Physiology

Abstract

THE student of physiology has such a wide choice of text-books dealing more or less exhaustively with the subject that the entry of a new volume into the list might be regarded as unnecessary. This book, however, is intended to meet a special need incurred by the growth of the science. The application of physical and chemical methods to the elucidation of the problems of the body, the war-time accumulation of new facts and ideas, and the advances in the sister sciences have so altered the material and increased the size of the new editions of the standard text-books that an orderly arrangement is in danger of being obscured by the mass of detail. This is a real difficulty to the student, and furnishes a valid reason for the issue of this volume of the Students' Synopsis Series. The book is definitely intended to supplement, and not to supplant, the larger text-books. It assumes that the student has already an acquaintance with the elements of physiology and has had some experience of practical work. It also assumes that he has a considerable knowledge of physics and chemistry, without which its treatment of such a topic as the reaction of the blood, though ably presented, would by its brevity fail to convey the necessary instruction. The book admirably fulfils its purpose, and Dr. Roberts is to be congratulated upon his success in accomplishing the difficult task of compiling a summary of the salient facts of physiology which is readable, clear, concise, and up to date. The volume is well edited and its illustrations are apposite. Physiology. By Dr. Ffrangcon Roberts. (Students' Synopsis Series.) Pp. viii + 389. (London: J. and A. Churchill, 1920.) Price 15s. net.