Lehrbuch der vergleichenden mikroskopischen Anatomie der Wirbeltiere

Abstract

IF any interruption should overtake the present rapid growth of scientific knowledge it will not be in the acquisition of new facts that the break down will occur, but in the systematisation of facts already acquired by present and past generations of workers. The task of systematisation, so necessary for further progress, is in the hands of the writers of text-books, but, unfortunately, the fate which presides over that world wherein men of science live and move has ordained that the financial success of a text-book is in inverse proportion to its scientific value. The general student can command with ease both author and publisher, but the specialists, for whom a text-book is a first necessity, find it almost impossible to obtain either author or publisher. It is the good fortune of those specialists who are actively investigating the finer structure of the vertebrate body to find that, thanks to the untiring industry of Prof. Oppel and the enterprise of Herr Gustav Fischer, the text-book they so much needed has now been provided for them. In bringing to a conclusion the sixth part or volume of this great task, Prof. Oppel modestly consoles himself with the hope that the work, to which he has devoted twelve years of his life without reward or fee, may prove of use to others. It is in no niggardly spirit that we in England must acknowledge the service he has rendered us.

Lehrbuch der vergleichenden mikroskopischen Anatomie der Wirbeltiere.

Edited by Dr. Albert Oppel. Part v., Parietal Organ. By Dr. F. K. Studnika. Pp. vi + 254. Price 8 marks. Part vi., Atmungsapparat. By Dr. Albert Oppel. Pp. x + 824. (Jena: Gustav Fischer, 1905.) Price 24 marks.