JCLT 30, 1909] 



SCIENCE 



153 



" conscious " which evidently is after all used 

 merely as a synonym of " mental." Too little 

 is made of the nature and mode of dissocia- 

 tion and the biology of dissociated complexes, 

 to give the average reader matter for a less 

 misleading reconstruction of what he now 

 stores in the subconscious. With a frank ac- 

 ceptance of biological principles the interest- 

 ing but probably somewhat bewildering dis- 

 cussion could be greatly simplified. When 

 the reader has successfully divested himself 

 of the over-emphasis of the concept of con- 

 sciousness — which as we know can hardly be 

 found discussed in modern text-books on psy- 

 chology — he is again brought up to it on p. 

 154: 



But again we have even in such most complex 

 and exceptional cases only an alternation in the 

 contents, not an alternation in the consciousness 

 itself. 



If consciousness denotes chiefly the mental 

 character of the reaction, why should we go 

 on contrasting " contents " and " conscious- 

 ness " ? If it designates degrees of connec- 

 tions, why deny the alternations ? Nothwith- 

 standing these criticisms, the two chapters 

 are a most excellent piece de resistance of the 

 book. 



The second part of the book, the field of 

 psychotherapy, its general and special meth- 

 ods, and the mental and bodily symptoms, is 

 better than similar popularizations. To the 

 physician and even more to the layman, the 

 casuistic material brings much encourage- 

 ment, but probably also a false perspective, 

 although no doubt less so than many other 

 attempts of propaganda. To one familiar 

 with what has been achieved during the last 

 twenty-five years, psychotherapy must appear 

 rather broader than is depicted in the case- 

 records. The book makes it a point to ab- 

 stain from everything which is exceptional 

 or even unusual; yet, it does not make plain 

 in the cases, how much can be corrected by a 

 simple adjustment of conduct and attitude 

 (without hypnotism or other very specific 

 methods) ; or why the method employed is 

 necessarily cogent. After all the book claims 



to sketch the whole field of disturbances in 

 which psychotherapeutic influences might be 

 possible and all the methods available. 



There lies a great danger in such an at- 

 tempt of writing popularly about a matter of 

 action and procedure without a full discus- 

 sion of the principles and factors to be 

 handled. What should we think of a book on 

 drug-treatment for a general public unless it 

 analyzed the things to be treated and some 

 indications of why the matter and choice of 

 method must after all be left to the physician ? 

 Miinsterberg urges that these matters be left 

 to the physician and he even condemns the 

 running of a " psychological clinic " by a 

 non-medical psychologist. Why then discuss 

 the whole procedure before the wider public? 



It might be easy to misinterpret the pro- 

 testations that the writer would never use 

 hypnotism experimentally (p. 380). They 

 tend to give an idea that there must be some- 

 thing wrong or dangerous or queer in it, after 

 all, even in the hands of a competent M.D. 

 We certainly should not hesitate to try drugs 

 on ourselves or others to study physiological 

 effects and especially their harmlessness. 

 This feature of the third part of the book, 

 and such sentences as " It is never the task of 

 the minister to heal a mind and never the 

 task of a physician to uplift a mind. One 

 moves in the purposive sphere, the other in 

 the causal sphere " — and the continual dog- 

 matic discrimination against psychiatry in 

 which psychotherapy (though not merely hyp- 

 notism and tricks) is daily more essential, 

 might well be modified in further editions. 



It is a pity that the book is intended to 

 serve for propaganda to so many classes. A 

 book frankly addressed to physicians, and 

 another frankly addressed to the layman 

 would have been safer and more acceptable. 

 Adolf Meyer 



Anwendung elementarer Mathematih auf 

 hiologische ProUeme. H. Przibr.am. Leip- 

 zig, Engelmann. 1908. Pp. vi + 84. 

 (Forming Heft III. of Vortrage und 

 Aufsatze iiber Entwieklungsmechanik der 

 Organismen.) 



