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POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



SCIENTIFIC LITEEATUEE. 



RECENT PSYCHOLOGICAL BOOKS. 



The ' Dictionary of Philosophy and 

 Psychology,' edited by Professor J. 

 Mark Baldwin and published by the 

 Macmillans, is a work of magnitude 

 and importance. Only one of the three 

 volumes has as yet been issued, but 

 it suffices to give a correct impression 

 of the character, range and quality of 

 the undertaking. It falls between a 

 dictionary and an encyclopedia, and in 

 rather an eclectic fashion, some of the 

 articles treating a small topic con- 

 cisely while others fill many pages. In 

 a first attempt of this character, with 

 assistant editors and contributors scat- 

 tered all over the world, it was ob- 

 viously impossible to secure complete 

 uniformity, and the frequency with 

 which the editor's initials occur indi- 

 cates that he realized the need of secur- 

 ing a unitary point of view. It is 

 evident, however, that there is less 

 agreement as to the fact and theory 

 among philosophers and psychologists 

 than is the ease in other sciences. All 

 the more credit must for this very rea- 

 son be given to editor, contributors and 

 publishers for producing what will for 

 many years be the standard reference 

 work in philosophy and psychology. 



The French excel in the production 

 of year-books, and ' L'ann^e psycholo- 

 gique,' of which the seventh volume has 

 recently been issued, is one of the best 

 of them. The preparation must in- 

 volve great labor on the part of the 

 editor, M. Binet, for the researches, 

 filling 558 pages, come chiefly from his 

 laboratory at the Sorbonne, and the 

 reviews, filling about 150 pages, are 

 nearly all written by his own hand. 

 The bibliography, containing 2,627 

 titles, is, however, reprinted from that 

 of the ' Psychological Review,' and we 



fail to find reference to this fact. As 

 there is no psychological journal in 

 France, this work is essential to those 

 who wish to follow the progress of 

 experimental psychology in that coun- 

 try. 



M. Piferre Janet's ' Etat mental des 

 hyst^riques' was translated into Eng- 

 lish by the late Mrs. Hiram Corson 

 and is now published by the Putnams. 

 The book appeared in French some 

 nine years ago, and the need of the 

 present English version is not quite ob- 

 vious. It was sufficiently accessible to 

 scientific men in the original, and it is 

 to be feared that if the thousand copies 

 which American publishers regard as 

 the minimum sale that warrants ac- 

 ceptance are distributed, they will fall 

 chiefly into the hands of those whom the 

 translator call ' hystericals.' M. Janet 

 has made some careful observations, 

 and in his explanations lays great 

 stress on subconsciousness, split-off 

 ideas and the like. The French have 

 done so much more work in these di- 

 rections than others that we should 

 perhaps accept their theories. But 

 conservative scientific and medical 

 men prefer to wait. 



' Intuitive Suggestions,' by Mr. J. W. 

 Thomas, bears the respected imprint of 

 Messrs. Longmans, Green & Co., and 

 opens the question as to whether pub- 

 lishers accept any responsibility for 

 their books, beyond the financial one. 

 The author places on his title-page the 

 text : ' And God said. Let there be 

 light; and there was light.' We fear 

 not, if the reference is to the contents 

 of the book. The author expects Lon- 

 don business men to soar ' above the 

 smoke and din to seek their homes in 

 the country,' not in flying machines but 

 by ' levitation.' 



