124 
NATURE 
[ Dec. 7, 1882 
now published is only the first of a series on the same 
subject with which he will enrich the literature of the 
science. ARCH. GEIKIE 
HUMAN MORPHOLOGY 
Human Morphology ; a Treatise on Practical and Applied 
Anatomy. By Henry Albert Reeves. Vol. I. The 
Limbs and Perinzum., (London: Smith, Elder, and 
Co., 1882.) 
HE author of this work is evidently very ambitious. 
In his preface he tells us that his primary wish was 
to produce a treatise in which he would deal thoroughly 
with the anatomy of man, and then compare his structure 
with that of other vertebrates, giving directions as to 
the dissection of the type-forms chosen in illustration. 
Further, being dissatisfied with anatomical nomenclature 
and classification generally, more especially with the 
terms at present in use in myology, he attempted a 
revision in this department. 
As he proceeded with his task, however, he found that 
the labour, time, and knowledge necessary for carrying 
out so extensive a piece of work was too great, and that 
he had better relinquish his original idea and leave it for 
execution to more competent labourers. 
But even ‘after departing so far, and wisely as we think, 
from his first conception of what a student’s text-book 
should be, he has found it necessary still further to with- 
draw from his original plan, and to excise much that he 
had written on anomalies of arrangement, various para- 
graphs on dissections which are out of the student’s usual 
course to perform, and to reduce in quantity the sections 
on the practical applications of anatomy. 
Had the author carried out his original idea of what a 
handbook for students and practitioners should be, he } 
would have produced an encyclopedia of anatomy, and 
not a text-book for daily use. 
But after all this renunciation of so much of the 
author’s primary conception of what is required in a 
practical work on anatomy, sufficient is left to form a 
most voluminous treatise. 
The volume before us extends to 719 large octavo pages. 
It comprises only the anatomy of the limbs and perineum, 
and we are promised two additional volumes, each of 
between sixand seven hundred pages, in order to complete 
the work. 
It seems to us that the author even yet has not attained 
a proper idea of what the contents of a book should be, 
which, to use his own words, “‘is to be chiefly used w/z/e 
the student ts dissecting.’ Ue has not sufficiently dis- 
criminated between the material that should find a place 
in a text-book of systematic anatomy and that which 
properly belongs to a practical treatise. We are quite in 
unison with him in the propriety of omitting all illustra- 
tions and detailed description of minute or microscopic 
anatomy. But we should have gone still further and cut 
out the historical sketch, the bibliography, the chapter on 
anatomical technics, which together would have sub- 
tracted between 60 and 70 pages from the volume. Also 
we should have condensed the descriptions and reduced 
in amount the sections on variations in the arrangements 
of the bones, muscles, and other soft parts. 
A sketch of the rise and progress of anatomy, and a 
copious bibliography are not required by the student at 
the dissecting table. On the other hand they are both 
interesting and useful in a systematic treatise. The 
variations in arrangement, more especially in the mus- 
cular and vascular systems, which have been observed 
and recorded, are so multitudinous, that they would re- 
quire a special treatise for their description. What the 
student has to deal with in his ordinary work, are the 
commoner departures from the usually described arrange- 
ments, such as a third head to the biceps muscle, the 
high division of the brachial artery, the variations in the 
place of origin of the obturator, the profunda, the circum- 
flex arteries, and so on. These and such like ought to 
find a place in all works on practical anatomy, but the 
more unusual forms are best reserved for such special 
treatises as Macalister’s Catalogue of Muscular Anoma- 
lies, or Quain’s description of the Arterial System, to 
which the student, who is desirous of obtaining a more 
intimate acquaintance with variations in structure, ought 
to be referred. 
A knowledge of anatomical technics also is undoubtedly 
of primary importance to professed anatomists. But is 
one student in five hundred ever called upon to inject a 
body, either with a preservative fluid, or with a coloured 
arterial or venous injection? This work is done for him 
either by the demonstrator, or by the practical assistant 
in charge of the rooms. To introduce therefore into a 
work intended for medical students generally an account 
of methods, which they are never required to carry out, 
seems to us to be uncalled for. 
The author directs especial attention to the number 
and quality of the illustrations. As regards their quality, 
with a few exceptions they are artistically rendered. But 
we think they are far too numerous, and by their number, 
and the size of many of the cuts, they have largely con- 
tributed to the unwieldy bulk of this treatise. Too many 
illustrations in a book to be used at the dissecting table 
| are apt to draw the student’s attention away from his 
part, and to make him rely upon the pictorial representa- 
tion rather than on his own efforts to display the organ 
or region in the subject itself. 
In our judgment a handbook of practical anatomy ought 
to be of such a size, that the student can without incon- 
venience carry it to and from his work. The instructions 
for the order of the dissections should be clear and con- 
cise. The descriptions of the parts should not be too 
elaborate. The illustrations should be well selected, with 
a view to guide the student in the method of his work, 
and to show him what he has to look for, and where it 
has to be seen. This treatise fails to comply in many 
respects with these conditions, and much as we may 
commend the author for his industry and good intentions, 
we are afraid that he has produced a work which will 
have only a restricted field of usefulness. 
OUR BOOK SHELF 
Common British Insects. Selected from the Typical 
Beetles, Moths, and Butterflies of Great Britain. By 
the Rev. J. G. Wood, M.A., &c. Pp. i.-284. 8vo. 
(London ; Longmans, Green, and Co., 1882.) 
AFTER glancing through this book the question upper- 
most in our mind is: Why does it exist? The highly- 
ornamented cover, and the repeated title thereon, lead one 
