358 REVIEWS. 



A work of this character is certainly invaluable to the physician, 

 especially in isolated tropical regions where access to libraries is not 

 possible and where he needs to have a comprehensive digest of all that 

 relates to insects and infection. 



Charles S. Banks. 



Mammalian Anatomy With Special Reference to the Cat. By Alvin Davison. 

 Second edition. Pp. 246. Price $1.50 net. Philadelphia: P. Blakiston's 

 Son & Co., 1900. 



As the author states in the preface to the second edition, it is only a 

 few years since medical schools have expected their students to enter 

 with some knowledge of mammalian or comparative anatomy. It is now 

 only a matter of time until all medical schools will require either a 

 good course in comparative zoology, or in mammalian anatomy (perhaps 

 both) as a prerequisite to entrance. 



There is also a strong and growing feeling in the. United States that 

 college graduates in general should have an understanding of human 

 anatomy and physiology. Davison's book is merely the last of several 

 which have been prepared in response to these demands for the study 

 of mammalian anatomy, using either the dog, cat, rat or rabbit as the 

 type. For several practical reasons the choice is limited to the dog or 

 the cat. 



The anatomy of the cat is treated in a much better way by Eeighard 

 and Jennings, but there are many schools in which so extensive a course 

 can not be given. It is to these that Davison's Mammalian Anatomy is 

 directed. However, the book is too elementary. No student who is 

 preparing for medicine, and probably no other college student, is ready 

 to study mammalian anatomy until after completing a thorough course 

 in zoology, which will give him a more or less philosophic conception of 

 the animal kingdom. Without such a course the mammalian anatomy will 

 fail in a large degree to accomplish its purpose. The reviewer believes 

 it to be a mistake, if not an impossibility, to attempt to adapt a text to 

 both elementary and advanced students, as the author has done. 



The introductory chapter contains some very useful directions for 

 teachers (certainly they can not be intended for students) regarding the 

 preparation of the specimens for study. Those for the demonstration of 

 the lymph vessels, for the preparation of the central nervous system, and 

 for the cleaning of the bones, are especially good. However, in this day 

 and age, it does seem as if even the most poorly prepared teacher must 

 know what specimen jars and injecting syringes are like; therefore, 

 figures of such objects (figs. 1 and 2) are decidedly out of place in any 

 text-book. 



The remainder of the book covers briefly the anatomy of the cat, 

 taking up the parts in the following order: Skeleton, joints, muscles, 



