white, explaining and adopting 
the views generally accepted. The posterior white 
columns he regards, with Todd, as containing fibres 
acting as commissures between the several segments of 
the cord. 
The functions of the cerebrum are very briefly given, 
‘indeed, except in regard to /anguage they are not given 
at all, and for a reason that scarcely appears satisfactory, 
viz. that though their consideration is properly a part of 
physiology, the range of the subject is so extensive, that 
it is only treated of exhaustively in special treatises on 
mental physiology. This is much to be regretted, as we 
feel sure that if Dr. Flint had attempted it, he would have 
succeeded in giving a very interesting section upon it. 
The cerebellum he regards as the co-ordinator of the 
muscular movements, and he has collected many patho- 
logical cases in support of his view. The last chapters 
are devoted to the sympathetic nerve and to sleep. The 
account of the sympathetic system enters freely into the 
consideration of the vaso-motor and trophic nerves, 
Upon the whole, this volume of Dr. Flint’s work may be 
regarded as a valuable accession to physiological litera- 
ture, and as giving the results of modern research with 
such fulness, combined with accuracy, that the ordinary 
student will not require to look beyond its pages for any 
information on this important subject of medical know- 
ledge. We look forward with much interest to the 
next volume on the “ Special Senses,” which the author 
assures us is nearly ready. 
CLODD’S “CAILDHOOD OF THE WORLD” 
The Childhood of the World: a Simple Account of Man 
in Early Times. By Edward Clodd, F.R.A.S. (London : 
Macmillan and Co.) 
gad genial little volume is a child’s book as to short- 
ness, cheapness, and simplicity of style, though the 
author reasonably hopes that older people will use it as a 
source of information not popularly accessible elsewhere 
as to the life of Primitive Man and its relation to our 
own, In brief chapters he states the principal points of 
the modern science of civilisation, discussing the con- 
dition of Prehistoric savages, the early use of stone 
implements and the introduction of metals, the discovery 
NATURE 
99 
of other useful arts, the evolution of language, the inven- 
tion of writing, &c. Having laid down this as a founda- 
tion, he then proceeds to his main purpose, that of 
explaining the successive phases of man’s belief, the 
working of inventive fancy in mythic legend, the rudi- 
mentary ideas of the lower races as to souls and their 
existence in a future state, the nature of deities, and the 
meaning of the worship offered to them by prayer and 
sacrifice. Examining the religions of the less cultivated 
races of the world, he passes through them to arrive at 
doctrines which, regarding them as highest and surest, 
he turns all his gift of earnest eloquence to teach. This 
book, if the time has come for the public to take to it, 
will have a certain effect in the world. It is not a mere 
compilation from the authors mentioned in the preface, 
but takes its own ground and stands by and for itself. 
Mr. Clodd has thought out his philosophy of life, and 
used his best skill to bring it into the range of a child’s 
view. Why, indeed, should not children be taught their 
elementary philosophy of nature at the modern level ? 
Why should they not begin to shape their lives by the 
best theory of the world, and their own place and duty in 
it, which their parents can accept? Thoughtful children 
will take in most of the facts Mr. Clodd works on, and 
his ideas will open many doors in their minds, leading 
into regions to be more fully explored years later. Much 
of the book, it is true, is beyond a child’s unhelped 
understanding ; not that the words are too hard, but that 
the ideas are. Its story is anything but “a tale of little 
meaning tho’ the words be strong;” its simple lan- 
guage has often to convey thoughts too abstract for easy 
assimilation. Yet there is no harm in this, for the best 
children’s books are those which in part engrave know- 
ledge on their minds with finished accuracy, and in part 
only stamp roughly impressions which willj take their 
sharper lines another time. 
The world is growing daily more alive to the fact that 
the history of man and man’s ideas, with all the problems 
of belief and duty which can be rightly treated on a his- 
torical basis, have been shifted into new places and 
altered into new forms by the modern sciences of the 
World and Man. At this present time there are num- 
bers of parents and teachers to whose views such a 
modern “ Religio Medici” as Mr. Clodd offers is con- 
genial, and who distinctly want a book like his to teach 
out of, The need is all the more felt, because so many of 
the topics treated are among those where both theology and 
science put forward claims to speak with authority, while 
the adjustment of these claims has been mostly attempted 
by the class of writers who may be called “ reconcilers.” 
But educated people now distrust the method of these 
writers as vitiated by foregone conclusion, and it is more 
and more felt that the great problems of humanity must 
be dealt with by men who do not shape their evidence, 
but let their evidence shape them. Mr. Clodd,-at any 
rate, is no “reconciler.” It is evident that his religious 
feeling has come into real union with his positive know- 
ledge, and that this act of mental chemistry has gene- 
rated doctrines which are at once his theology and his 
philosophy. These doctrines it is not the office of this 
journal to discuss: nor, considering how far Mr. Clodd 
adopts (of course with due acknowledgment) evidence 
and theories from the heavier volumes of technical ethno- 
