Jury 4, 1912] 
NATURE 
447 
ing up to date such a mass of data, it is scarcely 
satisfactory that an appendix of thirty-seven pages 
should be required to a text of 471 pages; 
even this does not suffice, and thirteen further 
pages of additions and corrections are called for. 
In the list of literature given on p. 520, which 
presumably represents that consulted, we do not 
find the Mineralogical Magazine. The fact that 
the appendix contains data which appeared in that 
journal no fewer than ten years ago suggests that 
the author did not till the eleventh hour become 
aware of the work which had been done in this 
country. 
MICROSCOPIC ANATOMY. 
Text-book of Microscopic Anatomy. By Prof. 
E. A. Schafer, F.R.S. Pp. xiv+739. (“Quain’s 
Elements of Anatomy.” Eleventh edition. 
Editorsemerot. E. A. Schafer, BIR:S., Prof. J. 
Symington, F.R.S., and Prof. T. H. Bryce. 
In four volumes. Vol. ii, Part i.). (London: 
Longmans, Green and Co., 1912.) Price 25s. 
net. 
T is with very mixed feelings that the anatomist 
will contemplate this new part of the eleventh 
edition ‘of the so-called ‘“‘Quain’s Elements of 
Anatomy.” Since the last edition appeared this 
part has tripled its size, quadrupled its illustra- 
tions, and attained the dignity expressed in its 
subsidiary title, “Text-book of Microscopic 
Anatomy”; and both the author and the pub- 
lishers are to be congratulated on the wealth and 
beauty of its illustration, even though so many of 
them have been borrowed from familiar text- 
books. One might perhaps have wished for fuller 
information in regard to certain tissues, such, for 
example, as the Purkinie-fibres of the heart; but 
considered as a whole it is the standard work on 
microscopic anatomy in our language. 
The chief criticism one feels bound to make 
arises from the very excellence of the work, 
which, by helping to stereotype a stupid sub- 
division of anatomy into gross, microscopic, and 
foetal, will hinder that reform in anatomical 
teaching which is felt to be urgent by the leading 
teachers throughout the world. By continuing to 
cut asunder and put into.separate volumes the 
information concerning the structure of the body 
that can be acquired by examination respectively 
with and without the help of a lens, or a system 
of lenses, the editors are perpetuating a drag on 
medical education that is fraught with infinite 
harm both to students and teachers. Moreover, 
the developmental history, the chief use of 
a knowledge of which is to explain the com- 
plexities of the adult structure and 
NO. voL. 89] 
its varia- 
2227 
---)]; 
tions, is also separated from the rest. The 
editors of ““Quain” missed a great opportunity 
when they declined to take part in this reform of 
anatomical teaching which is now in active pro- 
gress; and I believe they have in some measure 
lessened the value of this famous book, if they 
have not intensified the forces of reaction, by 
refusing to move with the times. 
One might also have expected on the part of 
the distinguished physiologist who has written 
this treatise on anatomy fuller reference to the 
functional significance of the organs and tissues 
under consideration, which obviously plays so 
large a part in determining their structure. 
A more serious attempt has been made in this 
volume to supply a bibliography than was the 
case in the other volumes issued; and for this 
reason, as well as for its greater accuracy of state- 
ment and quotation, this part is likely to be used 
more widely as a work of reference. 
Ges: 
MECHANICS AND THEORETICAL 
PHYSICS. 
(1) Theoretische Mechanik. By Prof. Robert 
Marcolongo. <Autorisierte deutsche Bearbei- 
tung von Prof. H. E. Timerding. Zweiter 
Band: “ Dynamik und Mechanik der deformier- 
baren Ko6rper.” Pp. vii+344. (Leipzig and 
Berlin: B. G. Teubner, 1912.) Price 10 marks. 
(2) The Practical Science of Billiards and its 
“Pointer.” By Col. C. M. Western. Pp. iv+ 
153- (London: Simpkin, Marshall and Co., 
Lids, rou.) Brice 3s. 6d. net. 
(3) Physical Significance of Entropy or of the 
Second Law. By Prof. J. F. Klein. Pp. xx+ 
(New York: D. Van Nostrand Co., 19109.) 
Price 1.50 dollars net. 
(4) Populdr-wissenschaftliche 
Prof. E. Mach. Vierte Auflage. 
(Leipzig: J. Ambrosius Barth, 
6.80 marks, or 7.50 marks bound. 
(5) Lhermodynamique et Chimie. By Prof. Pierre 
98. 
Vorlesungen. By 
Pp. vii+ 568. 
1910.) Price 
Seconde Edition. Pp. xii+ 580. 
Fils., 1910.) 
Duhem. 
(Paris: A. Hermann et Price 
16 frances. 
(6) Kant’s gesammelte Schriften. Herausgegeben 
von der K. Preuss. Akad. der Wissenschaften. 
Band xiv. Pp. Ixii+638. (Berlin: Georg 
Reimer, 1911.) Price 19 marks. 
(1) HE feature to which objection was taken 
in the review of the first volume of 
Marcolongo and  ‘Timerding’s =“ Theoretical 
Mechanics ” (the advanced character of the early 
portions and the elementary character of the later 
the second volume. It 
ones) is not shared by 
