Au(';usT I, 1 901] 



NA TURE 



OUR BOOK SHELF. 



The Human Nature Club. By E. L. Thorndike. . Pp. 



viii + 235. (London: Longmans, 1901.) 

 Psychology of Reasoning. By Alfred Binet. Pp. 18S. 



No. 47 of the " Religion of Science Library." (London : 



Kegan Paul, 1901.) 



Mr. Thorndikk, already favourably known by his 

 ingenious experimental studies of animal intelligence, 

 has achieved a very fair measure of success in the bold 

 attempt to compose an easy introduction to psychology in 

 dialogue form. His little work is bright and interesting, 

 and should be found an excellent introduction to the 

 genetic study of mental processes. In particular, it is 

 well adapted to be taken up as a first course preliminary 

 to the study of Prof. James' great " Principles of 

 Psychology." In some respects Mr. Thorndike, perhaps, 

 defers too much to the authority of his eminent country- 

 man. When his book reaches a second edition he might 

 do well to add to the chapter in which Prof James' 

 well-known theory of the emotions is expounded some 

 indication of the grave ditificulties which beset the theory, 

 and the flaws of the reasoning by which it is supported. 

 Perhaps, too, he will see reason to modify the passage in 

 which he repeats certain w^eak metaphysical arguments 

 of the professor in favour of the immortality of the soul. 

 Mr. Thorndike's one really weak point is his style. 

 Dialogue, to be successful, should never be a direct 

 imitation of actual speech, still less of a type of speech 

 like that of Mr. Thorndike's characters, which is at once 

 undignified, ungraceful, and occasionally gravely in- 

 accurate, as, e.g.., when the brain is spoken of as "just a 

 ' lot ■ of nerve-cells,'' an expression as unfortunate as it 

 is inelegant. 



The translation of M. Binet's interesting little work, 

 which appears identical with one issued by the same 

 publishers in 1899, is still valuable as a repertory of 

 interesting experimental facts as to the pathology of 

 the perceptive and reasoning processes. It should, how- 

 ever, be clearly understood that the general psychological 

 basis adopted by the author consists of doctrines which 

 are now largely antiquated. The doctrine that " ideas " 

 are " revived sensations,'' and that perception and 

 reasoning are founded upon "association," may now be 

 regarded as practically dead, while the part played in 

 mental life by " fusion " needs to be stated with more 

 accuracy than is shown by M. Binet. And the whole 

 attempt to state the relation between the subject and 

 predicate of a judgment, or the premisses and conclusion 

 of an inference in terms of association, seems to rest 

 upon the common but disastrous confusion of psychology 

 — the study of mental processes — with logic, the study of 

 the laws of evidence. A. E. T. 



Outlines of Physiography. An Introduction to the Study 

 of the Earth. By A. J. Herbertson, Ph.D. Pp. viii4-3i2. 

 (London : Edwin Arnold, 1901.) Price 4.f. bd. 

 Were it not for the statement at the head of Chapter 

 xxvi., we should not have imagined that this book was 

 intended for the use of students preparing for the South 

 Kensington e.xamination, the ground covered being what 

 is generally regarded as elementary physical geography. 

 The experimental portions of the syllabus, dealing w-ith 

 the physical and chemical properties of matter, are 

 entirely omitted, while other subjects are introduced. 

 Ne\ertheless, the table of contents indicates a carefully 

 considered classification of the various points to be dealt 

 with, which might have formed the basis of a \ery profit- 

 able course of reading. The subsequent treatment, how- 

 ever, is generally so sketchy that the result will probably 

 be the communication of a number of facts to the reader 

 rather than the enlargement of his powers of observation. 

 A certain amount of carelessness is noticeable in the part 

 which discusses the relation of the earth to the other 



NO. 1657, VOL. 64] 



heavenly bodies. Thus, in Fig. 12, the sun's meridian 

 altitude on March 21 is marked 45', although there is no 

 reference to the latitude of the place of observation ; on 

 p. 31 it is stated that eclipses only occur when the planes 

 of the orbits of the earth and moon coincide ; and on 

 p. 34 the obliquity of the ecliptic is not included in the 

 causes affecting the equation of time. The author is 

 much happier in his descriptions of the physical features 

 of the earth and of the causes which mould them, and 

 some of the chapters in this part provide an interesting 

 introduction to various branches of earth-knowledge. 



The illustrations are both numerous and good, but the 

 frequent absence of direct references in the text consider- 

 ably reduces the value of many of them. 



Bird Watching. By Edmund Selous. Pp. 337. The 

 Haddon Hall Library. (London : J. M. Dent and Co., 

 1 90 1.) Price Ts. bd. 



Mr. Selous may fairly be called a pioneer. The habits 

 of some few wild animals, such as bees and ants, which 

 can be observed without much difficulty, have been care- 

 fully studied ; but, except in rare and isolated instances, 

 wild birds have never been made the object of prolonged 

 and patient watching. Since the days of White, Nau- 

 mann and Montagu, the energies of ornithologists have 

 been devoted rather to problems of classification and 

 distribution than to the "life and conversation" of the 

 birds, and though books by field-naturalists (real and 

 so-called) have been legion, {ew of them have thrown 

 much light upon problems of animal life and intelligence. 

 Curiosities of bird-life are constantly reported, but the 

 every-day habits of common birds have not been patiently 

 and persistently studied. This work has now been begun 

 by Mr. Selous with admirable accuracy and self-restraint, 

 and his book should have a most wholesome eft'ect on 

 our rising generation of ornithologists, who need to 

 realise that there is a vast field of work still left for them 

 in this country, and that it is not necessary for them to 

 travel long distances in order to make themselves useful 

 or famous. 



It is, of course, no easy matter to watch carefully such 

 nervous and restless creatures as birds ; a real observer 

 must have both leisure and patience, and must be duly 

 qualified, or train himself to become so, in many other 

 ways. Readers of the Zoologist are well aware that Mr. 

 Selous has the necessary qualifications in a high degree, 

 and can have no doubt as to his absolute trustworthiness : 

 and this is everything in a book which is sure to be used 

 by biologists as material for speculation. He has made 

 his notes, for the most part, on the spot, as he watched ; 

 where he writes from recollection he is careful to tell us 

 1 so, and even there we feel that the image left on his mind 

 ' is clear and strong, just because he sees everything while 

 watching with such an intensity of interest. The notes 

 taken on the spot are often printed in e.xtenso, as they 

 were also in the Zoologist, and constitute the most valu- 

 able part of the book, and it may be hoped that all the 

 notes of this kind that he has made may be carefully 

 preserved, whether published or not. But Mr. Selous 

 not unfrequently makes suggestions by way of explain- 

 ing the phenomena he has observed, and these are always 

 useful and interesting ; they are put out tentatively, 

 and the book affords abundant evidence that he does not 

 allow himself to jump at conclusions. 



Without anticipating the pleasure or profit which 

 ornithologists and others are sure to gain from the book, 

 it may be said here that Mr. Selous has watched birds 

 courting, dancing, nest-building, feeding, flocking, climb- 

 ing, singing ; and that the range of his studies extends 

 from large birds such as the great skua, the great 

 plover and the cormorants, to the sparrows, chaffinches 

 and blackbirds of our gardens and rickyards. There is 

 a good index, which greatly increases the working value 

 of the volume. 



