382- 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. II. No. 38. 



cular mechanism ; Part II. , of the tissues, of 

 chemical action with their respective mechan- 

 isms and of nutrition ; Part III. , of the central 

 nervous system and its instruments ; Part IV. , of 

 the senses and some special muscular mechan- 

 isms and of the tissues and mechanisms of re- 

 production ; and Part V., the appendix, of the 

 chemical basis of the animal body. 



The abridged edition recently issued is in oue 

 volume of about twelve hundred pages. The 

 abridgment, we are told in the preface, has 

 been effected by omitting all the histological 

 matter, and all discussions of a too theoretical 

 nature. The appendix is also omitted. Other- 

 wise, beyond such changes as the advance of 

 science seems to call for, the text which is left 

 is the same as in the full edition. 



In forming an opinion about a text -book, two 

 questions must be answered : first, whether the 

 plan on which the book is made is the best pos- 

 sible plan ; second, whether the workmanship 

 is good. The second question we may dismiss 

 at once. The work is admirably done. Ex- 

 perience and painstaking are seen in every page. 

 About the plan we cannot be so sure. A text- 

 book of physiology should form and develop 

 scientific habits of thought, make clear the 

 danger as well as the suggestive value of hy- 

 potheses, harden the student against the shock 

 of controversy by teaching the value of evi- 

 dence and especially the criticism of method, 

 and in short create a state of mind. If this be 

 the aim, facts will take care of themselves. 

 They are relatively unimportant. The trained 

 student retains many of the facts which have 

 been the raw material of his training and can 

 easily get more. The untrained is merely en- 

 cumbered by information. These principles are 

 fundamental, yet how seldom are they practi- 

 cally ap'plied. Many a widely sold text-book of 

 physiology is a weak encyclopaedia, a med- 

 ley of facts. Dr. Foster's book is not of 

 this sort. Its chief excellence is that it strives 

 to develop as well as to inform the mind. 



It may be questioned whether the recent edi- 

 tions serve this purpose as well as the third 

 edition. The omission of references to original 

 sources, the lack of historical account and the 

 repression of controversy do not strengthen the 

 book, while the more extended treatment for 



the sake of which chiefly these things have been 

 done threatens to be too much for the under- 

 graduate and is certainly too little for .the ad- 

 vanced student. We loved the third edition 

 for its personal quality. We find the fifth im- 

 personal, less xdvid, remote. The history of a 

 few of the more famous discoveries in physiol- 

 ogy, the rise of a few famous doctrines, the 

 fall of others, the general outlines of one or 

 more of the controversies of the day, are, in 

 our opinion, indispensable to the correct render- 

 ing of that subtle atmosphere which is the very 

 spirit of the science. Much of this there already 

 is, but its force is weakened by the absence of 

 personal reference. The facts of physiology, 

 particularly recent facts, are seldom altogether 

 separated from the personality of their discov- 

 erer, and they cannot be wholly divorced with- 

 out breaking a sympathetic link, a human inter- 

 est, highly valuable as an intellectual condiment. 

 An impersonal statement of the records secured 

 by the self-registering apparatus of a captive 

 balloon is less interesting to the ordinary student 

 than the observations made at a great height by 

 the aeronaut himself. 



However, this may be, there is no gainsaying 

 the general opinion that Dr. Foster's work is 

 the most satisfactory yet written. Wide knowl- 

 edge, a fine sympathy, the gift of style and a 

 delicate sense of balance are necessary to the 

 making of such a book. W. T. Poetee. 



Harvard University. 



North American Birds: By H. Nehrling. 4°, 

 part XII., Sept. 1895, pp. 145-192, pis. 22 

 and 23. Published by Geo. Brumder, Mil- 

 waukee, Wis. 



The twelfth part of the American edition — 

 for there is a German edition also — of this ex- 

 cellent work has been delivered to subscribers. 

 It contains two colored plates — one a superb 

 picture of the Black-breasted Rosy Finch 

 (Leucoaiicie atrafa) from the brush of Robert 

 Ridgway ; the other a conglomeration of spar- 

 rows by Miitzel. 



The text deals with the sparrows and finches 

 and includes some of the commonest and best 

 known of American birds — as the Long Sjiar- 

 row — and also some of the rarest species — as 

 Abert's Tomhcl. The accounts of some of the 



