132 



POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



To investigate suggestibility in normal 

 individuals, Dr. Sidis conducted over eight 

 thousand experiments. These consisted of 

 letters, figures, or colors displayed for a 

 few seconds and arranged variously so as to 

 demonstrate whether frequency, repetition, 

 coexistence, or last impression influence the 

 greater number in their choice. An exhibi- 

 tion of colored shapes revealed the extent to 

 which strangeness of tint, shape, or position 

 were factors in the decision. Movements 

 and acts were also verbally suggested, and 

 from them all the law of normal suggestibility 

 was deduced ; it increases as the suggestion 

 becomes indirect. Examining hysterical, hyp- 

 notic, and somnambulistic subjects revealed 

 the law of abnormal suggestibility, which is 

 the reverse of the former. Its strength is 

 in direct suggestion. The conditions under 

 which a suggestion is effective are found to 

 be nearly the same in normal and abnormal 

 instances, fixation of attention, monotony, 

 limitation of movement, inhibition of ideas. 

 These divorce the higher controlling con- 

 sciousness from the lower reflex conscious- 

 ness, so that suggestibility is simply "a cleft 

 of mind," a disaggregation of consciousness. 

 By a number of experiments. Dr. Sidis ar- 

 rives at the conclusion that even in normal 

 subjects the subconscious self possesses a 

 superacute sense-perception. The phenom- 

 ena of crystal-gazing, shell-hearing, and auto- 

 matic writing he accepts also as "■facts that 

 clearly reveal the presence of this hyper- 

 aesthetic consciousness." Although in sev- 

 eral instances the subconscious self is called 

 an ego and endowed with personality, " it 

 must not be regarded as an individual ; only 

 as a form of mental life." 



According to Dr. Sidis's researches, man 

 may be occasionally social, or even rational, 

 but he is, above all, a suggestible animal. 

 In this characteristic of his nature lies the 

 explanation of the mental epidemics that 

 ravage nations. The crowd swayed by the 

 flattering orator, the mob that lyirches de- 

 fenseless men or sacks Versailles — are exhi- 

 bitions of the soulless, senseless, secondary 

 self ordinarily dormant. It is shown as well 

 in the uniformity of manner and fashion 

 that is the creed of society, but this mani- 

 festation does not excite alarm. The same 

 unreasoning consciousness obtains the mas- 

 tery in speculative fevers and panics, in 



revival meetings, witchcraft delusions, and 

 popular crazes of all sorts. 



Having unveiled for us this uncanny 

 spirit — " the subconscious self, devoid of all 

 morality " — a clew for its exorcism may be 

 found in a description of the primary self, 

 "which alone possesses true personality, 

 will, and self-control, . . . creates ideals and 

 struggles for them." The outlook, however, 

 for the growth of this better consciousness 

 would be a very gloomy one were it true, as 

 our author states, that " under the crushing 

 pressure of economical, political, and reli- 

 gious regulations there is no possibility for 

 the individual to move, live, and think free- 

 ly, or determine his own relations in life." 

 This prognosis would deaden all effort ; and 

 its faultiness is shown by the fact that, how- 

 ever difficult it may be, a minority do find it 

 possible to live and think freely and to culti- 

 vate that personality which is a lasting safe- 

 guard against all unreasoning action. 



A Manual of Fish Culture'^ has been 

 prepared by the United States Fish Com- 

 mission under the feeling that a handbook 

 describing its manner of propagating the 

 different fishes was needed, and would be of 

 value to all persons interested in the subject. 

 The material for this book has been fur- 

 nished by experienced fish culturists connect- 

 ed with the commission, who have treated of 

 the subjects with which they were especially 

 familiar. In order to increase the usefulness 

 of the work to the general reader, a technical 

 description of each important fish is given, 

 together with brief information respecting its 

 geographical distribution, habits, movements, 

 size, growth, food, natural spawning, and 

 other characteristics. While the operations 

 described are essentially those of the National 

 Commission, they are usually the same as 

 those employed by the State commissions 

 and individual fish culturists, while in some 

 instances excellent work is done l)y other 

 methods. Among the fishes coming under 

 review are the salmon, trout, whitefish, shad, 

 basses, and other fresh- water fishes ; the cod, 

 mackerel, flatfish, and other salt-water fishes, 

 and lobsters, frogs, oysters, and clams ; trans- 



* A Manual of Fish Culture. Based on the 

 Methods of the United States Commission of Fish 

 and Fisheries, with Chapters on the Cultivation of 

 Oysters and Frogs. Washington : Government 

 Printing Oflice. Pp. £40, with 35 plates. 



