5 62 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



committees by the library schools at Albany, 

 Brooklyn, and at Amherst, where Mr. Fletcher 

 himself presides. In discussing library founda- 

 tions our author commends those created by 

 gift, yet he observes that an institution is 

 nearer the popular heart when spontaneously 

 built up and controlled by the community it 

 serves. Basing a forecast upon the recent 

 rapid growth of public libraries, not only in 

 number but in usefulness, Mr. Fletcher ex- 

 pects in the future a still further expansion 

 for them. In this connection a list published 

 last April by the Public Library of Paterson, 

 N. J., is significant. This list presents works 

 on astronomy, selected by Prof. C. A. Young, 

 of Princeton, who appends brief notes to the 

 principal titles. Lists such as this, ampler 

 in range and fuller in annotation, would double 

 the value of every public library incorpo- 

 rating them in its catalogue. At one pole of 

 education are the teachers of mark who can 

 appraise the working literature of instruction, 

 at the other pole are unnumbered inquirers 

 at library desks who know not what to 

 choose ; to bring together the trustworthy 

 guides and the baffled wanderers would mark 

 a new era in popular enlightenment, would 

 break down another wall dividing those who 

 need from those who have and are willing to 

 give. 



PAIN, PLEASURE, AND ^ESTHETICS : AN ES- 

 SAY CONCERNING THE PSYCHOLOGY OF PAIN 



AND PLEASURE. By HENRY RUTGERS MAR- 

 SHALL, M. A. London and New York : 

 Macmillan & Co. Pp. xxi + 364. Price, 

 $3. 



\ THERE is a certain smoothness, sobriety, 

 and clearness about this work of Mr. Mar- 

 shall that appeals with peculiar emphasis 

 alike to the artist and the scientist. At 

 once the aesthetic taste and the spirit of sci- 

 entific inquiry are in a large measure satis- 

 fied. The author, indeed, is open to admit 

 that this is by no means a subordinate aim 

 in the volume under consideration. As is 

 plainly manifest, he comes as a peace-maker 

 between the artistic aspirant who miscon- 

 ceives or deems the teachings of science an- 

 tagonistic to his favorite pursuit, and the 

 scientific investigator who suspects artistic 

 predilections as either inimical to or in the 

 way of science. Nothing that ministers to 

 the melioration of that harmonious under- 

 standing which ought to have obtained where 



it was lacking, has been kept out of sight, 

 and happily for two great departments of 

 learning, a literary link has been added to 

 the chain of progress. While the work, in 

 its seven tersely written chapters, treats 

 mainly of psychological problems, the un- 

 dertone, apart from the author's prominent 

 design, is essentially aesthetic in its tenden- 

 cies, a fact that forms almost imperceptibly 

 a mental meeting ground for scientist and 

 artist. Chiefly, the latter is impelled by an 

 inner and perpetual voice which expressly 

 commands him to act. But he is primarily 

 a listener, an interpreter of high and noble 

 promptings. As such, he can have naught 

 against the " physical discoverer," to whom, 

 as Tyndall has admirably put it, " imagina- 

 tion becomes the mightiest instrument." In 

 turn, the scientist is indebted beyond meas- 

 ure to the genius of art, and gains from it in 

 regions decidedly aesthetic many of the joys 

 of life, which indirectly contribute and be- 

 times directly suggest his boldest flights and 

 most clearly conceived problems. 



The book abounds with interesting com- 

 parisons grouped within well-defined limita- 

 tions. With a psychological classification of 

 pleasure and pain, the reader is asked to con- 

 template the instincts and emotions, the field 

 of aesthetics, the physical basis of pleasure 

 and pain, and algedonic aesthetics. The work 

 as a whole is a general as well as technical 

 survey of comparatively new ground. 



THE LAW OF PSYCHIC PHENOMENA. By THOM- 

 SON JAY HUDSON. Chicago: A. C. Mc- 

 Clurg & Co. Pp. 409. Price, $1.50. 



THOSE who are interested in the outlying 

 parts of the field of psychology will welcome 

 this book. It is a treatise on hypnotism, 

 mental healing, spiritism, telepathy, clairvoy- 

 ance, and allied subjects, by one who is con- 

 vinced of the reality of such manifestations 

 and seeks to explain them as caused by 

 natural, though unfamiliar workings of the 

 human mind. The " law " referred to in the 

 title is also described as a working hypothe- 

 sis which is expected to guide further study 

 of psychic phenomena. It is stated in three 

 propositions : First, " Man has, or appears to 

 have, two minds, each endowed with separate 

 and distinct attributes and powers; each 

 capable, under certain conditions, of inde- 

 pendent action. . . . The second proposition is, 



