Abstract
ENCOURAGED by the success of an earlier and much smaller edition of this work, the author has entirely rewritten the new one. In so doing, we think that he could not have made a greater mistake, as the small size of the original precluded the introduction of detail with which he is not acquainted, and so prevented his exposing his ignorance to the world at large. The impression which remains after the perusal of a few pages is, that the author, after reading rapidly through some one of the standard text-books on Zoology, wrote down his impressions as far as his memory served him. Faults of omission are not uncommon in text-books, especially when they are written by those who are not practically acquainted with their subject, but faults of commission are, fortunately, much less common. In the work before us there are several of the former, and they cannot all be laid down to want of space; for in the case of the Myria-poda, respecting the peculiarities of the main divisions of which the position of the legs is not referred to, two-thirds of the page on which they should have been found is left blank before the commencement of the following chapter. The faults of commission are so numerous that they admit of easy classification. There are those of sheer carelessness from inattentive reading, otherwise, how is it that we are told that the Dugong has six cervical vertebræ, and that the Tragulinæ, or Musk Deer (!) have all the tarsal bones anchylosed. Others arise from a want of power to realise the meaning of the ordinary descriptions of well-known anatomical facts, as when it is indicated that the ventricles of the Crocodile's heart are not completely separated, and the marsupium, or pouch of the female Kangaroo in the male is everted, and supports the penis. Absolute and inexcusable errors it is difficult to explain, but among such we are told that the Nummulites are Cephalopoda; the Marsipobranchii have more than one nasal sac; that in the Lepidosiren the nasal canals are not open at both ends, and the vertebræ are ossified; and that in the Bear the clavicles are more developed than in other Carnivora, when they are in reality absent altogether. Peculiarities found in one division are omitted with regard to them, and referred to others entirely different, as when it is stated that among the Marsupialia “each oviduct in the female leads into a perfectly distinct uterus, which opens into a separate vagina, which is also the passage of the urine,” and that in the male the vasa deferentia “open into a cloaca common to the urinary and generative secretions.” These remarks apply to the Monotremata well enough, how is it they are omitted in speaking of them, and stated of theii allies, which in these respects are quite differently constructed. We rarely remember to have seen a work so carelessly undertaken, and by so incompetent an author.
Manual of Comparative Anatomy and Physiology.
By S. M. Bradley. Second Edition. (Manchester: Cornish; London: Simpkin, Marshall and Co.)
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Manual of Comparative Anatomy and Physiology . Nature 9, 120 (1873). https://doi.org/10.1038/009120b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/009120b0