Human Physiology

Abstract

THIS, the fifth and final volume of Luciani's notable “Human Physiology,” is as full of interest and originality of treatment as any of the previous volumes. Messrs. Macmillan deserve every credit for having borne the cost of translation and production of probably the last great attempt by a single individual to deal with physiology in full detail. It is true that for exhaustiveness of treatment we must resort to works prepared by several authors, or to the still fuller monographs. Undoubtedly we get a more complete account written by a specialist in the particular section, but it is questionable if the light and shade are so good as in the old-fashioned single-author type of book. Too often the little section, no doubt an important part of the whole, is almost dragged from its context and set in the full glare of the limelight. For specialists in the subject this is perhaps of no great moment, as they can perform the necessary correction, but for the average intelligent worker who desires information in a subject perhaps cognate to his own this triumph of specialism may be neither suitable nor very enlightening. Granted that the great chance of failure in the one-man book lies in the fact that the author has a bias, nevertheless this very deficiency lends a colour and virility which are frequently absent from the more scientific and coldly critical monograph—indeed, provided the author is broad enough in his views, this bias may be regarded as a definite asset.

Human Physiology.

By Prof. Luigi Luciani With a preface by Prof. J. N. Langley. (In five volumes.) Vol. 5. Metabolism—Temperature—Reproduction, etc. Edited by Prof. M. S. Pembrey. Pp. viii+422. (London: Macmillan and Co., Ltd., 1921.) 30s. net.