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NA TURE 



[March 20, 1890 



prince was required before such an undertaking could be 

 entered upon. Readers of Kingsley's masterpiece will 

 not need to be reminded that the funds were suppHed by 

 "Alderman Sanderson, the great geographer and setter 

 forth of globes." Emery Molyneux, a mathematician of 

 whom little is known, was entrusted with the construc- 

 tion of the globes, but although several were manufactured 

 and sold, only one set has been preserved, and this has 

 found a strange resting-place in the library of the Middle 

 Temple. 



From the admirable introduction by the editor, we 

 learn that the celestial preceded the terrestrial globe by 

 many centuries. It has been asserted that Atlas, of 

 Libya, discovered the use of the globe, and thus gave 

 origin to the fable of his bearing up the heavens on his 

 shoulders. There are several allusions to globes by the 

 ancient writers, and on the medallion of the Emperor 

 Commodus a celestial globe is clearly represented. 

 None of the Greek or Roman globes, however, have been 

 preserved. Amongst the oldest in existence are those 

 made by the Arabian astronomers, dating from the 

 thirteenth century. These are made of metal, on which 

 the stars are engraved, and five of them are still with 

 us, one belonging to the Royal Astronomical Society. 

 The oldest globe, now at Florence, was constructed in 

 1070 ; and, though it is only yS inches in diameter, 1015 

 stars are engraved upon it. 



The terrestrial globe apparently dates from 1492. 

 Baron Nordenskiold points out that this is the first 

 adoption of the notion of antipodes, and the first to show 

 a sea-passage from Europe to India. The first map on 

 which the name of America appears was found amongst 

 the papers of Leonardo da Vinci at Windsor Castle ; it 

 is drawn on eight gores, and was probably intended for a 

 globe. The next terrestrial globe of interest was that 

 completed by Mercator in 1541, having a diameter of 16 

 inches. Others succeeded, and finally we come to the 

 enlarged and improved globes constructed by Molyneux. 

 These are twenty-six inches in diameter, and differ little 

 in construction from our modern globes, but the geography, 

 of course, differs very considerably. 



The original work of Hues was in Latin, and went 

 through several editions. Nine editions in Dutch and 

 French followed, the most important being the Dutch 

 one annotated by Isaac Pontanus. The latter was trans- 

 lated into English by John Chilmead in 1638. 



The treatise is divided into five parts, the first dealing 

 with things common to both globes, the second with 

 planets and stars, thp third with the geography of the 

 terrestrial globe, the fourth with the use of the globes for 

 purposes of navigation, and the fifth is a treatise on the 

 use of rhumb lines, by Thomas Herriot. The book is 

 especially interesting on account of the many references 

 to the theories of the ancients and contemporaries, the 

 whole forming a valuable history. The discussions of 

 the size and shape of the earth are particularly striking. 

 After giving the diverse opinions as to the length of a 

 degree, the measures varying from 480 to 700 furlongs, 

 the author concludes with the remark : " Let it be free 

 for every man to follow whomsoever he please." 



A geographical index at the end gives a long list of 

 places, with their latitudes and longitudes, which has 

 been reprinted with the hope that it may be of use in 



identifying old names. Longitudes in those days were 

 measured from a point in the Azores, London thus having 

 a longitude of about 26°. 



Two other indices have been added, one a biographical 

 index, and the other an index to the names of stars and 

 constellations. Both of these are very complete, and will 

 be of great interest to those wishing to learn a little about 

 ancient astronomers and the origins of astronomical 

 names. A. F. 



THE PSYCHOLOGY OF ATTENTION. 



The Psychology of Attentiott. ByTh. Ribot. Authorized 

 Translation. (Chicago : The Open Court Publishing 

 Company, 1890.) 



IN this neat little volume of little more than a hundred 

 pages we have a very careful and lucid consideration 

 of attention from the standpoint of scientific psychology. 

 Adopting the division of attention into two well-defined 

 forms — the one spontaneous or natural (non-voluntary or 

 reflex of Mr. Sully's " Outlines"), the other voluntary or 

 artificial — Prof. Ribot devotes his first chapter to the 

 former and his second to the latter. In a third he deals 

 with " morbid forms of attention." These, with a short 

 introduction and a short conclusion, constitute the com- 

 pact little work. Although there is not very much that 

 is, strictly speaking, new — and is this to be expected ?— 

 there is scarcely a page without some apt illustration, 

 some pithy epigram, or some well-expressed generaliza- 

 tion. It is a closely-reasoned and luminous exposition of 

 a genuine piece of psychological work. 



The four points on which the author lays most stress 

 are the following : — (i) Attention is caused by, or has its 

 origin in, emotional states. (2) Under both its sponta- 

 neous and voluntary manifestations it is, " from its origin 

 on, bound up in motory conditions." (3) Intellectually 

 it is a state of relatively perfect monoideism. (4) It has 

 a biological value. Of these, the second is the most 

 essential. The motor element in attention is the keynote 

 of the whole argument. The emotions from which we 

 start are not merely complexes of pleasurable or painful 

 elements floating free in a purely mental atmosphere. 

 They are the psychological accompaniments of certain 

 activities or tendencies to activity. The pleasure and 

 pain associated with these activities are " the hands of 

 the clock, not its works"— or, to change the analogy, 

 " they follow tendency as the shadow follows the body." 



And as the motor element is present at the emotional 

 initiation of attention so too is it present through every 

 phase of its existence. The motor effect may, however, 

 be manifested under either of two forms : it may be 

 impulsive and produce movement ; or it may be inhi- 

 bitory and withhold movement. Attention accordingly 

 means the concentration or the inhibition of movements ; 

 while its converse, distraction, means diffusion of move- 

 ments. Steadily applied work is the concrete, the most 

 manifest form of impulsive attention ; steadily applied 

 thought the ultimate goal of inhibitive attention ; for, as 

 Prof. Bain has well said, " To think is to refrain from 

 speaking or acting." Such movements as are still re- 

 quisite for continued life, such as those of respiration, are 

 under strict control. The master-idea, so far as is 



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