MOST authors compose their works first, leaving the preface until the last thing, in order that they may appreciate the full influence of their detailed study when making the generalisations with which they feel bound to start their volume. We hs.ve no reason to think that the author of the work under notice is any exception to this rule. In the nine hundred or so pages of his book he explains in a clear and very intelligible manner many of the most important facts and theories of the science of physiology; in some parts introducing improved methods of illustration, in others not quite recognising the most recent advances which have been made, even by his own countrymen. Particular stress is laid, throughout the work, on the bearing of the points discussed on everyday life, on hygiene, and on pathology; in all of which the author, from his experience in the routine of practice and the recent Franco-German war, in which he was engaged in active ambulance service, is able to speak with authority. There are two other points in which the work is slightly different from most text-books of the subject, one being that a short account is given of the history of most of the physiological discoveries of importance, which is generally neglected in works of similar character, notwithstanding the additional interest which is thereby introduced. The other point is, that an account is given of the anatomical construction of the organs whose functions are to be studied, by which means those who have not, as medical students, gained the necessary amount of knowledge of anatomy to make clear their fundamental notions, can read on and understand without reference to other works.
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May 5, 1883
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