42 



NA TURE 



{May 21, 1874 



ideational state, intensified, as it is, by the circumstances 

 which surround it. So independent of volition is the in- 

 fluence of the ideational state in these cases, that it often 

 operates in opposition to the dictates of the Will, and the 

 writer has himself seen, more than once, answers extorted, 

 as it were, from a member of a seance, unwillingly on his 

 part, simply in consequence of his own highly-strained 

 ideational condition conveying a knowledge through his 

 muscles to those who sat with him at the innocent and 

 obedient piece of furniture. Dr. Carpenter also shows 

 that under this head of Ideo-motor action may be ranged 

 " all those actions performed by us in our ordinary course 

 of life," such as the use of language to express our 

 thoughts, which requires no separate volitional effort, at 

 all events when once we have entered on a train of 

 speech. 



But though giving up so large a field of human life to 

 the non-volitional activity, Dr. Carpenter still keeps the 

 Will in view, as a sort of abstract entity, as a " suppo- 

 sititius," or reserve champion sitting in wait, ready to 

 step in if occasion should call. " The dominant Idea 

 determines these movements, the Will simply pennilliiig 

 them." 



We can give in a few words a summary of Dr. Carpen- 

 ter's theory of the relation of the Emotions to the Will. 

 He begins by saying that " the Will has no direct power 

 over the emotional sensibility," it can only operate to 

 withdraw the attention from the emotional state and fix it 

 determinately upon some other object. Again, the Will 

 '• can exert itself in preventing the expression of the ex- 

 erted feelings in action " by suppressing the muscular 

 exhibition of our emotional states ; and again, " where 

 the Emotion is not a mere passion, but is a state oifeeliiie; 

 connected with some definite idea, the power of the Will 

 is most effectually exerted in withdrawing the mind from 

 the influence of that idea, by fixing the attention upon 

 some otlter" — the power of self-control extends itself 

 from our impulses to the habitual succession of tlie 

 thouglits. 



We had already learnt our author's views on the rela- 

 tion of the Will to mental and bodily action, but in the 

 middle of his treatise we come upon a full and careful 

 amplification of his opinions on this head, developing his 

 theory of the influence of the Will on the formation of 

 beliefs and on the conduct. We cannot do better than 

 give in his own words Dr. Carpenter's doctrine on the 

 latter head : — 



" To carry into action the volitional determination, to 

 give to the ' I will ' its practical effect, something more is 

 usually needed than the mere preponderance of motives. 

 The idea of tlie tliim; to be done (which we have seen to 

 be the necessary antecedent of all volitional action) may 

 indeed be so decided and forcible, when once fully 

 adopted, as of itself to produce a degree of nervous 

 tension that serves to call forth respondent muscular 

 movements, as in the purely ideo-motor form of action. But 

 in general a distinct exertion of the Will is needed to give 

 to the ideational state the energy requisite to call forth 

 the action that expresses it, and this is especially the 

 case where either some powerfully opposing motive di- 

 minishes the force of the preponderance, or a state of 

 fatigue causes the bodfly mechanism to bo less easily called 

 into action." 



Hitherto we have been dealing with what the author 

 calls "General Physiology;" we come now to the other 



division of the work, on " Special Physiology," and the 

 transition is marked by a change of matter and style. 

 We feel that, in reading this latter portion of the book we 

 are being rewarded for the care which is necessary to the 

 mastery of the deeper and more valuable philosophy of 

 the earlier chapters. We have got — we do not speak dis- 

 respectfully — out of school into the playground, and we 

 revel in the contemplation of the "morbid conditions" of 

 the mind, illustrated as they are by numerous relevant 

 anecdotes. Mesmerism, somnambulism, and dreaming 

 are all subjects which attract and entertain, especially 

 when treated of by a scientific pen. But we feel that this 

 portion of the work does not call for special criticism so 

 much as what we have already gone through. " Morbid 

 conditions " are very valuable as throwing light on the 

 operation of normal and healthy conditions, but happily 

 the epithet " morbid " is interchangeable with the epithet 

 " exceptional," and therefore we think that the morbid 

 does not require such close treatment as the normal. 



Dr. Carpenter winds up his work with a chapter on 

 Mind and Will in Nature, and in it brings to a poetical 

 conclusion what he has so carefully and exhaustively un- 

 ravelled in the preceding pages. 



ANDR^ AND RAYET'S ''PRACTICAL 

 ASTRONOMY" 

 LAsttononiie pratique et les Observatoires en Europe et 

 en Amerique. Par C. Andr(^ et G. Rayet. Y partie, 

 Angleterre. (Paris : Gauthier-Villars. 1874.) 

 "TPHIS httle unpretending volume is of considerable im- 

 -S- portance. Not only is it the commencement of a 

 series which is intended to include the history of 

 practical astronomy throughout the civilised world, but 

 independently of this, it has claims to notice which are 

 not to be measured by its limited dimensions. 



The wide outspreading in the present day of a taste for 

 astronomical observation would lead us to regard with favour 

 anything tending to increase our knowledge of what has 

 been and is being done, especially when it is set before us 

 in so pleasing a form ; and we cannot but admit that our 

 neighbours have in this respect got the start of us. Not- 

 withstanding all our efforts to render Science generally 

 intelligible and acceptable, we have not yet succeeded in 

 bringing out such attractive little manuals as proceed from 

 the presses of MM. Gauthier-Villars and Hachette. Our 

 larger and more elaborate treatises may well bear a com- 

 parison with anything of a similar calibre produced else- 

 where ; but in familiar, inexpensive, tasteful manuals, the 

 light artillery, so to speak, of the scientific campaign, we 

 must own ourselves fairly beaten by our nearest neigh- 

 bours, who have set us a worthy example. We cannot, 

 happily, and if we could we would not, say in this instance, 

 fas est et ab hoste doceri. There was a time when such a re- 

 mark would have been thought appropriate, but " nous a vons 

 changd tout celk ;" and if such a thoroughly ill-natured and 

 reprehensible observation were to be attempted now, it 

 would meet its ample refutation in this work, which adds 

 to its other merits the charm of courteous and kindly 

 feeling. Next to the cordial abandonment of individual 

 hostility, or the loving, tender reconcihation of alienated 

 friendship, what can be more pleasing than the abate- 

 ment of national antipathies and the softening down of 

 those asperities which have but too deeply marked the 



