Dec. 28, 1882 | 
from it, and yet to do so would not be more illogical 
than the course they have pursued of separating the 
description of the cranio-spinal nerves from that of the 
central nervous axis. If the anatomical description of 
the human body is ever to be put on a scientific basis, it 
must be founded on the facts of comparative anatomy 
and of development, and the great aim of descriptive 
writers should be to accommodate their descriptions to 
these facts. 
After this protest against some features in the general 
arrangement of the book, we may now glance at the 
manner in which the process of revision has been per- 
formed by the different editors. The first volume bears 
throughout the mark of careful revision by Prof. Thane. 
We have compared many of the descriptions with those 
of the corresponding structures in the immediately pre- 
ceding edition, and we notice many changes both in the 
matter, and in the mode of expression. Various redun- 
dancies have been expunged, errors have been corrected, 
new facts have been introduced, and to some extent the 
descriptions generally have been re-arranged. Several 
new woodcuts have been inserted, and those illustrating 
the vascular system have been made more diagrammatic 
by colouring the arteries red and the veins blue. We 
notice, however, that Prof. Thane, as is unfortunately 
only too common with some English human anatomists, 
does not properly discriminate between the meanirg of 
the terms mesial line and mesial plane. In his descrip- 
tion, for example, of the recto-vesical portion of the 
pelvic fascia, he speaks of its being “continuous from 
side to side across the middle line in front of the bladder,” 
forgetful apparently of the fact that the descriptive term 
“‘middle line” expresses a line on the surface, either 
anteriorly or posteriorly, as the case may be; whilst the 
imaginary plane between these anterior and posterior 
mesial lines is the mesial plane of the organ or region. 
The greatest amount of change, however, as was natu- 
rally to be expected from the subjects discussed in it, has 
been made in the second volume, and more especially in 
the chapters edited by Mr. Schafer. The important 
section on General Anatomy, or Histology, has been in 
some measure re-arranged, and many of its chapters re- 
written. The latest investigations into the structure of 
the nucleus, the part which it plays in the multiplication 
of cells, and the process of maturation of the ovum, have 
been explained and illustrated by woodcuts. The de- 
scription of the structure of the individual tissues has 
obviously been carefully revised, and various changes 
both in the way of addition and omission have been 
made. Not the least important is the addition to each 
‘chapter of the titles of the most recent papers on the 
subject-matter of the chapter. 
If we were disposed to be very critical, we could un- 
doubtedly lay our fingers upon more than one statement 
to which objection could be taken. And there is indeed 
_ one point that we cannot pass over without notice, as it 
illustrates that in the comparatively small matter of 
editing a work on anatomy, as in the much larger sub- 
ject of administering the finances of Egypt, a Dual 
Control has many disadvantages. Mr. Schafer, for 
example, in his references to the layers of the embryo, in 
which the several tissues take their rise, employs the 
terms ectoderm, mesoderm, endoderm, to express the 
NATURE 
197 
three layers of the blastoderm, and in this respect adopts 
the nomenclature most commonly used by German ana- 
tomists; whilst Dr. Thomson, in his references to the 
same layers, almost invariably speaks of them as epiblast, 
mesoblast, and hypoblast, which, indeed, are the terms 
commonly in use amongst British anatomists. The 
employment in different sections of the same work of 
two distinct words to express the same structure, is 
an error in judgment, and certainly not to the edification 
of the student. 
The chapter on the spinal cord and brain has also 
been greatly modified, and in re-arranging it Mr. Schafer 
has largely availed himself of the book, the title of which 
stands second at the head of this article. The history of 
this book is somewhat curious. Originally it appeared 
as a German translation of an earlier edition of “ Quain,” 
edited by Prof. Hoffmann. Then, somehow or other, 
the name of Quain dropped out of the title in the later 
German editions, and now, as regards the chapters on the 
Nervous System, written by Prof. Schwalbe, it is essen- 
tially a new book, and in our opinion contains the best 
account of the anatomy of the nervous system in man 
which has yet been published. 
Of the section on Embryology, prepared by Dr. Thom- 
son, we have not space to say more than that it narrates 
in a convenient compass the successive series of changes 
which result in the formation of the adult human body ; 
that the descriptions are clear, well arranged, and em- 
brace the latest investigations ; and that on points under 
dispute the author expresses himself with reservation andi 
caution, in a manner characteristic of the writings of this 
anatomist. 
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR 
[The Editor does not hold himself responsible for opinions expressed 
by his correspondents. Neither can he undertake to return, 
or to correspond with the writers of, rejected manuscripts. 
Vo notice ts taken of anonymous communications, 
[The Editor urgently requests correspondents to keep their letters 
as short as possible, The pressure on his space is so gv rat 
that it ts impossible otherwise to ensure the appearance even 
of communications containing interesting and novel facts.|, 
Transit of Venus, December 6 
In the morning here the sky wasclear, and the sun remarkably 
free from spots. I noticed only 4 small ones on the disk : quite 
a contrast to the monstrous appearance a month ago. 
Being neither equipped nor qualified for technical astronomical 
observations, I did not attempt todo more than to give a popular 
demonstration of the transit of Venus to between 30 and 40 friends 
interested in the phenomenon. My experience of stargazing 
was chiefly obtained upwards of 50 years ago, before I became 
otherwise occupied ; and then I found for myself, that the best 
way of studying solar phenomena, whether eclipses or spots, 
was by projecting on white paper or cardboard, the image of the 
sun from the telescope, focussed a little beyond the point for 
direct vision through the dark eye-glass ; extraneous sunlight 
being shut out by a napkin suspended around the telescope. I 
presume that this method is well known, and it seems to have 
been adopted, (with the additions of a dark chamber) by 
Mr. Campbell of Islay, in the exhibition of the transit at 
Cannes, so well described by the Duke of Argyll in NATURE 
(p. 156). In this way with a small achromatic of 32 inches 
focal length, and 2} inches aperture we saw well all the chief 
features of the transit, (which I need not describe, as this has 
already been done by more competent observers), and this with- 
out fatigue to the eyes, and the unnatural colouring, inseparable 
from looking through the telescope with darkened glasses. 
Further, as the time of sunset approached, at about 3.30 p.m., 
we had in our camera view the additional charm of the colours 
