Abstract
THIS is not a handbook for the physiological laboratory, but a school lesson-book on elementary anatomy, physiology, hygiene, nursing, and ambulance work. A manual of this kind can hardly be otherwise than superficial, but the information it contains ought to be accurate as far as it goes. In the present case, however, signs of carelessness abound throughout; and the teaching, when not absolutely erroneous, is often misleading. A few instances will suffice to give an idea of the traps which await the unwary student of these pages. Peyer's patches are stated by implication to consist of glands which secrete intestinal fluids. In a figure representing the heart and great vessels, the innominate artery is called the “right subclavian,” the left common carotid appears as the “right common carotid,” and the left subclavian is labelled the “left common carotid.” In a diagram intended to illustrate intestinal absorption, the veins of the mesentery are represented as inosculating with the lacteals. “The power which the pancreatic juice possesses of acting on all the food-stuffs appears,” it is asserted, “to be due mainly to the presence of a specific element or ferment known as trypsin.” It is impressed on the student that he should learn how to tie a “reef” knot. But in the figure given to illustrate the directions of the text (which are correct), the author has delineated an unmistakable “granny.” After these specimens of erroneous and careless treatment of the subject, it is of minor importance to note that in the repeated denunciations of the use of alcohol and tobacco, inserted, as the preface informs us, in compliance with the laws of most of the States, little or no attempt is made to distinguish between the effects of ordinary and toxic doses of these substances. A book like the present is far more likely to retard than to advance the cause of elementary physiological teaching in schools.
A Practical Physiology: a Text-Book for Higher Schools.
By Albert F. Blaisdell Pp. vi + 448. (Boston, U.S.A., and London: Ginn and Co., 1897.)
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D., F. A Practical Physiology: a Text-Book for Higher Schools. Nature 57, 462 (1898). https://doi.org/10.1038/057462a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/057462a0