SCIENTIFIC LITERATURE. 



561 



ancient Egyptian temples ; but the illustrations of the author's theory are 

 drawn, besides these, from several other sources. The determination of the 

 stars to which some of the Egyptian temples, sacred to a known divinity, 

 were directed opened the way to a study of the astronomical basis of parts 

 of the mythology which, however, the author has wisely left to the Egyp- 

 tologists to follow up. The essay begins with a review of the astronomical 

 knowledge and ideas of the Egyptians as disclosed in their inscriptions and 

 emblems. An attempt is then made to show that they would learn to pay- 

 special regard to certain stars and their heliacal rising as connected with 

 their seasons, and, as they advanced in knowledge, to the equinoxes and 

 solstices. 



A study is made of six Egyptian temples which were apparently oriented 

 with reference to the solstices, with a detailed study of the great temple of 

 Karnak. Attention is next given to temples which appear to have been 

 placed with reference to certain stars, in which the change of apparent po- 

 sition occasioned since the temples were built by the precession of the equi- 

 noxes has to be considered. Many such temples are found directed to sev- 

 eral stars. As connected with these coincidences and essential to their 

 rational explanation, the association of these stars with the gods of the tem- 

 ples is discussed, and this brings in questions of mythology, the origin 

 of the constellations, the zodiac, sun worship, the schools of astronomy, 

 etc. These features are compared with data of the Babylonian astronomy, 

 and the origin of the whole is sought. The book is curious and suggestive, 

 and can not fail to be helpful to all students of ancient man and the begin- 

 nings of science. 



GENERAL NOTICES. 



In Hallucinations and Illusions* the fal- 

 lacies of perception are studied by Mr. Parish 

 in the light of the data furnished by the 

 International Census of Waking Hallucina- 

 tions of the Sane. While examining the books 

 on the general subject the author found that, 

 as a rule, only single aspects of it were treat- 

 ed, such as fallacies of perception occurring 

 under morbid conditions or in dreams, while 

 little or no attention was given to the wak- 

 ing hallucinations of healthy persons; in 

 fact, very few data had been collected to 

 furnish the basis for an inquiry into this 

 aspect. The requisite data have now been 

 obtained by the International Congress of 

 Psychology, and the subject has undergone 

 some discussion in that body ; and it has 

 seemed a good time to review, as a prelimi- 

 nary inquiry, the whole field of sensory de- 

 lusion, to indicate its relations to normal or 

 " objective " perception, and to elucidate the 



* Hallucinations and Illusions. A Study of the 

 Fallacies of Perception. By Edmund Parish. 

 New York: Imported by Charles Scribner's Sons. 

 Pp. 390. Pi ice, $1.25. 

 vol. lii. 41 



common organic principle which underlies 

 alike normal and fallacious perception. This 

 is what is undertaken in this book. Falla- 

 cious perception is considered as affected by 

 various pathological and physiological states, 

 and, as to the physiological process in it, its 

 factors, contents, initiation, and manifesta- 

 tions, with a summary, an appendix con- 

 taining narratives of waking hallucinations 

 collected by Baron von Schrenck Notzing, 

 tables compiled from the censuses, and in- 

 dexes of authors and subjects. 



For the student of Nature's humbler ef- 

 forts in the mammalian line, Mr. Ingersoll's 

 series of sketches * of the habits and ways of 

 some of our commoner " wild neighbors " will 

 prove instructive as well as delightful read- 

 ing. The author is a well-known contrib- 

 utor of natural-history papers to the maga- 

 zines, some of the chapters in this volume 

 in fact being made up in part from material 



* Wild Neighbors. Outdoor Studies in the 

 United States. Illustrated by Ernest Ingersoll. 

 New York : Macmillan & Co. Pp. 297. Price, 

 $1.50. 



