SCIENTIFIC LITERATURE. 



329 



raphy' and 'The psychology of spirit- 

 ualism,' while those entitled 'The psy- 

 chology of deception,' 'Hypnotism and 

 its antecedents,' 'The natural his- 

 tory of analogy,' 'The mind's eye' 

 and 'A study of involuntary move- 

 ments' throw light upon the gen- 

 eral characteristics of the phenomena 

 involved and the mental attitudes which 

 people take toward them. The infor- 

 mation given about the means taken 

 by those whose interest it is to mislead 

 observation, about the inevitable influ- 

 ence of our previous experiences, our 

 temporary frame of mind and the 'un- 

 conscious logic of our hopes and fears' 

 on our sensations and judgments, and 

 about the tendency to make uncon- 

 sciously expressive movements, is scien- 

 tifically valuable, and is attractively set 

 forth. The attitude taken toward Chris- 

 tian science, spiritualism, thought-trans- 

 ference and veridical hallucinations is, as 

 would be expected, sane and consistent. 

 There is, too, a pleasing courtesy and 

 absence of any pharisaical air of supe- 

 riority in the criticisms. It is Professor 

 Jastrow's good fortune to possess, in 

 addition to the knowledge of the criteria 

 of evidence and inference in human 

 phenomena proper to a scientific psy- 

 chologist, an insight into the inter- 

 ests and motives of men outside his own 

 class. This makes his comments on the 

 types of interest in psychical research 

 and the factors predisposing to belief in 

 thought-transference or in spiritualism 

 of especial value. There is a growing 

 class, at least among psychologists, Who 

 have been so affected by the quantity of 

 talk about psychical research and the 

 quality of the work done in it, as to be 

 fairly careless whether there be spirit 



communication or no, whether the 

 adepts of spiritualism be knaves or fools 

 or neither or both. Even to these Pro- 

 fessor Jastrow's shrewd comments on 

 the raison d'etre of the belief will be in 

 teresting. 



Barring some traces of a too Worda 

 worthian sentimentalism, nothing but 

 praise can be bestowed upon Professor 

 MacCunn's new volume, 'The Making of 

 Character' (Macmillan). Pedagogy, even 

 if it can be dignified by the name of 

 science, has suffered sadly at the hands 

 of its friends. Loose, unsystematic, 

 fallacious and frothy books abound; 

 screaming too often takes the place of 

 close reasoning, wishy-washy guessing 

 of sober investigation. A mere enumer- 

 ation of MacCunn's main divisions shows 

 how far he has advanced beyond this. 

 His treatment falls into four principal 

 parts, dealing with Congenital Endow 

 ment, its nature and treatment; Edu 

 cative Influences; Sound Judgment; 

 Self-development and Self-control. As ia 

 to be expected from one of British train 

 ing and associations, the social aspects of 

 the theme are reviewed most successful 

 ly. The English distaste for psychology 

 in its modern developments limits the 

 discussion of congenital endowment 

 somewhat obviously. But, take it for 

 all in all, a wiser handbook for parents 

 and teachers, or a more inspiring and 

 sensible vadc mecum for the general 

 reader would be hard to find. Inciden- 

 tally, the discussion throws some little 

 light on the old question as to the 

 relative educational value of the 'hu- 

 manities' and the 'sciences'; but only in- 

 cidentally. 



