A Manual of Popular Physiology. By Henry Lawson, M.D. (Hard-
wicke.)—This is a most interesting and well-executed little book. It is throughout clear, simple, and intelligible ; and the author is free from the weakness which is a besetting sin with medical men—the weakness of being ashamed to admit ignorance. Any one who wants to know in a general way what purposes are fulfilled by the different organs of the body cannot do better than read this manual, and while he will learn all that the latest investigators have really proved, he will have no theories palmed off on him as established truth. Of course, Dr. Lawson writes for the public—he does not address himself to the man of science, or even to students of medicine ; but a list of the more impor- tant treatises on physiology and the kindred sciences is, nevertheless, appended for the benefit of those whom his book may inspire with a wish to pursue the subject. May we, however, urge on the author how much he would improve the manual by cutting out the jocularity and the puns? Any illustrations, however homely or even comical, are admissible if they help the reader to comprehend the subject—but the question whether alcohol is, or is not, food, is not made light reading by the sudden insertion of a statement that the author, looking to the num- ber of people who thrive on beer, confesses himself "to be a Malt-ese." It is only an irritating interruption of the argument, for which one is by no means compensated by the quality of the joke.
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