268 



NATURE 



[July 



190: 



OUR BOOK SHELF. 

 The Revival of Phrenology. The Mental Functions 

 of the Brain. By Bernard Hollander, M.D., &c. 

 Pp. xviii + 512 ; illustrated. (London: Grant Richards. 

 1901,) Price 2U. net. 

 According to Dr. Hollander, the connection between 

 ■mind and brain has long been waiting for a discoverer, 

 and he is determined that it shall wait no longer. " The 

 ipresent work aims at clearing up the mystery of the 

 fundamental psychical functions and their localisation in 

 the brain. It is the first work on the subject since the 

 dawn of modern scientific research." We expect that 

 an author who claims to clear up a mystery and to write 

 the first work on a subject since the dawn of scientific 

 research should at least be acquainted with the present 

 position of the science with which he deals, but we do 

 not find that Dr. Hollander has satisfied this preliminary 

 requirement. The very title of his book indicates that 

 he is not before, but behind the age. Mental phenomena 

 are not functions of the brain in the modern medical 

 meaning of the term "function," and if by "the funda- 

 mental psychical functions" Dr. Hollander means the 

 primary divisions of mind as recognised in modern 

 psychology, then we cannot find evidence in his book 

 that he knows what they are. " Most men," he says, 

 "'regard mind as though the term were equivalent to 

 intellect and did not include the feelings and funda- 

 mental impulses." "The great majority hold mind to 

 be equivalent to intellect." We do not know whether by 

 "most men" and "the great majority" Dr. Hollander 

 means the majority of the whole population, or of the 

 whole male population, or of neurologists, or of psycho- 

 logists. If he means either of the two former, he is 

 probably wrong. If he means either of the two latter, he 

 is certainly wrong ; so wrong that it is difficult to believe 

 that he has opened a book on psychology that has been 

 published within the last half-century. When a writer 

 presumes to lecture the whole world of psychologists in 

 the tone of the Supreme Being addressing a group of 

 blackbeetles, he should at least make himself acquainted 

 with the rudiments of their terminology. He- would 

 then avoid speaking of "faculties" as "forces." He 

 -would not say that "satisfaction, discontent, desire, fear, 

 anger . . . &c., are so many states of our internal 

 organisation which . . . exist . . . without conscious- 

 ness . . . being necessary." 



"The data amassed by the author," Dr. Hollander 

 modestly asserts, "are so considerable as to open up 

 quite a new field for research." These data consist of 

 more than 800 cases, which are alleged to illustrate the 

 connection between some special brain-area and some 

 special phase of mind. The first group are " cases of 

 melancholia due to injury to the central parietal area." 

 A number of cases of injury to the parietal region are 

 adduced, but in many of them there is little or no 

 evidence of melancholia. Whenever, in the reports, the 

 word depression is used. Dr. Hollander accepts it as the 

 equivalent of melancholia, though it is quite obvious that 

 in many cases it means hebetude, stupor or coma. 

 Melancholia is attributed to blows on the parietal region 

 that were inflicted four years, five years, six years, four- 

 teen years, seventeen years before the patient came 

 under treatment. Of the innumerable multitudes of 

 cases of lesion of the parietal region without any sign of 

 melancholia resulting, not a word is said. This is not 

 scientific investigation; it is special pleading. Dr. 

 Hollander pleads that in view of the important bearing 

 of his facts upon the entire development of medical 

 science, on the study and treatment of lunacy, on the 

 education of the young, &c., the evidence and statements 

 may be received willingly and in fair spirit, however 

 critical. We have endeavoured to comply with his 

 request. We have weighed his evidence, and it seems 

 to be of the same value as his statements. 



NO. 1760, VOL. 68] 



St. Kilda and its Birds. By J, Wiglesworth. Pp. 

 69; illustrated. (Liverpool: C. Tinling and Co., 

 1903-) 

 On his return from an ornithological trip to the St. 

 Kilda group last summer, Dr. Wiglesworth delivered 

 before the Liverpool Biological Society a lecture on 

 these islands and their inhabitants — human and other- 

 wise. This lecture has been published in the volume 

 before us, and although the author has little or nothing 

 absolutely new to tell, he has undoubtedly succeeded 

 in producing a very interesting w^ork, which ought to 

 be invaluable to all future tourists in these islands. 

 Although the extension of the breeding range of the 

 fulmar-petrel to the Shetlands has deprived St. Kilda 

 of one of its claims to preeminence, yet it possesses 

 an absolutely peculiar form of wren as well as two 

 mice of its own, while it is also one of the chief breed- 

 ing-places of the fork-tailed petrel. Moreover, its 

 breeding-list of other sea-birds is comparatively large, 

 so that the island possesses especial interest for the 

 ornithologist and egg-collector. Unfortunately, the 

 latter individual has of late years made himself some- 

 what too conspicuous, and " when it comes to dealers 

 giving unlimited orders for fork-tailed petrels' eggs 

 at prices which set the whole male population of the 

 island on the alert to dig out every petrel-burrow they 

 can possibly come across, one cannot but feel consider- 

 able anxiety as to the future of this interesting 

 species." High prices are likewise paid for the eggs 

 •of the St. Kilda wren, of which large numbers are 

 exported. It would therefore seem that the island 

 stands in urgent need of the special attention of those 

 interested in bird preservation. One of the features 

 of St. Kilda is the number of species of petrels by 

 which it is inhabited, while not less noteworthy are 

 the hordes of puffins which swarm over its grassy 

 slopes, and tenant almost every available nook 

 amongst the rocks and boulders. 



But it is not only for its birds and mice that the 

 St Kilda group has a special claim on the interest of 

 the naturalist. One of the islets, Soa, or Soay, is 

 remarkable as being the only locality in Great Britain 

 where sheep exist in a wild condition. It appears 

 that in the latter part of the eighteenth century the 

 owner of St. Kilda laid claim to one out of every 

 seven sheep born in the main island. These sheep 

 were carried to Soa, where, in the absence of anyone 

 to look after them, they ran completely wild. And 

 by this accident has been preserved to our own time 

 the very small and peculiar breed of sheep which was 

 probably once common to St. Kilda and most of the 

 western islands, but has everywhere, except in Soa, 

 been modified by the introduction of other breeds. 

 Most of these sheep are light brown in colour, although 

 a few are almost black, and others nearly white. 

 They are so wild and shy that they cannot be 

 approached within 100 yards, except by careful stalk- 

 ing, while their activity and speed are such that they 

 cannot be hunted down by the dogs of the islanders. 

 A ewe of this sheep, as well as the skull of a ram, are 

 exhibited in the Natural History Museum. R. L. 

 The Principal Species of Wood. By C. H. Snow, C.E., 



Sc.D. Pp. xi + 203. (New York : Wiley and Sons; 



London : Chapman and Hall, Ltd., 1903.) Price 



15s. net. 

 In producing this work the author has evidently spared 

 himself no pains to collect a vast amount of statistics 

 concerning the genera and species with which he deals. 

 The work is also profusely illustrated by plates, and 

 these, along with the general equipment of the laook, 

 reflect credit on artist and publishers. Tabulated 

 statements concerning the different species are given, 

 and contain data such as modulus of elasticity and 

 rupture of wood, as well as notes on its various struc- 



