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POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



the concept has its uses in the mental 

 economy. The method is then expound- 

 ed of knowing the not-self as being 

 gained by sympathetic imitation. It is 

 then determined wherein self-knowledge 

 consists, and the bearing of this theory 

 on the philosophical problem and on 

 certain practical questions is indicated. 



Tn The PhUosopliii of Memory and 

 Other Essays * Dr. D. T. Smith develops 

 a theory of mental action, the basis of 

 which is the setting up in the cells of 

 the gray matter of the brain, and pos- 

 sibly of the spinal cord, of orderly 

 grouping of waves or vibrations among 

 certain atoms or molecules by what- 

 ever may affect any of the senses; that 

 tiiesc undulations are realized first as 

 sensations, and then group themselves 

 so as to form perceptions, ideas, emo- 

 tions, etc. They rise in succession into 

 the scope of consciousness. After a time 

 the eft'ect of these vibrations in con- 

 sciousness is weakened, without per- 

 haps utterly passing away, and retains 

 the possibility of being re-enforced by 

 kindred vibrations in harmony with it. 

 This is memory. 



In The Psychology of Reasoning f 

 31. Alfred Binet makes reasoning a 

 process of the formation of mental im- 

 ages. He finds no decided difference 

 between perception — the cognizance of 

 sensations and assignment of them to 

 their source — and logical reasoning. 

 " The two operations are both reason- 

 ings, transitions from the known to the 

 unknown"; "the two extremes of a 

 long series of phenomena." A premise 

 is " a judgment, an association of im- 

 ages," and a conclusion that follows 

 from the premises is " an association of 

 images produced by other associations." 

 The theory of three images— the two 

 premises and the conclusion — " is ap- 

 plicable to reasonings of every kind, and 

 therefore constitutes a general theory 

 of reasoning. ... If it be recollected 

 that images are fragments, residues of 

 former sensations; that they spring 

 from the place where former sensa- 



* The Philosophy of Memory and Other Es- 

 says. By D. T. Smith. Louisville, Ky.: John 

 P. Jlorton & Co. Pp. X!03. 



+ The Psychology of Reasoning. Based on 

 Experimental Keseurches in Ilypnotisra. By Al- 

 fred Binct. Chicago : The Open Court Publish- 

 ing Company. Pp. 191. 



tions have been received, in the sensory 

 centers of the cerebral surface layers, 

 it will be understood that the purpose 

 of these images in grouping themselves 

 in reasonings, according to the laws of 

 their afiinity, is to replace the absent 

 sensations. Such is therefore the func- 

 tion of reasoning; it enlarges the sphere 

 of our sensibility, and extends it to all 

 objects which our senses can not know 

 directly. Thus understood, reasoning is 

 a supvlementary sense, which has the 

 advantage of being free from those 

 strict conditions of time and space — the 

 two enemies of human knowledge." 

 In memory, " the suggested image is 

 projected and localized in the panorama 

 of the past, of which it appears t5 be a 

 fragment." Imagination is " a faculty 

 of creating assemblages of images which 

 do not correspond to any external re- 

 ality." 



The idea of preparing Who's Who in 

 America* was suggested by the success 

 of the English book. Who's Who? now 

 in its fifty-second year, and the work 

 has been prepared on similar lines. Its 

 purpose is to supply information con- 

 cerning living American men and 

 women who have achieved distinction, 

 who hold recognized public positions, 

 and who have contributed so as to have 

 it talked about to the growth, develop- 

 ment, knowledge, and civilization of the 

 country. Eight thousand six hundred 

 and two such persons are represented 

 in this book, inchuling, ex-officio, all 

 members of the Fifty-sixth Congress, 

 Governors of States and Territories now 

 in office. United States, State, and ter- 

 ritorial judges of courts of high juris- 

 diction, persons of other prominent offi- 

 cial classification, national academicians, 

 members of the National Academy of 

 Sciences, heads of the larger universities 

 and colleges, and a few others chosen on 

 similar arbitrary lines. Special effort 

 has been made to include all living 

 American authors of books of more than 

 ephemeral value, 'i'he data for the book 

 have been obtained from first hands, 

 except in a A'cry few cases, where the 

 modesty of the subjects made it neces- 



* Who's Who in America. A Biographical 

 Dictionary of Living Men and Women in the 

 United States, ]«i)9-190(). Edited by John W. 

 Leonard. Chicago : A. N. Marquis & Co. Pp. 

 822. 



