January 21, 1909] 



NA TURE 



Ml 



Part ii. deals with the methods and results of 

 quantitative biolojifical research. The author discusses 

 hjlly the classical experiments of Hansen and Loh- 

 mann on the quantitative estimation of the plankton, 

 giving the defects and limitations of these methods 

 without bias. The last two chapters in this section 

 are headed " A Census of the Sea " and " The Pro- 

 duclivity of the Sea " ; in them an attempt is made to 

 view questions of economic value from a quantitative 

 biological standpoint. That the estimation of the 

 number of marketable marine fishes on a given fishing 

 area, or calculations as to its j'ield per acre per 

 annum, must as yet be purely speculative is fully 

 appreciated. This, however, does not detract from 

 the great value of these deductions, the interest in 

 figures such as these lying more in the possibilities 

 thev suggest than in their mathematical correctness. 

 The system of " trial and error " enters so largely 

 into scientific investigation that perfection cannot be 

 hoped to be attained without the aid of some such 

 provisional results. 



Part iii., under the title " Metabolism in the Sea," 

 is, perhaps, the main feature of the book. The re- 

 searches of Putter on the nutrition of marine 

 organisms, and those of Brandt on the " Law of the 

 Minimum," are treated at length. .A chapter is 

 devoted to marine bacteria, and emphasis is laid on 

 the possibility that nitrogen is the determining factor 

 in the sea, and the denitrifying bacteria the cause of 

 the observed scarcity of nitrates and nitrites in tropical 

 and subtropical waters. The e.\traordinary abundance 

 of planktonic life in the Arctic seas has given rise to 

 much discussion, but in our present state of know- 

 ledge this phenomenon can be best explained by the 

 hypothesis that, owing to the inhibition of bacterial 

 activity at low temperatures, there is no diminution 

 from this cause in the supply of the nitrogenous food- 

 stuffs that can be utilised by the marine protophyta. 

 The constituents of sea-water such as nitrates, phos- 

 phates, silica, &c., are present in such minute traces 

 that quantitative determination is extremely difficult. 

 The author might have laid greater stress on this 

 point, since no really satisfactory methods of analysis 

 have yet been perfected. 



References to literature, a most important point in 

 a work of this kind, are given freely throughout the 

 te.xt, a bibliography of the more fundamental memoirs 

 being also included as an appendix, .\uthors and 

 subjects are indexed separately, so that references can 

 be most easily found. 



Besides a few obvious misprints we note the follow- 

 ing : — P. 67, line 2, oviparous for viviparous in 

 reference to .-Vcanthias, the spur-dog ; p. 96 (in the 

 diagram), .\urelia, Rhizosolenia, should read Aurclia, 

 Rhizostoma ; and p. 103, line i, agriculture for 

 aquiculture. 



The illustrations are mostly quite diagrammatic, and 

 as such serve their purpose, but in some cases (pp. 68, 

 70) clearness is sacrificed by representing plankton 

 animals lying across one another. The printing, 

 binding, &c., are uniform with the well-known " Cam- 

 bridge Biological .Series." to which this work is a 

 welcome addition. E. W. Nelson. 



.NO. 2047, \'OL. 79] 



ANATOMY OF THE HORSE. 

 The Surgical Anatomy of the Horse. Part iii. By 

 J. T. Share-Jones. Pp. x+220. (London : Williams 

 and Norgate, 1908.) Price 155. net. 



THE third of the four volumes which are to form 

 a " Surgical Anatomy of the Horse " deals with 

 the hind limb, and will doubtless fulfil the author's 

 hope that it may be "at least as acceptable as the 

 preceding volume both to students and practitioners 

 in the study and practice of the important branch of 

 veterinary work to which it relates." The present 

 volume has all the merits of its predecessors. Of its 

 value as a means by which the practitioner may re- 

 fresh his memory of the anatomy of the regions with 

 which he is concerned surgically there can be little 

 question. In some places the anatomical descriptions 

 are both long and detailed, and contain all the in- 

 formation which is in any way important. At the 

 same time, the present part of the work is not with- 

 out some of the defects exhibited in those sections 

 of the work which have already been noticed in these 

 columns. 



One matter which the author would be well advised 

 to ponder, in view of the possible demand for a sub- 

 sequent edition, is that of having all the figures 

 drawn from either the right or the left limb. It does 

 not make for ease of comprehension to find that 

 neighbouring plates illustrate the one the right the 

 other the left limb. Comparison would be a much 

 simpler matter if all the figures represented the same 

 side of the body. It is bad enough when different 

 plates do not correspond, but it is exasperating when 

 the same plate contains figures some of the right 

 and some of the left limb. In Plate xviii.. Fig. A 

 shows the superficial markings of the left hock, 

 Fig. B illustrates the arrangement of the ligaments 

 from the same aspect of the right hock, and Fig. C 

 depicts the disposition of the bones on the medial 

 side of the left hock. It may be remarked in passing 

 that Figs. B and C of Plate xx. are not of the left 

 hock. Plates xxiv. and xxv. both illustrate the seat 

 of anterior tibial neurectomy, but one figure is drawn 

 from the left limb, the other from the right. 



While recognising the enormous importance of the 

 tarsus as a surgical region, we are not prepared to 

 admit that it is necessary to have seven figures to 

 illustrate the position of the various bones, nor are 

 wc prepared to allow that the grooves and ridges on 

 the medial side of the tarsus are of such surpassing 

 significance as to merit so much attention. Their 

 importance from the clinical aspect is open to ques- 

 tion, and, from the anatomical side, it is clearly 

 recognised that the degree of their variation is great. 



Mr. Share-Jones again makes use of a nomen- 

 clature in the defence of which there is little to be 

 said. So long, however, as his readers understand 

 what is meant, exception can be taken to the terms 

 employed on academic grounds only. At the same 

 time, it seems a pity that adjectives like " external 

 lateral " and " internal lateral " should not be 

 omitted, if only on the grounds of the desirability of 

 brevity. 



'l"o apply the term " sciatic " to the internal 



