Literary Notices. Ixxxv 



The book is clearly and even elegantly written, and, while the 

 reviewer deprecates the isolated point of view, he sympathizes with 

 the results reached and feels sure that the perusal of the volume will 

 reward every reader. 



A Primer of Psychology and Mental Disease. 1 



Of this little book, which seems to be a syllabus of lectures de- 

 livered before training school classes, a favorable opinion may be ex- 

 pressed. Parts II and III relating to insanity and the management of 

 cases of insanity are condensed compendia which put in convenient 

 form the most important facts. The definitions are clear and the few 

 suggestions as to treatment are intelligently selected. 



Part I, Psychology, is less satisfactory, though comparatively few 

 modifications would suffice to adapt it to the immediate requirements 

 of the book. To illustrate the nature of the imperfections a few ex- 

 amples may serve. On page 2 we are told that "the lowest form of 

 life is that of the amoeba." On page 6a" muscular sense" is recog- 

 nized as coordinate with the special senses. On page 7 sensation is 

 excluded by definition from a place among the psychical elements 

 (which after all is perhaps more consistent than the prevailing view.) 

 On page 8 we are taught that the child perceives that the object is the 

 cause of sensation. This seems to the reviewer a serious lapse. The 

 illustrations also seem at times to convey a loose or quite erroneous 

 idea, as where each grape is said to represent the memory of a per- 

 cept and these united by the stem ideation form the concept. In spite 

 of such imperfections the booklet cannot fail to be of service in the 

 work for which it is intended. 



The Psychology of Attention and The Diseases of the Will. 



Professor Ribot's well-known volumes have been brought out in 

 new authorized translations by the Open Court Publishing Co., Chi- 

 cago. The books are printed with the same care and neatness which 

 has characterized the previous publications of this house. 



The Sense of Direction in Pigeons. 2 



Dr. Hodge has contributed a considerable mass of exact obser- 

 vation to the solution of the vexed question as to the so-called " sense 



1 Burr, C. B. Medical Supt. Eastern Michigan Asylum. George S. Davis, 

 Detroit. 1894. 



2 Hodge, C. F. The Method of Homing Pigeons. Pop. Science Monthly 

 XLIV, 6. 



