540 



NA TURE 



[September 26, 1907 



Marduk, the son of Ikisa-apli, that he may give thee 

 the gur of wheat. Be not remiss in the housework, 

 but be careful ; pray the gods on my behalf, and 

 speedily let me have news of thee by the hand of some 

 traveller." 



And so forth. In conclusion, we mav congratulate 

 Mr. Thompson on his interesting book, and, for the 

 nocessary amavi aliquid, warn him against indulging 

 in rather too breezy translations, such as " Why, an't 

 please thee, have I and my daughters to pass the 

 lime in thirst for a letter from thee? Rack thy brains 

 (for an excuse and then) by Samas, see why Bel- 

 iiballit, an't please thee, hath taken away all my 

 dates " (p. 175). Elsewhere (p. x.xxii) Mr. Thompson 

 presents an even more alarming version of the same 

 epistle : — " Why, pray, am I and my daughters to 

 pass the time thirsting for a letter from thee? Now, 

 gather thy wits together, and then, by Samas, 

 ubserve ! Why, pray, hath Bel-uballit taken away all 

 my dates? " This style of translation is hardly 

 sulliciently dignified, and is to be avoided. The lady 

 (iaga, who writes the letter to her father, was no 

 doubt a very energetic female, but Mr. Thompson's 

 version of her filial exhortation seems to us to be rather 

 loo energetic. The index and vocabulary at the end 

 aie very complete and useful. 



PSYCHOLOGICAL SCIENCE. 



Psychology — General Introduction. By Dr. C. H. 



Judd. Pp. xii + 389. (New York: Charles Scrib- 



Price -/S. 6d. net. 

 The Major Symptoms of Hysteria. By Dr. Pierre 



Janet. Pp. x + 345. (New York : The Macmillan 



Company; London : Macmillan and Co., Ltd., 1907.) 



Price ys. 6d. net. 



' I "HESE two books furnish yet one more proof — if 

 -•- further proof were needed at the present day — 

 of the right of psychology to a place among the 

 primary sciences. In Prof. Judd's book we have a 

 concise and wcll-synthesised statement of the methods 

 and principles of the science, in the form of a general 

 introductory text-book; Dr. Pierre Janet shows the 

 exclusive importance of those principles in the 

 diagnosis and cure of a widespread disease. 



Prof. Judd leaves his readers in no doubt as to his 

 general standpoint or the guiding idea of his book. 

 He develops his subject along the lines of " function " 

 in contradistinction to " structure," and " objectivity " 

 as opposed to the " subjectivity " of mere introspec- 

 tion, laying g-reat stress throughout on " organisa- 

 tion " as the general explanation of mental products. 

 In a well-worded preface he attempts to anticipate 

 criticism by summarising the general principles of 

 treatment which he has followed. Briefly they are : 

 ( 1) " \ functional view of mental life "; (2) the genetic 

 method ; (3) a coordination of physiological and ps)'- 

 chological data; (4) an endeavour to make clear " the 

 significance of ideation as a unique and final stage of 

 evolution." These principles he follows faithfully in 

 his book, the marked " objectivity " of treatment 

 almost amounting to materialism in the earlier pages. 

 Analysis of material conditions takes precedence of, 

 NO 1978, VOL. 76] 



and to a great extent supplants, introspective descrip- 

 tion of mental states ; moreover, the absence of any 

 definite discussion of the general relation of mind 

 and matter tends to intensify this impression of 

 materialism. But if such an illusion should arise 

 in the reader's mind it is quickly dispelled by 

 later chapters, more particularly by the chapter 

 on "The Concept of the Self." The nature of 

 this concept as ultimate and supreme for psychology, 

 though admitting of a developmental history, is very 

 well brought out. The chapter following this, on 

 " ^'oluntary Choice," is rather disappointing. 



Parts of the book are of outstanding excellence. 

 The discussion of space-perception seems to the writer 

 an ideal of what a treatment of this difficult subject 

 should be The chapter headed " Experience and 

 Expression " is also very good. It brings out well the 

 importance of motor factors to the general structure of 

 experience, not in the form of muscular sensations , as 

 the first imperfect statements of the theory would have 

 had one believe, but as forms of " motor organisation " 

 in the central nervous system, in this chapter we 

 have developed in greater fulness that central idea of 

 organisation which dominates the whole book. 



Two small points call for criticism. First on p. 97, 

 to explain contrast effects as merely after-effects in the 

 retina is surely a case of over-simplification. Un- 

 doubtedly the two classes of phenomena are closely 

 connected, but the relation is more complicated than 

 the text would have the reader believe. Secondly, 

 what is called the Principle of Fusion (.Association) on 

 p. 223 should not be dismissed as self-evident and 

 requiring no explanation. 



On the whole, the book is an excellent treatment of 

 the general principles of psychology, and may be con- 

 fidently recommended to all earnest students of the 

 science. It is a book that should be read more than 

 once. On the title-page it is described as the first 

 volume of " a ssries of text-books designed to intro- 

 duce the student to the methods and principles of 

 scientific psychology." We can only say that our 

 experience of this volume encourages us to look for- 

 ward with eagerness to the publication of the later 

 volumes of the series. 



Dr. Pierre Janet's book is a collection of fifteen 

 lectures given in the medical school of Harvard 

 University towards the end of last year. Much of the 

 material, cases and explanations alike, is taken from 

 previous publications of the author, as, e.g., " N^vroses 

 et Idees fixes," " L'etat mental des Hyst^riques," &c., 

 but the form of exposition makes of it an independent 

 scientific and literary achievement for which all who 

 are interested in mental diseases will be thankful to 

 its author. Prof. Janet is admittedly supreme in the 

 domain of pathological psychology, and the present 

 book will do still more to confirm that estimate of his 

 position. His statement of the major symptoms of 

 hysteria is no mere external classification. Taking 

 somnambulism as the typical form of hysterical acci- 

 dents, he shows with copious illustration and acute 

 argument how such symptoms shade off into fugues, 

 double personalities, convulsive attacks, contractures, 

 paralysis, anaesthesias, &c., while exhibiting the same 

 essential relations in all these various forms. By the 



