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SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXVII. No. 685 



■eating forty millions— as in Japan. In 

 their endeavors the present teachers of 

 China deserve sympathy. To condemn the 

 inadequacy of Chinese education— and it 

 is inadequate— means ignorance of the con- 

 ditions. Sympathy should be given by the 

 teachers of the world to their professional 

 brethren in China, and reenforcements, too. 

 For these reenforcements the Chinese gov- 

 ernment is loudly calling. 



Charles F. Thvting 

 Western Reserve University 



SCIENTIFIC BOOKS 

 A Text-hooTc of Physiology for Medical Stu- 

 dents and Physicians. By WmLiAM H. 

 Howell, Ph.D., M.D., LL.D. Second edi- 

 tion. Philadelphia and London, W. B. 

 Saunders Co. 1907. 



" Economy," wrote Burke, " consists not in 

 saving, but in selection." This principle 

 Professor Howell has applied in writing his 

 test-book of physiology. Instead of attempt- 

 ing to condense the great mass of fact and 

 .theory which constitutes the body of present- 

 day physiology, he has chosen subjects which 

 have seemed to him most desirable for the 

 man with medical interests to know. And 

 these subjects he has presented with simplicity 

 and lucidity. The result of this method has 

 been the production of a treatise which states 

 with a fair degree of completeness the facts 

 and theories of many important phases of 

 physiology, while other phases are wholly elim- 

 inated. The method permits the writer to 

 avoid the bleak statements of fact which char- 

 acterize attempts at too great condensation, 

 and allows a variety and discursiveness, at 

 times into the historical development, at times 

 into the practical bearings of the subject, 

 which are entertaining. This text-book has 

 already been used two years by medical stu- 

 dents, and they report to their instructors, 

 " Howell is interesting reading." 



The first exception which might be made 

 to a text-book based on the principle of elim- 

 ination rather than condensation is that the 

 writer may emphasize his special interests and 

 may eliminate subjects which seem important 



to others. Fortunately Professor Howell's 

 extensive experience as a teacher and investi- 

 gator in different medical schools has served 

 him well. This experience, together with the 

 fact that in all the larger medical schools in 

 which the laboratory method is an important 

 feature of physiological training the subjects 

 taught do not greatly vary, has led to a selec- 

 tion of material which would be generally ad- 

 mitted as desirable for students of medicine 

 to know, and to the elimination of little that 

 is at present medically important. 



The first section of the volume deals with 

 the physiology of muscle and nerve — the iun- 

 damental tissues for most of the systems which 

 follow. The second section on the physiology 

 of the central nervous system is concerned 

 with the governing agent of the muscular 

 structures already studied. A discussion of 

 the physiology of sleep in this section is an 

 unusual and commendable chapter in a physi- 

 ological text-book. Treatment of the special 

 senses as the recipients of stimuli for the 

 central nervous system is taken up in section 

 three. Blood and lymph are next considered 

 as a preliminary to section five which is de- 

 voted to the organs of circulation. The dis- 

 cussion of the physiology of respiration in 

 section six, and digestion and secretion in 

 section seven presents further application of 

 the fundamental activities studied in the 

 earlier chapters. In all these general subjects 

 the chemical side of the physiological activi- 

 ties has received due recognition. This is 

 also true of the treatment in section eight of 

 nutrition, and heat production and regulation. 

 The formal exposition closes with an excellent 

 account of the physiology of reproduction. 

 An appendix, however, gives a brief descrip- 

 tion of proteins and their classification, and a 

 clear statement of some of the facts and prin- 

 ciples of physical chemistry in their applica- 

 tion to physiological processes. The large 

 array of original illustrations is a pleasing 

 feature of the volume. 



In this second edition a number of small 

 errors which crept into the first edition have 

 been corrected, and additions have been made 

 with the object of keeping the book abreast of 

 the times. As far as possible, however, these 



