2l6 



NA TURE 



[April 22, 190Q 



feared, will be called in to explain many of the illus- 

 trations. 



(3) The laboratory notes on water analysis are 

 intended for the use of engineers, who, it is presumed, 

 have already received a sound training in practical and 

 theoretical chemistry. For there are no equations or 

 explanations of the reactions involved in the various 

 processes, which are described in the briefest manner, 

 so briefly, indeed, that we should doubt if some of the 

 operations could be successfully carried out. Thus, 

 the reader is told (p. 19) to " neutralise with i c.c. of 

 the reagent and compare the standards," without other 

 reference. 



It seems unnecessary and merely confusing to in- 

 troduce indiscriminately both centigrade and Fahren- 

 heit scales, and an over-elaboration to count the drops 

 of a reagent the strength of which is not given (p. 20). 



It may also be pointed out that the method described 

 as Dr. Thresh 's (p. 21) is usually known as Forch- 

 hammer's or Tidy's process. J. B. C. 



OVR BOOK SHELF. 

 Mental Pathology in its Relation to Normal Psycho- 

 logy. A Course of Lectures delivered in the 

 I'niversiiy of Leipzig. By Dr. Gustav Storring. 

 Translated by Thomas Loveday. Pp. x + 2g8. 

 (London : Swan Sonnenschein and Co., Ltd., 1907.) 

 Price 105. bd. 

 The bearing of the study of abnormal mental pro- 

 cesses upon general psychological doctrine has long 

 been understood. In some cases invaluable light may 

 be thrown upon the normal nature of a complicated 

 psychosis by the abnormal heightening or lowering in 

 degree of one of its constituents; in other cases a 

 pathological phenomenon may supply the " negative 

 instance " that checks the harmful progress of a 

 plausible but erroneous theory. Thus the leading 

 pathological cases are familiar to English readers from 

 their appearance in one or other of these capacities 

 in the pages of several treatises on general 

 psychology. 



Nevertheless, Prof. Loveday is undoubtedly right in 

 thinking that a systematic collection of such cases by 

 a psychologist competent to select them judiciously, to 

 describe them accurately but without unnecessary 

 clinical detail, and to illuminate them by a cautious 

 commentary, would be a useful addition to the 

 student's library. Further, we believe him to be right 

 in thinking that Dr. Storring's lectures prove that he 

 possesses these qualifications in at least as high a 

 degree as any other writer on the subject. 



The besetting sin of the morbid psychologist is to 

 erect elaborate and novel systems of interpretation 

 upon a too narrow basis of fact. Dr. Storring avoids 

 this fault, and exhibits a conservatism and restraint 

 which will favourably impress even those who, like 

 his translator, do not find themselves able to accept 

 all his conclusions. 



No one who is acquainted with the present unsettled 

 state of psychological opinion upon fundamentals will 

 be surprised to find himself frequently unable to agree 

 with the author's view, or at least compelled to trans- 

 late his interpretations into what he deems a more 

 satisfactory psychological idiom. But in any case it 

 remains true that on fundamental questions of psycho- 

 logical theory — such as the nature of perception and 

 of the consciousness of self — and on questions of great 

 importance in the practical science of pedagogy — such 

 as the teaching of reading and writing, and the 

 " training of the will" — Dr. Storring's cases (though 

 NO. 2060, VOL. 80] 



thev need supplementing and correction by more 

 modern instances) throw a light the strength of 

 which is due largely to the way in which the several 

 ravs have been disposed and concentrated. 



It is doubtful whether the translator did well to 

 decline the task of finding English equivalents for 

 such Teutonisms as " disease-picture," which occu- 

 rather frequently in his pages. In a second edition 

 he should certainly .-Xnglicise the index letters of his 

 diagrams, which are, as they stand, provokingly 

 difficult to use. 



The Evolution of the Atmosphere as a Proof of Design 



in Creation. By John Phin. Pp. 191. (New York : 



The Industrial Publication Company, 1908.) 

 According to its subtitle, this work is " a simple and 

 rigorouslv scientific reply to modern materialistic 

 atheism," and, after perusing it, we find no reason 

 to dispute the first portion of the description. But 

 when we see " rigoroush' scientific," we feel inclined 

 to question the accuracy of the descriptive phrase. 



The purpose and tenor of the volume may be 

 gathered from the following extract (p. 184) : — " Any 

 one who will carefully read the works of Haeckel, 

 Tyndall, Huxley and men of that stamp cannot fail 

 to see that their intense hatred of ecclesiasticism has- 

 swayed their logic, embittered their language and 

 even led them to distort their facts when they came to 

 write about anything relating to the religious faith 

 taught in the churches." 



The greater part of the book is taken up by defini- 

 tions, and by the demonstration of simple scientific 

 experiments illustrating the physical and chemical pro- 

 perties of the atmosphere, the idea being to show 

 that, had not an intelligent creator adjusted the pro- 

 portions of terrestrial elements to the very finest con- 

 ceivable degree, the atmosphere could not have been 

 suitable for man's existence. That such creative design 

 must have superintended the composition of the primi- 

 tiye nebula of the solar system, at least, and also its 

 proper partition, is not stated by Mr. Phin, although 

 lo be " rigorously scientific " this aspect would, pre- 

 sumably, have to be considered. 



The probable sequence of the evolution of the atmo- 

 sphere is reasonably stated on lines similar to those 

 indicated in Lockyer's " Inorganic Evolution." But 

 tlie " proof " of design apparently consists of Mr. 

 Phin's statement that, because man e.xists, therefore 

 an intelligent designer mixed the eighty or so terres- 

 trial — speaking more logically " cosmical " — elements 

 in such proportions that, after all their combinations 

 and dissociations, their expansions and condensations, 

 there remained just enough nitrogen, oxygen, &c., 

 uncombined, to provide an atmosphere exactly suited 

 to the requirements of the preconceived organic life. 



That such life might have developed with, say, even 

 a little less oxygen, or even a little of the uncondensed 

 sulphuric acid he mentions, and yet not have beem 

 radically different in form, is not considered by Mr. 

 Phin ; yet we know that one species, of one age and 

 of one development, is able to exist under very different 

 conditions of atmospheric pressure and composition. 



The author concedes, for the moment, that previous 

 " evidences " have been materially weakened by the 

 theory of organic evolution, and gives that as his 

 reason for considering " inorganic " phenomena, 

 wherein Haeckel's " sexual cell-love " is, presumably, 

 inoperative. 



The readers to whom the book will appeal will no 

 doubt feel reassured by the author's statement that, 

 whilst betting or gambling for gain is immoral, " the 

 throwing of dice . . .or the tossing of coins for the 

 purpose of determining the scientific principles in- 

 volved in the theory of probability " is innocuous. 



■ W. E. ROLSTON. 



