JANUARY 25, 1901.] 
For instance, on p. 454 the notion that ‘the 
close agreement between the effect upon the 
functional changes (in nerve) of external COs, 
and of previous nerve activity, is an indica- 
tion that CO2 is produced during the active 
state,’ is mentioned without any warning to 
the innocent student that this is a mere airy 
speculation, such stuff, in fact, as only dreams 
and Croonian lectures are made of. By the 
way, it seems rather a pity that in a book of 
this size the use of such inaccurate contractions 
as CO» for carbon dioxide should have been 
countenanced for the sake of a petty saving of 
space. 
On p. 499, in the account given of the 
changes of conductivity produced in a nerve by 
the passage of electrical currents it is stated 
that the block is established during closure at 
the anode and after opening at the cathode. 
No mention is made of the well-known experi- 
ments of Hermann and others which demon- 
strate that the block at the cathode during 
closure of a voltaic current is relatively greater 
than at the anode, while after opening, this 
relation is reversed. 
On 48, the statement is made that in Stol- 
nikow’s determination of the output of the 
heart on the ‘ simplified circulation,’ the output 
was probably maximal on account of the low 
resistance to the outflow. It ought not to be 
left to the student to supply the criticism that 
the heart can not have been normally fed through 
the coronary arteries with a pressure of only 
30 or 40 mm. of mercury in the aorta, and 
therefore probably was not beating with normal 
strength. On the same page a comparison of 
Zuntz’s results on the output in the horse, ob- 
tained by a method theoretically perfect, with 
those of Tigerstedt in the rabbit, obtained by a 
method of dubious propriety, is concluded by 
the remark that when the output per second is 
expressed as a fraction of the body-weight the 
results of the two observers roughly agree. 
The reader would inevitably draw from this 
passage the inference that the accuracy of Ti- 
gerstedt’s numbers is supported by this agree- 
ment. The exact opposite is the case. For it 
is well established that the output of the heart 
is much greater in proportion to the body- 
weight in small animals than in large. If, then, 
SCLENCE. 
145 
Zuntz’s results are right for the horse, Tiger- 
stedt’s can not be right for the rabbit. 
We are glad to see that Dr. Gaskell in his 
article on the contraction of the cardiac muscle, 
written in the interesting and almost autobio- 
graphical style so characteristic of this author 
when he handles this theme, has at last rid 
himself of the picturesque hypothesis that the 
positive electrical variation, observed by him in 
the quiescent auricle of the tortoise on stimula- 
tion of the vagus, indicates ‘anabolic’ changes 
in the muscular fibers, while the negative 
variation seen on stimulation of the augmentor 
nerves of the quiescent ventricle of the frog or 
toad indicates ‘katabolic’ changes, and has 
adopted the more prosaic view of other writers, 
that the electrical changes are simply asso- 
ciated with alterations in the tone of the heart 
muscle too small to be easily seen. 
The contributors to this and the previous 
volume include most of the prominent workers 
in English physiology ; and nearly all write 
upon subjects the knowledge of which they 
have advanced by their own labors. Thus, 
Dr. Leonard Hill, in one of the best articles in 
the book, treats of the circulation ; Sir J. Bur- 
don Sanderson, of striped muscle, including 
the electrical phenomena of this tissue, in the 
investigation of which he stands facile princeps 
in the English-speaking world; Professor 
Gotch, of nerve and electrical organ; Pro- 
fessors Schafer and Sherrington, of the central 
nervous system; Dr. Langley, of the sym- 
pathetic and allied systems; Professor Hay- 
craft, of animal mechanics, taste and smell; 
Professor {McKendrick and Dr. Gray, of the 
ear and voice; Professor Starling, of the 
muscular and nervous mechanisms of the di- 
gestive tract, etc.; and Dr. Rivers, of vision. 
G. N. I. S. 
Die Lehre vom Skelet des Menschen, unter be- 
sonderer Bertichsichtigung entwickelungsge- 
schichtlicher und vergleichend-anatomischer 
Gesichtspunkte und der Erfordernisse des 
Anthropologischen Unterichtes an hoheren 
Lehranstalten, bearbeitet. Von Dr. F. 
FRENKEL, Professor am Konigl. Gymnasium 
zu Gottingen. Mit 81 Textfiguren. Jena, 
Gustav Fischer. 1900. 
