LITERARY NOTICES. 



417 



undertaken a difficult task to dispose of his 

 topic in such small compass. 



The first of the two sections into which the 

 book is divided discusses the systematic ex- 

 amination of the fauces, pharynx, and larynx, 

 and describes the various manifestations of 

 disease of these regions. The second sec- 

 tion considers individual diseases and their 

 necessary medical and surgical treatment. 



It seems to us that the author would have 

 enhanced the value of his work by referring, 

 if even briefly, to the necessity of examin- 

 ing the nose, especially the posterior nares, 

 which is the starting point for so many of 

 the diseases described in the volume. 



The section on diphtheria is too meager. 

 Insufficient directions are given for staining 

 the Klebs-Loeffler bacillus ; nothing is said of 

 the importance of determining the latter's 

 presence as an early indication of the char- 

 acter of the disease, nor is the distinction 

 between the true and pseudo bacillus defined. 

 Nothing is said of the antitoxine treatment 

 of diphtheria. 



What the author does describe is clearly 

 explained, but it seems that in his effort to 

 write a concise work he has somewhat 

 abridged the complete consideration of his 

 subject. 



The Diseases of the Will, By Tn. Ribot. 

 Authorized translation by Merwin-Marie 

 Snell. Chicago: The Open Court Pub- 

 lishing Company. 1894. Pp. vi-l-134. 

 Price, 75 cents. 



The well-known psychological works of 

 this author are sufficient guarantees of the 

 treatment a subject will receive at his hands. 

 In this volume he studies the will from the 

 standpoint of dissolution that is, he reviews 

 the anomalies of the will, and from these de- 

 duces conclusions regarding its normal state. 



He classes volitional impairments as de- 

 fects of impulse, excess of impulse, impair- 

 ments of voluntary attention, volitional in- 

 stability, and extinction of will. From his 

 survey of these pathological conditions he 

 concludes that there are two distinct ele- 

 ments in every voluntary act : that state of 

 consciousness, the " I will," that indicates a 

 situation but that has in itself no efficacy, 

 and a very complex psycho-physiological 

 mechanism in which resides the power to act 

 or to restrain. Therefore volition is defined 

 VOL. xlvi. 30 



as a final state of consciousness that results 

 from the more or less complex co-ordination 

 of a group of conscious, subconscious, or un- 

 conscious states that, united together, ex- 

 press themselves by an action or an inhibi- 

 tion. 



He formulates this theory in the words, 

 "The 'I will' testifies to a condition, but 

 does not produce it." He aptly compares it 

 to a jury's verdict that may be the result of 

 a very long criminal examination and of fer- 

 vid argument, and that will be followed by 

 grave consequences extending over a long 

 future, but that is an effect without being a 

 cause. 



The author sedulously avoids any discus- 

 sion of the problem of free will, but a care- 

 ful reading of the volume will greatly en- 

 lighten the student's mind regarding the 

 scope of that metaphysical entity. 



The volume is a readable one, and a 

 most useful contribution to popular scientific 

 literature. 



Educational and Industrial System of 

 Drawing. By Langdon S. Thompson. 

 Boston : D. C. Heath & Co. Seven series, 

 thirty-two books, including drawing books 

 and manuals. 



The author deduces from a general anal- 

 ysis of the subject that drawing is related 

 to every other department of intellectual ed- 

 ucation, but has no departmental existence 

 of its own, and should not be treated as an 

 independent subject. In every school or sys- 

 tem of schools, therefore, the actual practice 

 in drawing or other art work that is required 

 should depend on the regular course of study. 

 The seven series of which the present sys- 

 tem consists are the manual-training, pri- 

 mary and advanced free-hand, model and 

 object, aesthetic, mechanical, and institute 

 series. The order in which these several 

 series should be used is not laid* down, but is 

 left to be determined by circumstances. The 

 two books of the manual-training series are 

 not drawing books proper, but are intended 

 to develop the analytical phase of form 

 study. They also treat of form expression 

 in three dimensions. The more advanced 

 manual. No. 2, treats of elementary mechan- 

 ical drawing, clay modeling in relief, lessons 

 on color, wood-carving, cutting and pasting 

 in design, and working drawings, and is 



