Literary Notices. cxciii 



eral sensibility is a necessary condition of the production of normal, 

 provoked, movements. 



2. In a first period, when the test is made soon after the cut- 

 ting, the excitability of the Rolandic zone is increased, — an increase 

 due probably to hyper-excitation of the spinal centres by the mere 

 cutting of the dorsal roots. 



3. The excitability of the cortical motor region diminishes sen- 

 sibly when the excitation occurs some time after the cutting ; and the 

 excitable sphere of the motor centres is in this case restricted. This 

 phenomenon cannot be ascribed to a degeneration of the muscles of 

 the limbs, because the latter respond very well to the excitation of 

 the sciatic. 



4. The movements provoked by cortical excitation after cutting 

 of the sensory roots are not coordinate. There exists a real cerebral 

 ataxia ; and they demonstrate the existence of a functional synergy 

 between cerebral cortex and spinal roots. 



5. These experiments contribute evidence in favor of regarding 

 as sensory-motor centres those lying in the Rolandic zone. 



G. F. MC KIBBEN. 



La Conscience du Moi. 1 



This work is based upon Dr. Cams' now well-known book, The 

 Soul of Man, which has already been noticed in these columns (Vol. 

 Ill, p. lxvi). Many of the chapters have, however, been re-written 

 and several new ones added for this translation, so that it may be con- 

 sidered practically a new book. The first chapter, which is one of 

 those written expressly for this work, treats of The Nature of Con- 

 sciousness. Consciousness is distinguished from substance and from 

 movement, and when it comes to a positive definition we find our- 

 selves on the familiar ground, " Consciousness is the state of our sub- 

 jective existence." Consciousness as it exists in us is not merely an 

 image of the external reality, but it is itself a reality. Consciousness 

 is a thing sui generis and can no more be converted into force than 

 force can be converted into matter. Though these three ideas are 

 disparate, yet it does follow that once can exist without the other. 

 Consciousness can exist only as the result of a particular activity of 

 the brain. In this book the author has expounded, even more clearly 



1 Carus, Paul. Le Probleme de la Conscience du Moi. Translated from 

 the English by A. Monod. Paris, F. Alcan and Chicago, The Open Court Pub- 

 lishing Co., 1893. 



