292 



NA TURE 



[July 30, 1896 



practical use is increased by the fact that they give 

 references to the most recent hterature on the subjects 

 with which they deal. The plan of the book has been 

 well thought out, and its arrangement is such as to render 

 the search for information contained in it an easy one. 

 Special chapters are set apart for the integument and 

 tegumental organs, the skeleton, the muscular system, 

 the nervous system, the sense organs, the alimentary 

 canal and its appendages, the circulatory system, and 

 the urinogenital system. The arrangement of the 

 matter in each of these chapters is further carefully 

 classified. In certain places the terms used lack the 

 accuracy which is essential to a work on human anatomy, 

 thus (p. 91) on the "comparison of the fore- and hind- 

 limbs of man," to speak of the leg and arm of the adult as 

 "opposite extremities " is vague and inaccurate. Again, in 

 the description of the lower end of the humerus (p. 77) 

 confusion is caused by the application of the term 

 "ent-epicondylar" foramen to the occasional perforation 

 of the olecranon fossa, instead of confining this name for 

 the foramen partially enclosed by the ent-epicondylar 

 process, which is sometimes present in man. The 

 theories put forward in some parts of the book 

 to account for facts observed in man, seem scarcely 

 adequate ; thus, for instance, on p. 38 we are told 

 " the shifting of the centre of gravity towards the 

 dorsal side explains why the vertebral ends of the lowest 

 ribs are so firmly attached." Yet a very similar condition 

 of the more posterior ribs obtains in quadrupeds, in 

 which animals a shifting of the centre of gravity towards 

 the spine does not occur. In another place (p. 55) it is 

 stated that in lower races, as in the apes, the process of 

 obliteration of the cranial sutures beginning in the frontal 

 region and proceeding backwards " naturally causes an 

 earlier limitation in the growth of the anterior lobes of 

 the brain ; whereas in the higher (white) races, when the 

 fronto-parietal suture disappears only after the oblitera- 

 tion of the parieto-occipital one, these lobes are capable 

 of further dev-elopment." The obliteration of the sutures 

 in the frontal region does not necessarily limit increase in 

 growth of the frontal bones, much less that of the con- 

 tained brain, and further, it has been shown that the 

 frontal lobes do not in their growth vary with the changes 

 in position of the fronto-parietal suture. The posterior 

 boundary of the frontal lobe — fissure of Rolando — has a 

 relatively constant position during brain growth, so that a 

 relative increase in size of the frontal lobes, in white races, 

 does not take place during the time that certain of the 

 cranial sutures are closing, or even after birth. In the 

 chapter on the nervous system, it is a pity that the old and 

 superseded observations of MoUer are retained, and we 

 read, " Man differs from the Anthropoids in the prepon- 

 derance of the frontal lobe and, to a lesser degree, of 

 the occipital lobe, and in a corresponding backward 

 extension of the temporal lobe. The parietal lobe is 

 about equally developed in the brains of man and Anthro- 

 poids" (p. 131). As a matter of fact the great extent of 

 the parietal lobe, together with a corresponding decrease 

 of the occipital lobe, is a human characteristic. In the 

 Anthropoids the upper part of the posterior boundary of 

 the frontal lobe is relatively further back than in man. 

 It is a curious fact that Prof Wiedersheim's book should 

 adhere to the old view, that a well-marked occipital 

 NO. 1396, VOL. 54] 



lobe is a human characteristic, since it has been definitely 

 shown that this part of the brain, which was at one time 

 denied to apes, really attains in them its greatest relative 

 development, and further, it is in the lower apes that a 

 maximum is reached. 



The presence of numerous illustrations, and of a 

 glossary of the zoological terms used, in spite of its many 

 failings, is sure to render this interesting and easily read 

 translation of Prof Wiedersheim's book \ery popular. 



A. F. D. 



OUR BOOK SHELF. 

 The Official Guide to the Norwich Castle Museum. By 



Thomas Southwell, F.Z.S. Pp. 294. (London : Jarrold 



and Sons, 1896.) 

 " The value of a museum will be tested not only by its 

 contents, but by the treatment of those contents as a 

 means of the advancement of knowledge." This remark 

 of Sir William Flower's is the key-note of the Committee 

 of the Norwich Castle Museum, and in consonance with 

 it the admirable guide-book at present before us has 

 been constructed. The book is an interesting and useful 

 guide to the collections in the Museum; it is not merely 

 a catalogue, but a popular natural history in which the 

 specimens in the cases are used as illustrations. Assisted 

 by this guide, sightseers will pleasantly acquire a know- 

 ledge of the leading characteristics of the different groups 

 of animals, and students will gain a large amount of 

 sound instruction. 



The scientific value of the book lies in Mr. Southwell's 

 orderly review of the natural history specimens in the 

 Museum. This forms the greater part of the contents ; 

 but there is also an historical account, by the Rev. Wm. 

 Hudson, and a description of the collection of pictures, 

 by Mr. G. C. Eaton. 



The Museum was founded in 1825, and it existed as a 

 private institution until 1894, when it was taken over by 

 the Corporation, and established in Norwich Castle. The 

 scheme for the conversion of the Castle, which had been 

 condemned as a prison by the Prison Commissioners, 

 into a museum and recreation grounds, was due to Mr. 

 John Gurney, who died in February 1887. Mr. Gurney 

 gave ^5000 towards the scheme, which nucleus was 

 afterwards increased by subscription to ^14,389. The 

 new home of the Museum collections was opened two 

 years ago, and it is a credit to the Norwich Corporation 

 and people. V'ery few local museums are better arranged 

 than the one at Norwich, and in none is the educational 

 object of the institution kept more in mind. To say that 

 Mr. Southwell's guide is worthy of the Museum is, there- 

 fore, equivalent to stating that it possesses all the features 

 which will make its readers appreciate to the fullest 

 extent the utile el duke of the collections. 



Lalitude and Lonoitude : Hoiv to Find them. By W. J. 



Millar. (London : Charles Griffin and Co., 1896.) 

 In this concise little book the art of navigation is treated 

 from an elementary standpoint. Commencing by ex- 

 plaining the meaning of a few mathematical expressions, 

 including triangles, the author goes on to trigonometrical 

 ratios and logarithms, and shows how they are brought 

 into use for the purpose of finding a ship's position. 

 The errors that have to be corrected are explained, as 

 well as the determination of time and the use of the 

 sextant. 



The theory of the every-day work at sea, and also of 

 lunar distances and Sumner's method, is given, so that 

 with a small amount of mathematical knowledge a 

 student of navigation can master the chief problems 

 required to find the latitude and longitude at sea. 



O. L. 



