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THE

NATURAL HISTORY REVIEW:

A Quarterly Journal of Biological Science.

In undertaking the conduct of the NATURAL HISTORY REVIEW, the Editors propose to establish a QUARTERLY CRITICAL JOURNAL OF BIOLOGICAL SCIENCE, which, without interfering with existing scientific periodicals, shall stand in the same relation to naturalists, and other persons interested in biological inquiries, as that which is occupied by the ordinary Quarterly Reviews in respect to men of letters and the general public. They desire, in addition, to offer to all whom it may concern a means of discussing the general problems suggested by the progress of biological investigation in a scientific spirit, and without reference to any but scientific considerations. The Editors will not refuse an original communication on the ground of any scientific opinion expressed in it. The Contents of the NATURAL HISTORY REVIEW will be of the following nature :-

I. Reviews and Notices.

II. Original Articles.

III. Proceedings of Scientific Societies.
IV. Miscellanea.

The first section will embrace criticisms, more or less extended, of new biological works and papers published either in this country or abroad, together with careful Reports upon the present condition of particular branches of Natural History. The second will comprise such original papers as may be of sufficient importance to deserve publication, though they may not be of a nature to demand a place in the Transactions of a Scientific Society. In the third section will be given an account of the Proceedings of the leading Scientific Societies; and the fourth will contain Miscellaneous Notes, and notices of remarkable events in Natural History.

As the wide extent of Biological Science renders it impossible for any man to be largely acquainted with more than two or three of its branches, the Editors have divided the labour of collecting and supervis ing the requisite materials according to the scheme on the preceding page. The Editors do not hold themselves responsible for the opinions expressed in articles to which their names are not attached.

Communications intended for the Journal should be addressed to the Publishers, the words "Natural History Review" being written upon the outside cover.

THE NATURAL HISTORY REVIEW will be published on the first of January, April, July, and October. Single numbers, price 4s. each, will be on sale in the usual way. Annual Subscriptions, at the reduced rate of 12s., should be sent to the Publishers direct, who will forward the Numbers, post free, on the day of publication.

DR. COBBOLD'S NEW WORK ON PARASITES.

This day is published, in One handsome Volume, super royal 8vo. 508 pages, with Illustrations in Colours and Tints, and numerous Engravings on Wood, price £1. 11s 6d.

ENTOZOA:

AN INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY OF HELMINTHOLOGY,
WITH REFERENCE MORE PARTICULARLY TO

THE INTERNAL PARASITES OF MAN,
With Twenty-one Coloured and Tinted Plates, comprising One Hundred and Fifty-
six separate Figures, together with Eighty-two Woodcuts, making a total of
Two hundred and Thirty-eight Illustrations.

BY T. SPENCER COBBOLD, M.D., F.R.S.,

LECTURER ON COMPARATIVE ANATOMY AT THE MIDDLESEX HOSPITAL.

JER

GROOMBRIDGE AND SONS, 5, Paternoster Row, London.

Now ready. 3 vols. Roy. 8vo. Cloth.

ERDON'S BIRDS OF INDIA. THE BIRDS OF INDIA, being a Natural History of all the Birds known to inhabit Continental India; with descriptions of the Species, Genera, Families, Tribes, and Orders, and a brief Notice of such Families as are not found in India, making it a Manual of Ornithology specially adapted for India, by T. C. JERDON, in 3 vols. roy. 8vo. Cloth, £3. 3s. WILLIAMS AND NORGATE, Importers of Foreign Books, 14, Henrietta Street, Covent Garden, London; 20, South Frederick Street, Edinburgh.

ΑΝ

HUXLEY AND HAWKINS-COMPARATIVE OSTEOLOGY.

This day is published. Folio, bound in cloth, price 258.

N ELEMENTARY ATLAS OF COMPARATIVE OSTEOLOGY. Consisting of Twelve Plates in Folio, drawn on Stone by B. WATERHOUSE HAWKINS, Esq. The Figures selected and arranged by Professor T. H. HUXLEY, F.R.S.

WILLIAMS AND NORGATE, Henrietta Street, Covent Garden, London, and 20, South Frederick Street, Edinburgh.

PROFE

Third Thousand. 8vo. Cloth. Price 68, with 35 Woodcuts.

ROFESSOR HUXLEY, F.R.S. EVIDENCE AS TO MAN'S PLACE IN NATURE, or Essays upon-I. The Natural History of the Manlike Apes-II. The Relation of Man to the Lower Animals-III. Fossil Remains of Man. By T. H. HUXLEY, F.R.S.

WILLIAMS AND NORGATE, London and Edinburgh.

MR. CARRINGTON'S OBSERVATIONS OF THE SOLAR SPOTS.
Price 258. Royal 4to. Cloth boards, with 166 plates.

OBSERVATIONS OF

1853, to March 24th, 1864, made at Redhill. By R. C. CARRINGTON, F.R.S. The publication of this work was aided by a Grant from the Fund placed at the disposal of the Royal Society by Her Majesty's Treasury.

WILLIAMS AND NORGATE, 14, Henrietta Street, Covent Garden, London; and 20, South Frederick Street, Edinburgh.

In the Press.

LUBBOCK (J. F.R.S.) PREHISTORIC ARCHEOLOGY, or

Essays on the Primitive Condition of Man, in Europe and America. By JOHN LUBBOCK, F.R.S., President of the Ethnological Society. 1 vol. 8vo. With numerous woodcut Illustrations.

WILLIAMS AND NORGATE, 14, Henrietta Street, Covent Garden, London; and 20, South Frederick Street, Edinburgh.

MICROSCOPES, TELESCOPES, OPERA GLASSES. DERSONS who are contemplating the purchase of the above PRACTICAL SUGGESTIONS ON THE CHOICE AND PURCHASE OF MICROSCOPES, TELESCOPES, &c. Also, A CLASSIFIED LIST OF MICROSCOPIC OBJECTS, which will be forwarded, Post Free, on application to EDMUND WHEELER, Manufacturer, 48, Tollington Road, Holloway. N.

TH

No. IV. October, 1864. Price 5s.

THE QUARTERLY JOURNAL OF SCIENCE, edited by JAMES SAMUELSON and WM. CROOKES, F.R.S.

CONTENTS.

Report of the Meeting at Bath of the British Association for the Advancement of Science.

ORIGINAL ARTICLES:

The Source of Living Organisms. James Samuelson, Editor. With Chromolithograph and Seven Woodcuts.

The Formation of Coral. Professor Th. Lacaze Duthiers, Paris. With Three Woodcuts.

The Butterflies of Madagascar. Roland Trimen, Cape Town, Memb. Ent. Soc. Lond.

Radiant Light and Heat. Balfour Stewart, M.A., F.R.S. With five Woodcuts. The Construction and Mechanical Properties of Submarine Telegraph Cables. William Fairbairn, C.E., LL.D., F.R.S. With Nine Woodcuts.

The Proportional Numbers of the Element. Dr. William Odling, F.R.S., Sec. Ch. Soc.

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The Science of Language; A History of the Spiders of Great Britain and Ireland; Popular Works on Botany, &c.

NOTES AND CORRESPONDENCE:

Additional Note on the Neanderthal Skull; the Septa and Siphuncles of Cephalopod Shells; the Existence of the Reindeer and Aurochs in France during the Historic Period; the Gold Medallists of the Science Examinations (May, 1864), and Science Instruction by the State.

JOHN CHURCHILL AND SONS, New Burlington Street.

THE

NATURAL HISTORY REVIEW:

A

QUARTERLY JOURNAL OF BIOLOGICAL SCIENCE.

Reviews and Notices.

LIX-STIMULANTS AND NARCOTICS.

STIMULANTS AND NARCOTICS, THEIR MUTUAL RELATIONS; WITH SPECIAL RESEARCHES ON THE ACTION OF ALCOHOL, ÆTHER, AND CHLOROFORM, ON THE VITAL ORGANISM. By Francis E. Anstie, M.D. M.R.C.P. Macmillan and Co. 1864.

VIEWED in its broadest aspect and from a purely theoretical point of view, the art of healing may be regarded as the practical application of the knowledge of the laws of life revealed by the science of physiology. In reality, however, such is not the case. Not only have the science and the art, to a certain extent, different origins, different inspirations, and different supports, but there always has been a discord between the teachings of the one and the doings of the other. And the comparatively recent creation of a class of pure physiologists, neither hampered nor excited by the care of the sick, has only widened the gap. Much physiological labour has of course been done, and, it is to be hoped, will yet be done by busy practitioners; and there are a number of physicians who form, what might be called, the physiological school of medicine. But the great mass of the profession hold themselves aloof from, and often greatly disdain the teachings of pure physiology, and go on their own way guided by ideas derived directly from the experience of their own art. They speak indeed of physiology, but it is a physiology of their own, a something by no means necessarily identical with that taught by the experimentalists. No one can read two such books as Chambers' Renewal of Life, and Hermann's Outlines of Physiology, (to take two typical instances), without feeling that there is very little in common, between the ideas which each attaches to such words as physiology, life, &c. In fact, there may be almost said to be two physiologies at present in vogue, the physiology of the physiologists, and the physiology of the physicians.

N.H.R.-1864.

2 K

The work of Dr. Anstie now before us, while on the one hand it may be regarded as a contribution to practical therapeutics, and as such is worthy of the highest praise, on the other is evidently meant to be regarded as an addition to the science of physiology. But its physiology is that of the physicians and not of the physiologists. It abounds in definitions, in discussions, in general ideas; it is characterized by a certain half concealed disdain of the labours of the physiological chemists, and by a tendency to keep apart from, rather than to draw near to the rest of the physical sciences; all which things are tokens of the physiology of the physicians.

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The same thing is also shown by the way in which the author uses the words 'stimulus' and 'stimulant,' as if they were connected with exactly the same idea. The first part of the work is taken up with a discussion of The Doctrine of Stimulus,' including a ' History' and an Attempt at Reconstruction,' throughout the whole of which, 'stimulus' and 'stimulant' are used to denote exactly the same thing. Now, although the etymology of the word stimulant, and the history of its introduction and use (which, if needful at all, should be given we think more fully than Dr. Anstie has given it, and should at least have included some mention of Whytt, the remarkably clear and consistent expositor of the 'sentient principle' theory,) show that it was formerly merely the participle form of stimulus, and that both once conveyed the same idea, it can scarcely be denied that the present meaning attached to stimulus by the physiologist, is not one which he would venture to extend to denoting the effects upon the economy of alcohol taken by the mouth, or of any of the agents popularly called stimulants. Of the action of a stimulus he is able to form, if a rough, yet at least a tolerably well defined or rather outlined idea; of the action of a stimulant he is ready to confess he knows next to nothing, or, perhaps, even confesses his ignorance of what the word, physiologically speaking, means. When he says that a stimulus applied to a nerve gives rise to a contraction in the muscle, he has something tolerably distinct before his mind. He sees, in the muscle and nerve, a number of molecular forces in a condition of equilibrium, which is destroyed by the action of a stimulus, and a certain amount of force consequently set free. His idea of the process is one entirely in consonance with the teachings of the rest of physical science. He no more thinks of alluding to an 'impaired' or an 'exalted vitality,' than he would of appealing to the sentient principle or the indwelling spirit. Of the process

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