NA TURE 



[May 



1S94 



thing apart from but are inseparably bound up with 

 sensory complexes. It is probable that the difficulty or 

 impossibility of the psychological analysis of emotional 

 states is due to the fact that their synthesis is effected in 

 the physiological field below the threshold of conscious- 

 ness, so that consciousness can deal only with the net 

 result of inherited physiological coordinations — a view 

 which is, again, in full accord with Mr. Marshall's own 

 conclusions. 



We must pass over the interesting discussion of " a 

 group of co-ordinated activities tending to bring about 

 attraction of other individuals," which Mr. Marshall 

 terms the art-impulse, artistic creation having this end 

 in view, though not cognised as the end. His contention 

 is to some extent corroborated by that thirst for appre- 

 ciation and recognition which forms part of the artistic 

 temperament, and it harmonises with many observations 

 on animal activities. 



Coming now to the field of aesthetics, the author seeks 

 to find some criterion by which aesthetics may be 

 differentiated from algedonics. The conclusion to 

 which he is led is as follows : — " That object is to be 

 considered beautiful which produces a psychosis that is 

 permanently pleasurable in revival," while " that object is 

 to be considered ugly which produces a psychosis that is 

 permanently disagreeable in revival." Thus "only those 

 pleasures are judged to be asthctic which (relatively 

 speaking) are permanently pleasurable in memory." We 

 believe that the author is here on the road to, but falls 

 somewhat short of, the true criterion of ;csthetics. The 

 key of the problem, we think, lies in the recognition of 

 the algedonic tone of pcrcch'cd relations. It is this super- 

 added element which raises the algedonics of sensory 

 experience to the level of ;esthetics. The ssthetic effect 

 of the geometrical tracery in the chapter-house of Wells 

 Cathedral is due to the emotional tone associated with 

 perceived relationships. And it is just because in memory 

 the relationships with their emotional tone are more 

 abiding than the sense-elements, that to be permanently 

 pleasurable in revival becomes a criterion of icsthetics. 

 This criterion is, however, secondary. The primary 

 criterion is the perception of relations with its associated 

 emotional tone. 



It is difficult to do justice, in the short space which 

 remains to us, to the author's views as to the physical 

 basis of pleasure and pain. These primitive qualities of 

 psychical states are conceived to be " determined by the 

 relation between activity and capacity in the organs, the 

 activities of which are concomitants of the psychoses 

 involved." When an organ during rest has stored up 

 energy, the response of the organ to stimulus is pleasur- 

 able. But when the organ is spurred to activity beyond 

 the limits of its storedup energy, its functioning is painful. 

 " Measure thus results when the balance is on the 

 side of the energy given out, and pain when the balance 

 is on the side of the energy received. Where the amounts 

 received and given have equivalence, then we have the 

 state of indifference. ' We have seen that Mr. Marshall 

 does not accept the hypothesis that there are separate 

 cnd-orgnns, nerve fibres, or cerebral centres for pleasure 

 and p.iin. Unless, therefore, there is a (|ualitative 

 difference in the impulses transmitted from an organ 

 according as it is well-stored with energy or exhausted, 

 NO. 1279, VOL. 50J 



a position which is hardly tenable, the algedonic 

 tone must be due to quantitative ditTerence -that 

 is to say, difference in the intensity of stimulus. Hence 

 it would be better, so far as the organ is concerned, to 

 lay the primary stress on the intensity of stimulus there- 

 from, and to make the state of the organ a condition of 

 this intensity. Mr. Marshall ought also, we think, to 

 supplement his view by reference to the condition of the 

 cerebral centre concerned. The condition of the centre 

 is possibly of even greater importance than the condition 

 of the organ from which afterent impulses are trans- 

 mitted. We cannot, however, further discuss the question 

 here, and must refer our readers to the author's own 

 treatment of the question in the fourth and fifth chapters 

 of his work. 



Although we do not agree with all his conclusions, we 

 have no hesitation in saying that the book is written in 

 the right spirit and on right lines. Fully aware of the 

 necessity for careful introspection, he sees that the re- 

 sults so reached must be correlated with the conclusions 

 arrived at through the investigations of the physiologist. 

 It is only where the two modes of investigation thus go 

 hand in hand that progress in psychology can be secured. 



C. LI. M. 



OUR BOOK SHELF. 



Physiology Practicums. By Burt G. Wilder, Professor 

 of Physiology, Vertebrate Zoology, and Neurology in 

 Cornell University, U.S.A. (Published bv the Authoi. 

 1893) 

 Thicsk consist of a series of twenty-seven plates, with 

 accompanying descriptions (large octavo), saiil by their 

 originator to embody "explicit directions for examining 

 portions of the cat, and the heart, eye. and brain of the 

 sheep, as an aid in the study of elementary physiology." 

 The author is well known in anatomical circles as the 

 founder of a notoriously ambitious terminology, not 

 wholly destitute of useful points. The present venture 

 has furnished him a new peg upon which to hang this, 

 and his title savours of the kind of treatment which the 

 subject receives at his hands. Plate xviii. Fig. I9(\vhich 

 deals with the " pelvic viscera, etc." \si(.\ of the female cat), 

 and Plate xiii. Fig. 14 (which is said to represent the 

 " head and neck of cat partly dissected "), may be taken 

 as fair examples. With their faulty delineation of things 

 which may be at once determined from descriptions 

 alone, their ugly letters sprawling over them, and their 

 apologetic descriptions, they are useless and uncalled 

 for ; and the matter is the more nauseous, as more 

 than one finished anatomical treatise happens to deal 

 with this animal. We put the plates down with the 

 feeling that they are calculated to repel rather than 

 encourage the student, and that although they may be 

 of service in the work of the Cornell University, in con- 

 nection with which they have arisen, there would be 

 cause for alarm should they be adopted elsewhere. 



The Fauna of fiiitish India, iniltidinj; Ceylon and 

 lUirniah. Published under the authority of the .Secre- 

 tary of State for India in Council. Kdited by \V. T. 

 Blanford. "Moths." Vol. ii. By G. F. Hampson. 

 Pp. xxii. 609, (325 woodcuts). (London : Taylor and 

 Francis, 1894.) 

 Tkk second volume of Mr. Hampson's important work on 

 the moths of India includes the Arctiid(r, Agaiislidir, and 

 the bulk of the A'ocluidic, and considerably exceeds the 

 first volume in bulk, 1545 species being described in vol. 



