7o6 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



lar expositions which have appeared in recent 

 years, in which the principles of the science 

 and their application to the arts have been 

 told in plain, simple, and attractive language. 

 Already the popular literature of the subject 

 is large, and keeps pace with the advance in 

 industrial and technical uses. Of recent con- 

 tributions of this character the work of M. 

 Guillemin is one of the most notable. The 

 work covers a general exposition of the 

 science of electricity and magnetism, and 

 then brief and concise descriptions of appa- 

 ratus and appliances. In the division de- 

 voted to the industrial applications, the sub- 

 jects considered are — the mariner's compass, 

 lightning-conductors, telegraphy, the tele- 

 phone, microphone, and the radiophone, elec- 

 tric clock-work, motors, transmission of 

 power, electric lighting, electro-plating, and 

 various minor applications. In an appendix 

 Prof. Thompson gives a brief account of the 

 modern views of the nature of electricity, 

 based upon the researches of Faraday and 

 Maxwell. 



The book is handsomely got up, printed 

 in large type, on heavy calendered paper, 

 with wide margins, and is very fully illus- 

 trated. 



Mental SrcGEsnoN. By Dr. J. Ochoko- 

 wicz, with a Preface by Charles Richet. 

 New York : The Humboldt Publishing 

 Company. Pp. 361. Price, $2. 



As we gather from the concluding chap- 

 ter of this work, by mental suggestion is 

 meant a " dynamic correlate " sent forth by 

 thoughts in every direction. Thoughts do 

 not travel ; " no substance is carried hither 

 or thither, but a wave is propagated and 

 modified more and more according to the 

 different natures and the different resistances 

 of the media it traverses." It is mental ac- 

 tion at a distance, upon subjects which have 

 to be in a proper rapport or relation to the 

 acting thought. By it the phenomena of 

 hypnotism, occultism, which it does not 

 favor but banishes, and kindred mysteries 

 are supposed to be accounted for. Accord- 

 ing to Dr. Richet's interpretation, the theory 

 means that " independently of any phe- 

 nomenon appreciable by our normal senses 

 or by our normal perspicacity, how quick 

 soever it may be supposed to be, there ex- 

 ists between the thought of two individuals 



a correlation such as chance can not account 

 for." Dr. Ochorowicz sets forth a multitude 

 of facts which have been observed by him- 

 self and by sundry experimenters, criticises 

 them vigorously and seeks to eliminate the 

 diflBculties that might arise from fraud or 

 chance, and to present the conclusions 

 which seem to be established. Yet Dr. 

 Richet does not maintain that his argument 

 produces conviction, but only doubt. "So 

 strong in its action upon our ideas is the 

 influence of routine and of habit," which 

 have taught us to ignore the conclusions to 

 which the phenomena would lead an un- 

 prejudiced mind. "But," Dr. Richet adds, 

 "whatever the opinion ultimately formed as 

 to the reality of mental suggestion, it ought 

 not, I think, to influence one's judgment as 

 to M. Ochorowicz's book. Everybody, it 

 seems to me, must recognize his sincerity, 

 his perseverance, and his contempt for 

 ready-made opinions. One feels that he 

 has a passionate love of truth." The body 

 of the work consists largely of citations of 

 incidents apparently or really illustrating the 

 doctrine of mental suggestion, with the au- 

 thor's criticisms and comments upon them, 

 and the conclusions drawn from them. 



Solutions. By W. Ostwald. Translated 

 by M. M. Pattison Muir. London and 

 New York : Longmans, Green & Co. 

 Pp. 816. Price, $3. 



The volume here oflPered to chemists is a 

 portion of the author's Lehrbuch der allge- 

 meinen Chemie, a second edition of which 

 was issued toward the end of 1890. Suffi- 

 cient reason for its translation and publica- 

 tion by itself is given in the appearance and 

 rapid growth during the last three or four 

 years of van 't Hoff's theory of solutions. 

 An authoritative statement of this theory, 

 together with a systematic setting forth of 

 the great mass of facts about solutions that 

 have been accumulated, has obvious value 

 for chemists at the present time. The emi- 

 nent rank of the translator among English 

 chemists, together with the fact that he has 

 had the co-operation of the author in pre- 

 paring this version, insures that the treatise 

 has lost nothing 'in the process of transla- 

 tion. It has, in fact, gained the benefit of 

 some slight revisions, and some additions 

 from memoirs published in the first half of 

 1891. 



