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THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



great advantages over the observation of 

 spontaneous manifestations that, under it, 

 the conditions of the observation can be in- 

 definitely multiplied and varied, the phenom- 

 ena can be regarded under a large number of 

 phases, and it can sometimes arouse new 

 phenomena which passive observation could 

 never have reached. Coexistent personali- 

 ties, or the simultaneous existence of two 

 selfs, among which the still obscure and 

 doubtful phenomena of spiritualism are in- 

 cluded, are of two classes : first, hysteric in- 

 sensibility, where a part of the body is insen- 

 sible to what is going on, while the nervous 

 centers in relation with the same region may 

 continue to act, as in hysteria, from which it 

 results that certain acts, sometimes simple, 

 but often very complicated, may be accom- 

 plished unconsciously in the body of the 

 hysteric, which acts may, further, be psy- 

 chical, and exhibit an intelligence conse- 

 quently distinct from that of the patient, 

 constituting a second self; and, second, a 

 particular attitude of the mind, concentration 

 of attention upon a single point, by virtue of 

 which the mind becomes distracted and as it 

 were insensible, opening the way to automatic 

 actions ; and these actions, in their compli- 

 cations, like those in the other case, may 

 take on a psychical character and constitute 

 parasitical intelligences, living, unknown to 

 it, by the side of the normal personality. 



A third part of the essay is devoted to 

 the discussion of the disorders in the person- 

 ality provoked in experiments in what is 

 called hypnotic suggestion, as when a person 

 in a condition of artificially provoked som- 

 nambulism is made to execute what is sug- 

 gested to him by the operator. The attempt 

 is made to show that the suggestion usually 

 provokes a division of consciousness and can 

 not be realized without it. Suggestions are 

 divided into two groups — those directly in- 

 tended to produce a new personality, and 

 those which, while having some other pur- 

 pose, can not accomplish it except by causing 

 a division of consciousness. In this part are 

 considered hallucinations, the measurement 

 of time by suggestion, systematic anaesthesia, 

 the doubling of personality, and spiritualism. 



The conclusions drawn from the whole 

 are, that the self is composite, a grouping or 

 resultant of several elements. The unity of 

 our normal and mature personality exists, 



indeed, and no one should think of doubting 

 its reality ; but there are pathological facts 

 to prove that that unity must be sought for 

 in the co-ordination of the elements that 

 compose it. 



Taxation and "Work. By Edward Atkin- 

 son. New York : G. P. Putnam's Sons, 

 1892. Pp. 296. Price, $1.25. 



This volume forms Mr. Atkinson's contri- 

 bution to the recent tariff discussion, the 

 outcome of which has been so disastrous to 

 the advocates of high protection. Though 

 the successive chapters appeared first as arti- 

 cles in the daily papers, the book lacks noth- 

 ing on that account, in the way of thorough- 

 ness or the logical grouping of the subjects 

 considered. The discussion takes a wide 

 range, covering not only the relation of a 

 protective tariff to industry, wages, and the 

 revenue needs of the Government, but the 

 relation of a depreciated currency to the 

 same as well. Mr. Atkinson opens his dis- 

 cussion with a consideration of taxation in 

 terms of work, and presents very forcibly 

 and graphically the truth, so frequently lost 

 sight of, that a government can hav t e only 

 what it takes from the people. When it is 

 realized that this demand upon the people is 

 at present equivalent to the labor of a million 

 men at two dollars per day, and that the 

 total number of people engaged in gainful 

 occupations is but twenty-three millions, the 

 great importance of the subject of taxation 

 becomes manifest. In discussing the cost of 

 a protective tariff, Mr. Atkinson shows with 

 especial clearness how extravagant this meth- 

 od of taxation may be. The cost to the 

 country, so far from being measured by the 

 amount of the tax, may be, and generally is, 

 many times greater. This is particularly 

 true of taxes upon raw materials, which, by 

 raising the cost of manufactured articles, 

 curtail our markets and subject us to an in- 

 definite and undeterminable loss. Mr. At- 

 kinson estimates that the cost to the coun- 

 try during the past year of such taxes, which 

 have yielded only fourteen millions of reve- 

 nue, has been not far from three hundred 

 millions of dollars. 



The strength of the protective system in 

 this, as in every other country, lies in its 

 supposed effect in raising wages. The 

 fallacy of this has been many times demon 



