August 30, 1901.] 



SCIENCE. 



325 



smaller compass and at a much smaller ex- 

 pense, witli the kind of information contained 

 in the classical ' Methodik ' of Cyon, now, we 

 believe, out of print. The advanced student 

 also, who is able to pick and choose and piece 

 together the information suited for his purpose, 

 may derive considerable benefit by using the 

 book as a supplement to other less copious but 

 more systematically arranged manuals of prac- 

 tical instruction. 



Beginning with the principles and technical 

 details of the most common graphic methods of 

 recording, the authors describe in succession the 

 methods of fixation and ansesthetization of the 

 animals employed ; the precautions necessary 

 for aseptic operations ; the general properties 

 of nerves and nerve centers, including the vari- 

 ous kinds of excitation, reflex action and the 

 effects of lesions of the brain and bulb ; the 

 general properties of muscles, illustrated by the 

 usual myographic experiments ; the mechan- 

 ical, nervous and chemical phenomena of res- 

 piration in mammals, birds, reptiles and other 

 animal groups ; the mechanical and nervous 

 phenomena of the circulation ; the chemistry 

 of the blood, lymph, the digestive juices and 

 urine. The last lesson is devoted to animal 

 heat. The least successful i)art of the book is 

 that occupied with the chemistry of the secre- 

 tions, a subject already well treated from the 

 practical standpoint in numerous works suitable 

 for students. The descriptions of apparatus 

 are clear and sufficiently full, and the illustra- 

 tions are well executed. In this age of blatant 

 ' patriotism ' it would seem futile to quarrel 

 with the almost exclusive selection of French 

 instruments and the almost exclusive citation 

 of French authorities. In any case, if the 

 authors have erred in this respect, their fault 

 will be readily condoned in view of the charm- 

 ing naivete of their explanation. 



In matters of detail it is, of course, always 

 easy for the captious critic to pick holes in any 

 book. The slips and blunders in this, apart 

 from what we think the initial vice of its plan, 

 are neither numerous nor serious, and some of 

 them have been corrected in a table of errata. 



In the description of the action of strychnine 

 (p. 163) the student might easily suppose, from 

 the context that in an animal poisoned with 



this drug a single direct excitation of a muscle 

 or nerve ' produces not a single contraction 

 but a series of contractions more or less fused.' 

 This is true, of course, only of a reflex excita- 

 tion. 



The statement (on p. 196), that " after double 

 section of the pneumogastric death always takes 

 place as a direct or indirect consequence of 

 asphyxia (phenomenes asphyxiques) more or 

 less rapid," is misleading. 



On p. 231, the so-called ' total velocity of the 

 circulation,' for which a better term is the 

 mean circulation time, is not accurately defined. 

 The only method of measuring it described is 

 the antiquated one of Hering. 



On p. 249, the automaticity of the heart-beat 

 is attributed to the ganglia without qualifica- 

 tion and without any indication that the ma- 

 jority of physiologists who, in recent times, 

 have busied themselves with researches on this 

 subject have come to the opposite conclusion. 



We are entirely unaware of the existence of 

 evidence sufficiently clear to justify the conclu- 

 sions so boldly drawn from Stannius' experi- 

 ment on p. 251, ' that the ganglia of Bidder 

 constitute an insufficient excito-motor center, 

 the ganglion of Remak a sufficient excito-motor 

 center, and the ganglia of Ludwig (in the au- 

 ricular septum) an excito inhibitory center 

 whose tonus is by itself insufficient to counter- 

 balance the excito-motor action of Remak's 

 ganglion.' 



On p. 267 it is stated that crystallized haemo- 

 globin {i. e., reduced haemoglobin) is unknown. 

 Several competent authorities have described 

 such crystals. 



On p. 271, the band of reduced haemoglobin 

 is, for the English reader, rather comically 

 disguised under the appellation, 'bande de 

 Stockes,' meaning, of course, the 'band of 

 Stokes.' 



While the general rules laid down for opera- 

 tions on mammals and for the use of anaes- 

 thetics will, as a whole, commend themselves 

 to all physiologists who have had much experi- 

 ence in the use of warm-blooded animals for 

 teaching purposes, we must take exception to 

 the advice that " in all operations, whether the 

 animal is destined to be sacrified at the end of 

 the experiment or not, the vivisector should 



