Fune 8, 1871] 
NATURE 
IOI 

OUR BOOK SHELF 
Handbuch der Systematischen Anatomie des Menschen. 
Von Dr. J. Henle, 1 Band, 1 Abtheilung, Knochen- 
lehre, 3 Auflage, pp. 310. (Braunschweig, (871. Lon- 
don : Williams & Norgate.) 
IT is unnecessary to commend the work of Prof. Henle, 
which is on the whole the most full and exact yet published. 
It shares the richness and accuracy of its illustrations 
with the last edition (the fourth) of Cruveilhier’s great 
work, and shares with it the serious disadvantage of being 
incomplete. Indeed, while in the latter the part relating 
to “ Angéiologie” which includes the description of the 
heart, blood-vessels and absorbents, was published in 
1867, preceding the completion of the second volume on 
visceral anatomy in the following year, the third volume 
of the German work, with the whole of the nervous 
system, has not yet appeared. In this respect the only 
English work on descriptive anatomy which can rival 
Henle’s has a great advantage; each edition of what 
was originally Dr. Quain’s Anatomy has been published 
complete, and on this ground, as well as that of concise- 
ness, the last edition of this work may, with the help of 
Prof. Sharpey’s masterly introduction on general anatomy, 
take rank with those of France and Germany. 
The department of osteology is not that which Prof. 
Henle has done best. In minute accuracy of detail it is 
decidedly inferior to Mr. Ward’s treatise, which at least 
equals the best efforts of the French School of Anatomy. 
And there is a want of attention to broad views of 
morphology almost as conspicuous as in M. Cruveilhier’s 
work. Thus the comparison between the upper and 
lower extremities (pp. 226—229) is very insufficient, giving 
no account of the important and opposing views which 
have been maintained on this subject, and admitting the 
demonstrably false position that the radius answers to the 
fibula, and the ulna with the olecranon to the tibia with 
the patella. The difficult subject of the homologies of 
the cranial and facial bones is also entirely omitted, an 
omission rendered necessary by the absence of any account 
of their foetal development. The rigid specialisation of 
humanosteology soasto excludeall reference toembryology 
andcomparativeanatomy on the onehand, and on the other 
to the mechanism of the skeleton, makes what ought to be 
the most interesting part of anatomy the most arid and for- 
bidding. In the last edition of ‘“ Quain’s Anatomy” we 
have within a shorter compass a good account of the ante- 
cedent development, as well as the mere ossification of the 
several bones, with illustrative diagrams, and a sufficient 
account of its homologies to awaken interest in this at- 
tractive study. On the other hand, there is nowhere to 
be found so complete an account of Abnormalities as in 
Prof. Henle’s work, a subject of which the importance is 
only beginning to be recognised in England. The 
references to observations in this branch of the subject 
are very full, and include many only lately published. On 
this, as on other points, the author has added many fresh 
facts in the present edition. On the whole, however, it 
differs but little from the first issue in 1855, and the num- 
ber of woodcuts remains the same. Among the more 
important additions may be mentioned one on the dif- 
ferences in the skull of the two sexes (p. 216). No mention 
is made of the little tympano-hyal bone described by 
Prof. Flower, and even the ordinary variations of the 
styloid process, which throw so much light on its 
homology, are scarcely alluded to. 
In conclusion, every anatomist will acknowledge the 
industry and care with which even small advances in 
knowledge are added in this edition, but will also hope 
that nothing may delay the appearance of the volume 
which is to complete the whole treatise, and no doubt 
complete it worthily of its distinguished author, and of 
what he has already published. 
13k, Ieh 


LETTERS TO THE EDITOR 
[Zhe Editer does not hold himself responsible for opinions expressed 
by his Correspondents. No notice is taken of anonymous 
communications. | 
Science Lectures for the People 
Or the justice of your remarks on ‘‘ Science Lectures for the 
People” there can be no doubt whatever. The lectures in ques- 
tion are perfect models of what lectures should be, and while 
reading them I pictured to myself the rich feast that had been 
prepared for the people who were fortunate enough to hear them 
—especially for those who had some previous acquaintance with 
the subjects of which they treat. They are couched in simple 
language, so that those who run may read. They are strictly to 
the point, well calculated to excite further inquiry, and in every 
way adapted for the purpose for which they were intended. It 
may be, however, doubted, whether lectures on scientific sub- 
jects before the general public, however delivered, do that 
amount of good which they certainly ought to do. A lecture 
to be thoroughly and lastingly effective presupposes a certain 
acquaintance with the subject already. To listen even to 
the most brilliant and never so simply worded address on 
Spectrum Analysis or Coral Reefs, has a very transient effect, I 
take it, upon those who have rarely or never heard of such 
things. However praiseworthy, therefore, every effort to scatter 
scientific knowledge among our population may be—and it 
certainly deserves every commendation—my decided opinion, 
arrived at after large experience with the people in towns and 
country, especially the latter—is that it will fail, unless we begin 
with the young. People in masses may be compared with fuel 
laid in the grate. If you ignite it from the top, a considerable 
time will elapse before it reaches the whole mass ; but if the fire 
be applied from below, the course is more rapid, and the fuel 
sooner feels the effect. So with science teaching, or any teach- 
ing, we must begin in our schools. Every school, from the pri- 
mary to the highest, must be opened to its influence. Teachers, I 
am sure, would welcome the innovation, for it would dispel 
many a weary hour both for teacher and taught. The everlas'- 
ing monotony of reading, writing, arithmetic, and scripture, 
would be enlivened by simple explanations of the human body, 
plants, &c., and thus children would be taught to take an interest 
in all matters connected with their future welfare even from their 
infancy. The same remarks, slightly modified, would apply to 
many of our middle class and upper schools; for scientific matters, 
in far too many cases, have still to find a place even here—parents 
being themselves quite as much, in many instances far more, to 
blame than the regulations of the school. 
It is precisely owing to this want of early training, and conse- 
quently to an utter ignorance of the subject, that the lectures on 
divinity, science, &c., in our universities are of such little real value, 
and of such little interest tothe students. They attend them, it is 
true, not from any genuine love, but simply because they must 
attend some for certificates or otherwise. No fault whatever 
attaches to the lectures themselves ; on the contrary, they are of 
the greatest possible value, and had the students themselves been 
trained properly and gradatim when at school, the attendance 
would be vastly increased, a genuine love for the lectures would 
be engendered, and incalculable results would be the consequence. 
Or take another instance—our farmers’ clubs. With laudable 
zeal these have been formed all over the kingdom, Lectures 
on scientific subjects connected with agriculture are delivered 
from time to time. All very admirable no doubt in its 
way. The attendance generally is good, but from the vacant 
stare, the nodding head, and subsequent remarks, nothing can 
be clearer than that nine-tenths of the lecturer’s address on 
the abstruse niceties of chemical analysis, &c., have been 
utterly thrown away. What subjects can be more valuable to a 
farmer than a knowledge of the constituents of the air, the origin 
of soils, the inner life of plants, the wonderful dependence of 
animals and plants upon each other, the means of judging arti- 
ficial manures, &c.; and yet, except among the upper favoured 
few, utter ignorance of these matters almost universally prevails. 
It is not from indifference to the subject, far from it, but, as in 
the former case, from a want of early training in this particular 
line of thought. The farmer acts just as his father acted before 
him. He is of all people the most backward in leaving the old 
routine, and considers such subjects as geoloy and botany 
altogether beside the purpose, and a waste of time for his chil- 
dren to learn, though he will praise them in the same breath. 
