Jan. i, 1885] 



NA TURE 



191 



mind, but rather the general human mind, that the psy- 

 chologist analyses. His omission to make it clear that 

 psychology is really the science of human nature, and 

 not a mere description of the mental states of an indivi- 

 dual, or of as many individuals as possible, does not, how- 

 ever, destroy the value of his results. When he describes 

 the 51 ience of psychology as being a sort of resultant of 

 the contributions of various people who " chronicle their 

 states," this is only an imperfect description of the method 

 of psychology and of what it implies. To state the case 

 in this way is to lose sight of the fact that society is an 

 organism, and to consider it as an aggregate of isolated 

 individuals : but, without any elaborate analysis, we may 

 show that the introspective method of Mr. Thompson 

 and of the older psychologists really implies more than 

 the examination of any number of individual minds 

 merely as such. 



There is probably quite as much minute observation of 

 mental states to be found in literature with no scientific 

 pretensions, — in novels and autobiographies, for example, 

 — as in books of psychology. Why has this kind of 

 "introspection" first of all a literary, and only second- 

 arily a scientific, interest ? Is it not because the states 

 of mind described are regarded as states of a particular 

 mind, because they are merely elements in the description 

 of some one personality, because they have no distinct 

 reference to a law of mind in general ? Of course some 

 things in books of psychology have only a personal 

 interest, and some things in books of pure literature may 

 have a scientific interest ; but there is no difficulty in 

 distinguishing the two kinds of "introspection" when we 

 meet with them, or in recognising them as essentially 

 different. 



The scientific character of the introspective method as 

 being one that yields general conclusions is quite evident 

 in Mr. Thompson's book, in spite of his omission defi- 

 nitely to point out this character. It has already been 

 said that his " System of Psychology " furnishes new 

 evidence of the progressive character of psychological 

 studies. We may conclude by saying that, although in 

 some respects an unequal book, it is decidedly an im- 

 portant contribution of America to the treatment of 

 psychology on the lines with which English readers are 

 most familiar. 



067? BOOK SHELF 

 The Student's Flora of the British Islands. By Sir J. 



D. Hooker, K.C.B., &c, &c. Third Edition. (London : 



Macmillan and Co., 1884.) 

 THE lover and collector of our wild plants may congratu- 

 late himself on the number of botanists of the first rank 

 who have devoted their energies to his service. Bentham, 

 Hooker, and Babington have all of them written hand-books 

 of the British flora, all of them excellent in their way. 

 In the one now before us we have the well-known lucidity 

 of description characteristic of the author combined with 

 the most recent extensions of our knowledge as regards 

 British plants. Very great care and labour have been ex- 

 pended in bringing the " Student's Flora" abreast of the 

 most recent discoveries. The number of species of 

 flowering-plants added to the British flora since the pub- 

 lication of the last edition in 1878 is not inconsiderable, 

 indeed is surprising, considering the limited extent of 

 the field and the number of workers on it. In addition 



to the introduction of these new species, the limits of 

 species and sub-species have been carefully revised, and 

 the " critical " genera submitted to the criticism of ex- 

 perts ; the genus Potamogeton having been, in particular, 

 revised by Mr. Arthur Bennett. Nor has the physiologi- 

 cal side of the subject been neglected. For the first 

 time, as far as I am aware, in any local flora of import- 

 ance, the characters of the genera concerned in the pro- 

 cess of fertilisation are given, especially those illustrated 

 by the writings of the late Hermann Miiller. Under the 

 diagnosis of each genus it is stated — as far as is known 

 — whether the plants belonging to it are wind-fertilised, 

 insect-fertilised, or self-fertilised ; whether honey is 

 secreted in the flower or not ; and whether the stamens 

 and stigma ripen together, or, if not, which is the earlier. 

 The result is that the field-student has now a hand-book 

 of the characters of the plants that he meets with in wood 

 and field, by stream and bog, and on the mountain-side, 

 more complete than any which has heretofore been ready 

 to his hand. A. W. B. 



Elementary Text-Book of Zoology. General Part and 

 Special Part, Protozoa to Insecta. By Dr. C. Claus. 

 Translated and edited by Adam Sedgwick, M.A., 

 Fellow and Lecturer of Trinity College, Cambridge, 

 with the assistance of F. G. Heathcote, B.A., Trinity 

 College, Cambridge. (London : W. Swan Sonnen- 

 schein and Co., 1884.) 

 l'i > 1] . CLAUS'S " Elementary Text-Book of Zoology" has 

 long been known as an excellent introduction to this 

 branch of biology, and there was a certain charm in the 

 way in which the introductory chapters, constituting the 

 " General Part " of the work were written, that marked out 

 the " Lehrbuch der Zoologie " as something different from 

 many of the text-books that had preceded it. Its well- 

 merited success in parts of the Continent where German 

 is spoken is a matter of congratulation, and Mr. Sedg- 

 wick has translated it " with a view of supplying the want 

 which," he tells us, " has long been felt by teachers as 

 well as students in this country, of a good elementary 

 text-book of zoology." It appears to us a pity that with 

 this local demand for a good introduction to zoology, 

 there should be apparently no other way of supplying it 

 than by translating the works of our illustrious neigh- 

 bours. It is certainly not the way that the schools of the 

 great Continental centres are supplied, nor do we believe 

 that it is from any want of original power to supply the 

 need among our own zoologists. This view of the subject 

 apart, the English student of zoology will find this transla- 

 tion of Claus's " Lehrbuch " a very excellent introduction. 

 It is true that he may now and then note that it was not 

 written for him, that the illustrations of specific forms 

 referred to are not always, even when they might have 

 been, within his easy reach ; that some of the contribu- 

 tions of his countrymen are referred to as if they had first 

 appeared in a foreign tongue, and that many very im- 

 portant ones are overlooked, but these will be scarcely 

 difficulties in his way ; and if they are, on application to 

 an intelligent teacher they will be soon got over. 



The original German has, with a few " unimportant 

 exceptions, been closely followed throughout," but has it 

 not been too closely adhered to, when it has been left 

 altogether untranslated, as it apparently has been in the 

 case of many very familiar families of insects? In some 

 of these, too, the English equivalents are not perhaps of 

 the best ; thus Acanthiadie (skin-bugs). In welcoming 

 this attempt to introduce Prof. Claus's most useful work 

 to the English reader we have no wish in any way to 

 criticise the treatise in detail. It is got up in a very 

 creditable manner, though a little more uniformity in the 

 style of printing the technical words would have been 

 desirable ; thus, on the same page we find the words 

 " Cirripedia " and " Malacostraca " in roman and in italic 

 type, and specific names are not italicised in all cases. 



