300 



NATURE 



[JuNL 8, 19 16 



Lisbon Society of Medical Sciences by Prof. 

 Ricardo Jorg-e. By the wish of the society it has 

 been published in French as well as in Portuguese, 

 and we appreciate this convenience. 



The first part of the address traverses familiar 

 ground in contrasting the present-day army medi- 

 cal service with that of former times, emphasising 

 such modern features as prophylactic inoculation 

 and conservative surgery. A deeper note is struck 

 in the author's admission that war in itself — as a 

 biological phenomenon — is directly antithetic to 

 the ideal of medicine, which is the increase of 

 wholesomeness of life. Refusing to be led astray 

 by any apology based on the pervasiveness of the 

 struggle for existence in Nature, Prof. Jorge asks 

 eloquently and passionately how it has come about 

 that the nations have been led into the disastrous 

 anachronism which the war implies. The answer 

 he feels compelled to give is that the controllers 

 of German policy are the victims of a "collective 

 paranoia engendered and sustained by a mental 

 and sentimental intoxication of progressive acute- 

 ness — panteutomania." He does not maintain 

 that other countries have not, from time to timcj 

 exhibited analogous aberrations, but his conten- 

 tion is that we are confronted with the most ter- 

 rible " psychodemic " in history. It has invaded 

 even the temple of science, as is shown by the 

 names of many of the 93 signatories to the famous 

 "Appeal to Civilised Nations." 



Admitting a profound admiration for the 

 achievements of German science, and for Virchow 

 in particular (from whom some noble-minded say- 

 ings are quoted), the author holds to the thesis that 

 there has been in Germany a terrible outbreak of 

 social pathology, a "pandemia vesanica. " In spite 

 of these learned terms, which are rather question- 

 begging, and references to Le Bon and other 

 students of the psychology of the crowd, we sus- 

 pect that Prof. Jorge's theory is largely verbal 

 and metaphorical. The address seems to have 

 been first published in Medicina Contemporanea, 

 and a lurid German review by Prof. C. Mense is 

 answered in a manner suggestive of high 

 explosives. 



OUR BOOKSHELF. 



Spiritualism: A Historical and Critical Sketch. 



By Rev. Canon Edmund McClure. Pp. viii + 56. 



(London : Society for Promoting Christian 



Knowledge, 1916.) Price 6d. net. 

 This is an enlarged version of an address to a 

 small clerical society, one member of which had 

 been caused " distinct anxiety " by the growth of 

 spiritualism. Canon McClure touches on the 

 Odyssey, Saul and the Witch of Endor, St. 

 Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas on demons. 

 Porphyry, Swedenborg (whose " so-called " 

 visions were due to a disappointment in love, 

 acting on a nervous system of " unbalanced char- 

 acter "), Dr. A. Russel Wallace (who is treated 

 with respect and extreme brevity), Mrs. Piper (un- 

 truly said to be afflicted with hysteria, like "all 

 mediums "), and Dr. T. J, Hudson, whose in- 

 sufficiently supported theories are too lightly 

 NO. 2432, VOL. 97] 



accepted. The Society for Psychical Research, 

 though often referred to, is not once correctly 

 named, nor is the Dialectical Society ; the names 

 Schiaparelli and Blavatsky are wrongly spelt, and 

 an American " Colonel Sinnett " is mentioned who 

 seems to be a blend of Mr. A. P. Sinnett and 

 Colonel Olcott. These and other mistakes will 

 lead scientific readers to distrust the author, who, 

 moreover, has apparently no first-hand knowledge 

 of the subject. The Archdeacon of Bristol, in his 

 preface, seriously recommends those who desire 

 further knowledge to read Monsignor Benson's 

 novel "The Necromancers " ! Both writers have 

 apparently decided that the alleged phenomena 

 are due to fraud, hysteria, or the Devil. 



Canon McClure says (p. 50) that hysteria 

 plays an important part in the functions of all 

 mediums, " and notably, according to Prof. Richet, 

 in Mrs. Piper." The present reviewer, through 

 the kind offices of a friend, communicated this 

 statement to Prof. Richet, whose reply is just re- 

 ceived, after the foregoing was in type. He 

 emphatically denies ever having said anything of 

 the kind. J. A. H. 



Manuring for Higher Crop Production. By Dr. 

 E. J. Russell. Pp. vii + 69. (Cambridge: 

 At the University Press, 1916.) Price 35. net. 

 The problem of increasing the food output of 

 British farms is no new one, but has been ren- 

 dered vastly more acute by the stern necessities of 

 war-time. The solution of the problem lies obvi- 

 ously along one or both of two lines : either the 

 farmer must increase his area under cultivation, or 

 he must obtain more from the existing area. To 

 the layman the former alternative may appear to 

 promise the larger results, but its practical appli- 

 cation in war-time is beset with g-rave difficulties, 

 which tend only to increase with the prolongation 

 of the war. The efforts of the farmer must thus 

 be concentrated more and more in the direction 

 of the second alternative, endeavouring by im- 

 proved cultivation, readjusted crossing, and more 

 liberal and rational feeding of his crops to utilise 

 to the fullest extent the capabilities of his soil. 



It is to assist him in the pursuance of this object 

 that Dr. Russell has epitomised in this small 

 volume the essential information now available on 

 manures and soil management, with special refer- 

 ence to British experience, and the results of 

 numerous field trials made at Rothamsted and 

 elsewhere in this country. His aim throughout is 

 to state the facts in simple and plain language, 

 with sufficient illustrative data from experimental 

 results to enable the individual farmer to draw his 

 own conclusions as to the probable requirements 

 of his own soil. There are no simple formulae for 

 increasing crop production. Local conditions 

 must exercise a dominating influence. The skill 

 and judgment of the farmer in appraising- these 

 and in adapting his practice to them must be 

 decisive, but with Intelligent application of the 

 facts set out so clearly by Dr. Russell he will be 

 but an incompetent farmer who fails to achieve 

 some measure of success in increased crop and en- 

 hanced returns. 



