November 22, 1900] 



NA TURE 



79 



of knowledge renders the theme one very limited for 

 scientific treatment. Daring the past two and a half 

 centuries, various inquirers into nature, from Daniel 

 Schwenter and the Jesuit Father Kircher onwards, noted 

 that by handling animals it is possible to impose upon them 

 postures. Though strained, these are for a time main- 

 tained after release from the hands of the " operator." 

 This "animal plasticity" recalls the plasticity of the 

 human subject in the cataleptic phase of hypnosis. In 

 human hypnosis, however, the cataleptic rigidity is 

 only one, and not the most striking, of a set of con- 

 current symptoms contributing to make up the hypnotic 

 state. Abeyance of will, ultra-sensitivity of the senses, 

 contraction of the field of attention with substitution 

 of passivity for activity, appropriate response to com.- 

 plex sensorial stimuli of the organs of vision and 

 hearing, execution of acts resembling those of volition, 

 paralysis of memory, all these characters of hypnotism 

 predicate a mental organisation much higher than can 

 be attributed to the majority of creatures in which the 

 so-called "animal hypnotism" can be induced. These 

 remain, therefore, almost without counterpart in " animal 

 hypnotism." If it is permissible to speak of "will" in 

 dealing with neural types so far removed from human as 

 those of the crayfish and the amphibian, there does occur 

 in animal hypnotism what resembles suspension of 

 *' willed " action. The animal remains motionless for 

 long periods in postures which it has been constrained 

 to assume. The guinea-pig is, as regards neural or- 

 ganisation, the highest type in which the phenomenon 

 has been at all systematically studied. Both cat and dog 

 are reported " refractory." It is true a condition charac- 

 terised by cataleptoid plasticity has been observed in 

 the monkey subsequent to extirpation of its cerebral 

 hemispheres. The animal then enters a peculiar state 

 known as " decerebrate rigidity," of which a spastic con- 

 traction of the extensor muscles of the limbs and trunk 

 is characteristic. That this condition in the monkey is 

 allied to that termed "animal hypnotism" is strongly 

 suggested by the fact that, as Heubel first showed, the 

 induction of so-called hypnotism in the lower types is 

 favoured by decerebration, and the plasticity is more 

 pronounced in decerebrate than in intact animals. 



Prof. Verworn has succeeded in obtaining graphic 

 records of the contraction of the implicated muscles 

 during their condition of tonic rigidity. He notes that 

 the constrained postures in which the rigid animal 

 remains are all of them attitudes assumed in attempt at 

 recovery of the normal from an abnormal posture, e.^. in 

 attempt to right itself after being placed over on its back. 

 When the creature breaks from the spell its escape is 

 usually sudden. Those muscles, then, that have been in 

 tonic contraction do not relax, but by contracting further 

 complete the execution of the movement toward which 

 the posture was an approach. 



The long continuance of the hypnotic tonic contraction 

 leads Prof. Verworn to conclude that there must, during 

 its course, become established in the nerve-cells and 

 muscle-cells an equilibrium between assimilation and dis- 

 similation. This instance induces him to sketch the theory 

 of the chemical exchanges involved in cell-life. The cell 

 must, as a chemical machine, be able to live and work 

 at various rates all equally without exhaustion. A faster 

 NO. 162 I, VOL. 63] 



rate of liberation of energy by decomposition of the mole- 

 cules is met by faster replenishment of energy by the 

 synthesis of new molecules. The author speaks of the 

 functional activityjof the cell in relation to its metabolism 

 as " biotonus," ^.^. the biotonus of the nerve-cell. The 

 Jena school of physiology is so closely associated with 

 the teaching of the elder Hering, to whom we owe the 

 theory of assimilation and dissimilation as colligate func- 

 tions of protoplasm, that no doubt the sketch given by 

 Verworn is not intended to challenge comparison with 

 Hering's essays. It is probably intended to fall into place 

 as an item toward the general promulgation of Hering's 

 fundamental doctrine ; this it does, though the exact 

 application of the theory to the as yet insufficiently 

 analysed phenomenon of animal hypnotism is not so 

 definite as that of some other examples that could more 

 easily have been found. 



The volume is altogether an interesting one. It is 

 considerably enhanced in value by thirteen excellent 

 figure photographs from nature of animals in the condition 

 of the so-called " hypnosis." C. S. S. 



OUR BOOK SHELF. 



Memoranda of the Origin^ Plan and Results of the 

 Experiments conducted at Rothamsted ; Fifty-seventh 

 Year of the Experiments, 1900. (Issued by the 

 Committee.) 



The history of this publication is worth noting. It first 

 appeared in 1855, the year of the opening of the new 

 laboratory at Rothamsted, and was issued for the use of 

 the numerous visitors to the experiments ; it then con- 

 sisted of four pages, giving the last year's produce on 

 some of the experimental fields, and the scheme of crop- 

 ping and manuring of the other fields on the farm. The 

 next issue was in 1862, when the average produce on each 

 plot was given. For some years it was not published 

 annually, but supplements were from time to time issued. 

 •Annual publication commenced in 1872. In 1878, a pre- 

 face giving an account of the origin and scope of the 

 Rothamsted experiments was added, with a list of the 

 papers already published. But little alteration in its 

 character has since taken place, though the additions 

 have been considerable. The present volume contains 

 120 pages, and supplies plans of the experimental fields. 



The " Memoranda " do not furnish a report of the work 

 done at Rothamsted by Messrs. Lawes and Gilbert, 

 except so far as this is shown by the preface reprinted 

 each year, and the lists of papers. The pages are mostly 

 occupied by a mass of figures, showing the manuring, and 

 the average produce on each experimental plot with the 

 produce of the last year. There are also tables giving 

 some particulars of the chemical composition of the sugar 

 beet, mangel wurzel, and potatoes grown by various 

 manures. There is little or no discussion of the numerical 

 results recorded, but most of the sections begin with 

 some remarks elucidating the general character of the 

 experiment next described. 



As the produce yielded by nearly every experimental 

 plot is annually published in these " Memoranda," the 

 record is one of great value to the student, especially if 

 he has at his disposal a complete series of the earlier 

 issues. When thus furnished he is able to study the 

 results of the experiments in a very thorough way, having 

 a complete up-to-date record to work on. Unfortunately, 

 however, this is just the kind of publication which is 

 seldom saved and bound for reference, and it is doubtful 

 if many complete sets now exist. 



The tables of the " Memoranda " are little suited for 

 the use of the popular writer, and sad mistakes are 



