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NATURE 
| May 29, 1g02 
advances of science since the ninth edition was prepared, 
in so far as they come within the purview of the present 
volume. Whether considered as one volume of a supple- 
ment to the ninth edition or asa statement of the position 
of many scientific subjects, the work is a worthy addition 
to our national literature. 
PRACTICAL PHYSIOLOGY. 
Directions for Class Work in Practical Physiology. 
Elementary Physiology of Muscle and Nerve and of the 
Vascular and Nervous Systems. By E. A. Schafer, 
LL.D., F.R.S. Pp. 76. (London: Longmans, Green 
and Co., 1901.) Price 3s. net. 
HE contents of this book are well-nigh sufficiently 
indicated by its subsidiary title, and it is incon- 
ceivable that in dealing with the elementary aspects of the 
subjects named its distinguished author could go wrong. 
He informs us that his directions are based upon an ex- 
perience of many years in University College, London, 
and that they deal “only with such elementary exercises 
as can readily be worked out by even a large class.” 
There are twelve chapters in all, and the most dis- 
tinctive feature of the book is the manner in which the 
student, having been given concise instructions as to the 
nature and mode of utilisation of apparatus, and of pre- 
paration of the organic object to be studied, is left to 
“notice” or observe for himself the nature of the effect 
of this or that operation. A most wholesome procedure— 
a method of the kind which must be always begotten of a 
lengthy teaching experience such as the author proclaims. 
Of the twelve chapters, the first opens with a de- 
scription of the “voltaic element” and of the Daniell 
cell, the rationale of the replacement of the former by 
the latter being clearly explained. The Grove and 
Leclanché cells, with the chief types of the latter, are 
in turn considered ; and, with adequate descriptions 
of electrodes, keys, rheochords, the induction coil 
and their uses, and a section on unipolar induction, the 
chapter closes. Chapters 1i. and iii. are devoted to nerve- 
muscle preparations, the sartorius being utilised for the 
demonstration of the independent irritability of muscle 
and nerve, and the hyoglossus for that of the “latent 
period.” The effects of heat and cold, of fatigue, the 
action of curari and veratrin, are in due course con- 
sidered and clearly set forth; and in chapters v., vi. 
and vii. the effects of successive stimulation, leading up 
to tetanus and the muscle sound, the rate of the nervous 
impulse, the effects of CO, and the “electrotonus” pheno- 
menon, are simply described, Ritter’s and Pfluger’s laws 
being incidentally laid down. 
_ Chapter viii. deals with secondary contraction and the 
use of the capillary electrometer and galvanometer. The 
two chapters which follow are devoted to the heart, 
cardiac nerves, and the use of the plethysmograph ; and 
the two which conclude the work deal with the chief 
vascular and respiratory mechanisms in man, with reflex 
action and its time limitations, as determinable by the 
use of the Wallerian lever apparatus. 
There are in all forty-five simple text-illustrations, 
thirty-eight of apparatus and seven of dissections of the 
common frog. The book is well worthy its aim, and 
Prof. Schafer, clearly of a mind to give the elementary | 
NO. 1700, VOL. 66] 
student little and good, has done that functionary a 
great service. 
There are, in addition to the seventy-six printed pages, 
twenty-six which are blank ; but whether, according to 
the bookbinder’s custom, these are intended to give 
stability to an otherwise thin volume, or whether they are 
for the convenience of the student in making anno- 
tations, we are not informed. As matters now progress, 
however, in electrophysiology, it would seem that ere 
long one or two of these blank pages may be destined 
to bear a thirteenth chapter, since the Eastern mind, 
coming fresh and untrammelled to the work, is showing 
us that under a mechanical stimulus phenomena of elec- 
trical response akin to those until recently demonstrated 
only for the higher animals and the sensitive plants, 
appear to be at least also obtainable from vegetable 
organisms at large—a result which points to the con- 
clusion that in these well-known phenomena we are 
dealing with a fundamental property of protoplasm, 
and calls for immediate investigation of the unicellular 
organisms, in the study of which the clue to all that is 
physiological has ever to be sought. 
OUR BOOK SHELF. 
The Elements of Physical Chemistry. By J. Livingston R. 
Morgan, Ph.D. Secondedition. Pp.x + 352. (New 
York: Wiley and Son ; London: Chapman and Hall, 
Ltd., 1902.) Price 2 dollars. 
To write a book the object of which is to present the 
elements of the entire subject of physical chemistry, 
together with the important and but little known appli- 
cations of it to the other branches of chemistry, within 
the scope of 322 small pages is by no means an easy 
task. The author has, however, succeeded in presenting 
within these limits a very readable account of the subject. 
To the reader familiar with the works on physical che- 
mistry and electrochemistry published by German authors 
during the last ten years, a close likeness between these 
and the present volume is at once apparent. The author, 
as a matter of fact, in his preface states that no claims 
of originality are made for the major portion of the text. 
It is doubtful whether a text-book which is obviously 
intended for the use of comparatively elementary cheini- 
cal students should be so replete with mathematical 
formule. For a beginner, a more descriptive method 
of treatment of the subject would have been, in the 
opinion of the reviewer, more satisfactory. 
The subject-matter is divided into ten chapters, the first 
being devoted to introductory remarks on the subject of 
energy and methods of determining atomic weights ; 
then follow sections on the gaseous, liquid and _ solid 
states, solution, thermochemistry, chemical change, 
phases and electrochemistry, the last chapter containing 
a series of 156 problems bearing upon the subject-matter 
of the text. This last chapter is a most welcome inno- 
vation. Forthe beginner, the very numerous and abstract 
formula of physical chemistry have but a vague signifi- 
cance; only when these formule have been applied to 
concrete cases do they become properly understood by 
the student. Ample scope for exercise in the application 
of these formule is provided by the last chapter, although 
perhaps in a few cases the problems are not very happily 
chosen. r 
Thermochemistry and the phase rule are #treated of 
in a superficial manner, only five pages being devoted 
to the consideration of the latter. In a future edition it 
is hoped that the author will see fit to deal with the 
important work which has been done on transition tem- 
