Abstract
HUMAN Physiology being in a great measure based upon investigations conducted on the lower Vertebrata, all works on the subject may, in a certain sense, be considered to be on “animal” physiology. The small treatise before us agrees, as far as the nature of the points treated of, very much with most works of the same size on human physiology. Incidental mention is no doubt made of the most important peculiarities of the nervous, circulatory, digestive, and other systems in the lower Vertebrata, but these are incomplete, and sometimes inaccurate. As an introduction to physiology, Dr. Cleland's work, however, possesses many advantages. It is written for readers previously unacquainted with anatomical details, and this class of students is daily becoming more numerous, although it is generally felt that no considerable progress can ever be made in the subject except on an anatomical basis. The illustrations are also numerous, whilst many are original and excellent. The manner of expression is particularly simple and clear, all the technical terms employed being carefully explained. In the earlier part of the work, in the chapter on alimentation, there is an argument on which particular stress is laid, which is, that as animals have no power of manufacturing organic matter from the materials found in organic nature, but feed either directly on the vegetable world or on other animals which have fed on vegetables; and as in plants the power of building organic matter is confined to the green parts, “the statement may therefore be ventured on that, so far as observation has yet proceeded, it would appear that the presence of chlorophyll is as necessary for the production of organic matter in organisms as the presence of protoplasm is necessary for growth.” The full bearing of this fact is, no doubt, not yet fully understood. On the whole, we think that the author has fully succeeded in producing a work which, from the grouping of its facts, is decidedly more than a mere collection of details.
Animal Physiology.
John
Cleland
By. Advanced Science Series. (Wm. Collins, Sons, and Co.)
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Animal Physiology . Nature 11, 504 (1875). https://doi.org/10.1038/011504a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/011504a0