220 NATURAL SCIENCE. October, 



Mr. Weyer designed to discover the reaction-time of a dog ; this was 

 found to be '089 seconds for an electrical shock to the forepaw, which 

 reacted by withdrawal. Attempts were made also at determining the 

 time of discrimination, but over and above the difficulty of apparatus, 

 it is plain enough that such experiments, interesting as they are, are 

 of doubtful value through the absence of introspection on the part of 

 the subject. 



The Psychology of the Child. 



The recent deliverances of Professor E. D. Cope on the subject 

 of consciousness and evolution have naturally attracted the atten- 

 tion of psychologists as well as biologists. At the meeting of the 

 American Psychological Association at Philadelphia, in December of 

 last year, he expounded the view (now easily accessible in his recent 

 " Factors of Organic Evolution ") of consciousness as a special factor 

 in evolution, and as having been present from the beginning. The 

 May number of the Psychological Review contains some remarks by 

 Professor J. M, Baldwin on Dr. Cope's address and on one by 

 Professor WilUam James which followed it, which are well worth 

 attention. In particular Mr. Baldwin indicates very clearly the error 

 into which Mr. James at least seems to fall, of supposing that those 

 who have recourse to brain-processes for their explanation of mental 

 events deny the causality of consciousness itself — though, doubtless, 

 this denial is implied in the epi-phenomenon theory of consciousness. 

 The chief point, however, of Mr. Baldwin's paper is to plead for an 

 ontogenetic study of the human mind in the mind of the child. He 

 urges that to recognise consciousness as a factor in evolution is rather 

 against than for the Neo-Lamarckian theory of heredity, having 

 regard to the large part which consciousness plays in the child's life, 

 and its relatively small endowment of natural heredity. And he 

 points out how, from a psychological study of childhood, he has been 

 led to promulgate a theory of organic selection, as he calls it, which 

 represents a factor overlooked in current theories. This theory, 

 which is expounded in his " Mental Evolution in Man and in the 

 Race," holds that pleasant stimulations lead to reactions which tend to 

 retain the stimulation, and so to repeat themselves by a kind of 

 circular reaction, and that this form of reaction while it " represents 

 habit, since it tends to keep up old movements," also " secures new 

 adaptations, since it provides for the overproduction of movement- 

 variations for the operation of selection." 



A Dictionary of Philosophy and Psychology. 



An enterprise of much importance for psychology and philosophy 

 is announced by Messrs. Macmillan in the shape of a dictionary with 

 the above title, to be edited by the indefatigable Professor Baldwin. 

 It is to contain definitions of terms used in the philosophical sciences,. 



