Bibliographical Notice. 143 



fcion of various naturalists, although Mr. Mivart and Mr. E. T. Newton 

 are, in later times, the only teachers who have selected this easily 

 acquired form as the text for an account of the characteristics of tho 

 Mammalia. The present writers give, in their introductory remarks, 

 some very excellent reasons for the selection that they have made, 

 pointing out the abundance, the suitable size, the comparative ab- 

 sence of variation, the accessibility to anaesthetics, and the quietness 

 which appear to be points in favour of the object of their choice. 

 Parts only of the body are here treated of, the viscera and the <4 arm" 

 being perhaps particularly the objects of investigation ; as Professor 

 Wilder is one of the authors, the brain, as might be expected, is 

 especially fully dealt with. 



As a handbook of the technique of anatomy the book is more com- 

 plete and useful than any treatise in English with which we are 

 acquainted ; the manual of Mojsisovics has, of course, a wider scope. 

 Especial attention may be directed to the notes on the preparation 

 of bones, and the uses and dangers of alcohol ; some of the hints to 



dissectors are excellent ; and the remarks on "Peeking" are worth 

 quoting : — 



"Pecking. — We use this homely word to designate one of the 

 most common and pernicious faults of anatomical beginners — the 

 habit of aimlessly poking and pinching the parts, especially while 

 showing them to the teacher or demonstrator. It reminds the ob- 



server of nothing so much as the dabbing and pecking which hens 



intlict upon a piece of meat. The student should bear in miud that 



a single false cut, and even a pinch in the wrong place, may mar 



his work beyond repair ; he should exercise constant self-control, 



and never touch the specimen excepting for a definite and sufficient 

 reason" 



We may best give an idea of the work by selecting a special 

 chapter; taking that which deals with the brain, we find it to 

 commence by a few general considerations. Methods of studying 

 the brain are next discussed ; and here we see a first rule which we 

 are glad to be able to indorse : the authors state that, so far as the} 

 know, it, among others, has never " been distinctly enunciated here- 

 tofore ;" but it must of a surety have been forced upon the minds of 

 many teachers. " The arrangements of the solid parts of the brain 

 are more readily perceived and more easily remembered after the 

 relations of the cavities are fully understood." Dealing with an 

 Amphibian brain, which M should be examined first/' we have 

 given us a " partial vocabulary " of the separate parts ; an *' ideal 

 simple brain " is figured and described ; and then follow suggestions 

 for the dissection — American students, more fortunate than English, 

 being easily able to compare JHenobraachus with the frog. Direc- 

 tions are then given for the study of the cats brain — its removal, 

 weighing, hardening, and injection ; after an account of its charac- 

 ters, with illustrative woodcuts, we have four plates from Prof. 

 Wilder 's essay in the ' Proceedings of the American Philosophical 

 •Society ' for 1881; then comes a section headed * Synonyms and 

 Keferences ;* and the whole concludes with some interesting remarks 

 on the characters and homologies of the cerebral fissures. 



