January 15, 1886.] 



SCIENCE. 



65 



introduced by a few pages intended to orient the 

 beginner as to the proper sequence of steps in the 

 more difficult work, and to acquaint him with 

 the facts and underlying reasons connected with 

 killing, hardening, and staining. The chapter on 

 reagents (preservative, macerating, decalcifying, 

 etc.) is followed by methods of staining, metallic 

 impregnations, and bleaching. Microtomes, to- 

 gether with their auxiliaries and methods of 

 embedding (freety illustrated), occupy two chap- 

 ters, and the remaining three of the first part are 

 devoted to methods of fixing serial sections, to 

 mounting media, etc. 



The second part, which occupies about half the 

 volume, contains some matter not previously pub- 

 lished. About fifty pages are devoted to ' em- 

 bryological methods.' This chapter furnishes 

 much valuable information, but the arrangement 

 leaves the impression that it is the result of fortu- 

 itous reading rather than a methodical search for 

 the most valuable things within the scope of the 

 topic. The chapter on ' Times and places of ovu- 

 lation ' serves at least to call attention to the de- 

 sirability of a more extensive compilation of the 

 facts hitherto published on this subject, as a 

 means of aiding less experienced students in 

 their search for embryological material. The 

 methods employed in studying karyokinesis during 

 cell-division and in the preparation of nervous 

 tissue are considered 'separately from ' Histological 

 methods,' without any very apparent reason. The 

 important methods of reconstructing the object 

 from microscopic sections introduced by His, 

 Born, and others, form the concluding chapter, 

 which is followed by an appendix principally 

 devoted to recent methods of injecting. 



Although not exhaustive, nor perhaps sym- 

 metrically planned, both the matter and the man- 

 ner of the book commend it to every advanced 

 and advancing zoologist as well as to beginners ; 

 and it is for that very reason that one interested in 

 real scientific progress the more regrets to see a 

 publisher possessed of the idea that his interests 

 demand the production of a book twice as bulky 

 and twice as expensive as it need be. 



Lee's book is the outcome of a more pretentious 

 undertaking. The author has desired to produce 

 \ a concise but complete account of all the methods 

 of preparation that have been recommended as 

 useful for the purpose of microscopic anatomy.' 

 Whatever opinion one may entertain about the 

 desirability of a manual framed on so catholic a 

 plan, it must be admitted that the author has 

 brought together an immense amount of material 

 in a compact and handy form, which goes far 

 toward saying it will get used ; for the book- 

 maker who makes books for any but people of 



superfluous leisure, must make them so that they 

 can be consulted without waste of time. 



Notwithstanding a natural prejudice which one 

 experiences when an author declines to use his 

 judgment for the reader's benefit, it must be 

 granted that Lee's work is not edited without 

 discrimination, for the brief but valuable intro- 

 ductions which precede the more important topics 

 show that the author is fully alive to the prin- 

 ciples underlying manipulations. The citation of 

 the sources of the formulae gives to the student 

 the requisite opportunity for ready verification 

 and control, and the plan of using serial numbers 

 to indicate the successive sections of the book is 

 economical both for author and reader. The latter 

 would have been spared much time, if a column 

 for page-references had been added in the index. 



The ' vade-mecum ' is practically without illus- 

 trations, and, although supposed to be ' exhaus- 

 tive,' appears to have ignored the important aids 

 to killing annuals in a distended and natural con- 

 dition which are afforded by certain stupefying 

 reagents, such as nicotine, chloral hydrate, etc. 



The author defends the nature of his publica- 

 tion — from which ' ' no process having any claim 

 to scientific status has been rejected, nor any (he 

 trusts) unwittingly omitted " — on the ground 

 that (though ' ' a large proportion of the formulae 

 are quite superseded in modern practice") " some 

 one or other of them ma}- perhaps serve, in 

 some way that cannot now be foreseen, to sug- 

 gest some new method of value ; " and he enforces 

 his opinion by reference to the history of the use 

 of corrosive sublimate. He, however, uses the 

 knife (and how could he fail to?) when he comes 

 to the matter of 'cements and varnishes.' The 

 magnitude of the undertaking has also compelled 

 him to modify his original plan of making the 

 second part traverse the entire field of histology 

 and microscopic zootomy, " giving the student 

 detailed instructions for the examination of all 

 structures that have hitherto been studied, and 

 thus making him entirely independent of all help 

 from a teacher." 



The author, therefore, limits himself in the 

 special part to about one-fourth of his four hun- 

 dred pages, and considers in it ' only very special 

 cases,' such as cell-division, the microtomy of the 

 human brain, etc. The histological part of the 

 field has received much the larger share of atten- 

 tion, — the nervous system, nerve terminations, 

 sense-organs, being very fully treated, — and the 

 embryological only a fragmentary consideration. 

 For this reason and others, the works of Lee and 

 Whitman supplement each other in such a way 

 that no one actively engaged in microscopic 

 work can afford to dispense with either. 



