310 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXVIII. Xo. 714 



In general, in birds the vestibule is very small, 

 while in reptiles it is the largest part of the 

 labyrinth. In some respects the canals in the 

 avian labyrinth show greater resemblance to 

 those in the mammalian labyrinth than to 

 those in the majority of reptiles. 



The book is concluded by a brief descrip- 

 tion of the labyrinths of reptiles and 

 amphibia. Dr. Gray points out that the 

 typical reptilian labyrinth of the present time 

 is by no means so similar to that of birds, as 

 many anatomists seem to thinlv. The laby- 

 rinth of the alligator is very different from 

 the typical reptilian organ. In reptiles the 

 cochlea is relatively small, and is drawn out 

 in the form of a cone, eseept in the teguisin 

 and the alligator, where it has more of a tube 

 shape. The vestibule is the bulkiest portion 

 of the labyrinth, and contains a well-developed 

 otolith apparatus. The canals are distin- 

 guished from those of birds, mammals and 

 amphibians by their angularity and compara- 

 tive straightness of outline. The horizontal 

 canal, however, has a curved outline as in other 

 divisions of the vertebrates. The canals are 

 not set in planes at right angles to one 

 another, but are frequently in planes which 

 are parallel to one another, or at angles of 

 forty-five degrees. This is of importance in 

 view of theories which have been advanced as 

 to the functions of the canals. 



The description of the labyrinth of the 

 amphibians is limited to two examples, both 

 belonging to the anura. The author states 

 that since the organ varies considerably in 

 different species a much larger amount of 

 material would be required to give an even 

 fairly complete description of the labjrinth of 

 the amphibians. The descriptions given of 

 the labyrinths of the giant toad and the 

 tigrine frog are interesting for the sake of 

 comparison with those of higher forms. 



As in the preceding volume, very valuable 

 tables of measurements of the various laby- 

 rinths studied are given. 



Dr. Gray is to be congratulated upon the 

 important contribution which he has made to 

 this valuable field of comparative anatomy. 



0. R B. 



A Text-Booh of Physiological Chemistry. 

 By Olop Hammarsten. Translation from 

 the Sixth German Edition, by John A. 

 Mandel. Fifth Edition. New York, John 

 Wiley and Sons. 1908. Pp. 845. 

 Professor Hammars ten's " Physiological 

 Chemistry " continues, in its successive edi- 

 tions, to rank as the most successful and re- 

 liable of the. current text-books, if it is not 

 also the most popular among them. One 

 gains a good impression of the rapid advances 

 which chemical physiology has experienced in 

 recent years by comparing the first German 

 edition of 1890 — a book of 400 pages — ^with 

 the present translation of its latest successor. 

 Familiar defects of text-books on progressive 

 " laboratory sciences " have consisted in the 

 failure to keep abreast of the advances in 

 knowledge and in the tendency to present the 

 subject — physiology in particular — in a cut- 

 and-dried, dogmatic fashion. One can only 

 admire the industry of Professor Hammarsten 

 in maintaining a thoroughly up-to-date 

 record. In contrast with several of the Amer- 

 ican and German books in the same field, his 

 volume shows both range and perspective in a 

 degree which is attributable to the author's 

 long experience and broad scholarship. But 

 in addition to all this, the treatment is pecul- 

 iarly suggestive, so that the reading of any 

 chapter will bring to even the younger student 

 some appreciation of the present evolutionary 

 stage of physiological chemistry and of the 

 problems which present themselves on all 

 sides. A review of scientific evidence may 

 not furnish an ideal compendium for "pre- 

 paring for examinations." It is, however, 

 eminently superior to a dogmatic text in 

 affording an appreciation of the way in which 

 physiology develops. 



The successive editions of Hammarsten's 

 book seem to the reviewer to embody a 

 gradually improved critique in the elimina- 

 tion of accumulated data of uncertain value. 

 Furthermore, it is encouraging to find in a 

 foreign compilation some adequate recognition 

 for the work of American biochemical in- 

 vestigators. 



Hanuuarsten's test-book can not be said to 



