Miscellanies. 199 



In conclusion, it may not be amiss to state, that the whole is written in 

 the same easy and agreeable style as the other works of its distinguished 

 author. 



8. Outlines of Anatomy and Physiology, translated from the French 

 ofH. Milne Edwards, M. D. ^c., by J. F. W. Lane, M. D. Boston, 

 Charles C. Little and James Brown, 1841. pp. 312. — This treatise was 

 intended as an introduction to a work on zoology by the same author. It 

 gives us a general outline of the anatomical structure and physiological 

 action of the different systems of organs of which animal bodies are com- 

 posed ; al30 those general characters and properties of living beings 

 which could not with propriety be introduced into the body of a zoolog- 

 ical treatise. It is written in a popular style, and is sufficiently free from 

 technicalities to render it interesting and intelligible to a non-professional 

 reader. 



Before entering into a description of the individual functions and their 

 organs, those properties are enumerated which are common to all living 

 beings, and by which they are distinguished from common inert matter, 

 viz. their mode of origin, structure and chemical composition, powers of 

 nutrition, reproduction, and the definite duration of their existence ; also 

 the characteristics by which animals are distinguished from vegetables, 

 the former having, in addition to the properties possessed by the latter, 

 sensibility and voluntary motion. 



The different functions, and the organs by which they are performed, 

 are arranged in three great divisions, viz. those of nutrition, relation, and 

 reproduction. Under the first head, are described the blood, its proper- 

 ties, the apparatus and mechanism of its circulation, exhalation, secre- 

 tion, respiration, animal heat, and digestion : under the second head, 

 are arranged those organs and functions by which animals are made 

 acquainted with, and are enabled to act upon external objects, viz. the 

 sensorial, intellectual, motory, and vocal ; and under the third head, 

 those which are subservient to the preservation of the species, viz. those 

 of generation. 



In treating of the different functions first enumerated, it is the object 

 of the author to describe them as they exist in man, and compare with 

 them those of which the lower orders of animals are the seat. In so do- 

 ing, he has placed the subject of physiology under a very attractive form ; 

 and we trust that the work will be extensively circulated, and that it may 

 conduce still farther to develop that taste for the science of which it treats, 

 among the unprofessional public. The translation of the work is in some 

 respects objectionable, the technical words being, in many cases, literally 

 rendered, instead of substituting for them the corresponding Encrlish tech- 

 nical expressions. We have no hesitation, however, in saying, that the 

 high merit and reputation of Dr. Edwards as a physiologist and zoolo- 

 gist, and the interest which is felt by the public in anatomical and phys- 



