Fbbruaey 18, 1898.] 



SCIENCE. 



249 



ferent individuals and under different condi- 

 tions. But one fact remains constant : Under 

 the influence of a meal there occurs an accelera- 

 tion of the heart, an augmentation iu the 

 amplitude of pulsation, and a lower position of 

 the dicrotism. As the hour of the meal grows 

 more distant the heart works more slowly, the 

 amplitude of pulsation decreases, the dicrotism 

 mounts toward the summit of the pulsation and 

 tends to diminish or disappear. These phe- 

 nomena are not due to the changed tempera- 

 ture of the hand alone, and are seen in the 

 pulse of the wrist and of the carotids, as well 

 as of the capillaries. They are doubtless inti- 

 mately related to the sense of well-being, ex- 

 pansion and force which follows a moderate 

 repast. 



(3) Les effets du travail musculaire sur la circu- 

 lation capillaire (Pp. 30-41) : Binbt and Cour- 

 tier. Local and fatiguing muscular exercise 

 produces a weakening of the dicrotism, a blunt- 

 ing of the point of the pulsation, a tendency 

 toward displacement of the dicrotism toward 

 the point. General and moderate muscular 

 exercise lowers and accentuates the dicrotism 

 and sharpens the point of pulsation. General 

 and fatiguing exercise weakens the dicrotism 

 without displacing it toward the summit. 



(4) Effets du travail intellectuel sur la circula- 

 tion capillaire (Pp. 42-64) : Binet and Cour- 

 tier. Short and energetic intellectual effort 

 produces an excitation of the functions, vaso- 

 constriction, acceleration of the heart and res- 

 piration, followed by a slight slackening of 

 these functions ; also in certain subjects, 

 weakening of the dicrotism. Intellectual work 

 lasting several hours with relative immobil- 

 ity of the body diminishes the hearf^s rapidity 

 and the peripheral capillary circulation. 



(5) Influence de la vie Smotionnelle sur le coeur, 

 la respiration et la circulation capillaire (Pp. 

 65-126.) : Binet and Courtier. In most per- 

 sons every emotion produces a vaso-constriction, 

 an acceleration of heart and respiration, and an 

 increase in amplitude of the chest ; and the 

 more intense the emotion, the more marked are 

 these effects. In a few rare cases a sensation of 

 pain and an emotion of sadness very slightly 

 lessened the rapidity of the heart. It is possible, 

 as was shown by observation of one subject es- 



pecially, that the form of the capillary pulse 

 changes with the quality of the emotions — a fact 

 which may some time make possible a classifica- 

 tion of emotions according to their physiological 

 effects upon the form of the pulse. 



(6) Influence du travail infellectziel, des emo- 

 tions et du travail physique sur la pression du sang 

 (Pp. 127-183) : Binet and Vaschide. An im- 

 proved form of the sphygmomanometer of 

 Mosso was used to indicate the relative, though 

 it did not give the absolute, measure of the blood 

 pressure. This was found to increase under 

 the influence of all the excitations mentioned 

 above. The most intense effect was produced 

 by physical work ; spontaneous emotions came 

 next, and the least intense effect was given by 

 intellectual work. As the capillary pulse 

 seemed to be intimately related to the quality 

 of emotions, so the pressure of blood may prove 

 to furnish a measure of the quantity (or inten- 

 sity) of mental phenomena. 



(7) Enquele sur les premiers souvenirs de Ven- 

 fance (Pp. 184-198) : V. and C. Henri. A 

 series of questions was published in various re- 

 views in 1895, to which 123 answers have been 

 received. The first memory may be of an event 

 occurring as early as the age of six months, or 

 as late as eight years ; the large majority corre- 

 spond to the age of two to four. Other inter- 

 esting details are given, and a further pursuit 

 of the enquiry is promised. 



(8) Sur la localization des souvenirs. La lo- 

 calization dans les experiences sur la memoire im- 

 mediate des mots (Pp. 199-224) : N. Vaschide. 

 Series of words were read, 8 to 20 in number, 

 and the subject was required to indicate the 

 position of each word in the series. The main 

 results were these : (1) There is not one sin- 

 gle method of localization, but several differing 

 greatly from one another. (2) These methods 

 do not all of them depend essentially upon the 

 memory ; some depend on reasoning ; and in 

 many cases, where the localization is made by 

 memory, reasoning directs or controls the task. 

 (3) The localization is not made always, as has 

 been supposed, by association, or, in other 

 words, by reference to certain ' points de re- 

 pere.' That is only one form, the mediate 

 form. Some localizations are direct, imme- 

 diate. 



