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SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. VII. No. 164. 



(9) Nouvelles recherches siir la localization des 

 sensations tactiles. Z.' experience d' Aristote 

 (Pp. 225-231) : V. Henri. If two fingers are 

 crossed and their ends touched by the two 

 points of a compass, then the further removed 

 from one another the two points actually 

 touched, the nearer they will seem ; and the 

 point actually to the left will seem to the sub- 

 ject to be toward the right, and vice versa. If 

 in this position of the fingers a single point of 

 one finger be touched, it will be mistaken for 

 the corresponding point of the other finger. 

 Previous theories of tactile localization cannot 

 explain these facts, and a discussion of their 

 explanation is reserved for a later paper. 



(10) Etude sur le travail psychique et physique 

 (Pp. 232-278) : V. Henei. This paper is a 

 contribution to the study of ' individual psy- 

 chology.' Two factors enter into all work, 

 whether mental or physical : voluntary effort, 

 for the measure of which no sufficient test yet 

 exists ; and attention. The following tests are 

 suggested for the study of the constancy and 

 variations of the latter : (1) a series of dis- 

 criminative reactions ; (2) mental calculations, 

 multiplication being preferable to addition ; (3) 

 writing to dictation as rapidly as possible ; (4) 

 learning by heart series of twelve numerals, and 

 noting the number of repetitions necessary, and 

 the number learned after each five minutes. 

 Each of these tests shows results differing 

 greatly with different individuals. Beside 

 these general factors other special factors 

 enter into particular kinds of work. Physical 

 work depends especially upon motor ability or 

 skill, for whose testing no thoroughly good test 

 has been suggested, and muscular power, best 

 studied by determining the manner in which an 

 individual becomes fatigued. For this purpose 

 Krapelin's modification of Mosso's ergograph is 

 well suited. For methods of determining the 

 factors entering into mental work Henri refers 

 to the article published by him and Binet in the 

 previous review. He further shows the im- 

 portance to pedagogy of these researches on 

 mental and physical work, and finally presents, 

 with some detail, the results attained by pre- 

 vious investigators in this field, and gives a 

 bibliography of the subject. 



(11) Reflexions sur le paradoxe de Diderot 



(Pp. 279-295) : A. Binet. Diderot claimed that 

 a great actor does not experience the emotions 

 that he depicts, and supported this contention 

 by several arguments. Binet questioned nine 

 actors in regard to this, and all replied unani- 

 mously that an actor always feels more or less 

 the emotions of his character. Binet analyzes 

 this artistic emotion and also the complex state 

 of consciousness, at once emotional and critical, 

 of both actor and spectator. 



(12) Psychologie individuelle — La description, 

 d'un object (Pp. 296-332) : A. Binet. Binet 

 here again insists upon the importance of the 

 study of the higher mental processes as a means 

 for making advance in individual psychology, 

 and describes in detail one such test. In study- 

 ing younger children he had them give a de- 

 scription, from direct observation or from mem- 

 ory, of a photograph presenting a number of 

 details. He notes the length of the descriptions, 

 the amount of simplification (an average of only 

 two-fifths of the objects presented in the photo- 

 graph were described, and in passing from per- 

 ception to memory one-third of the objects were 

 forgotten), the kind of objects selected for de- 

 scription and the associations with the memory 

 of the fable of which the photograph was a- 

 representation. He compares children of dif- 

 ferent ages, and finds that he can divide the in- 

 dividual children into four types, as follows : 



(1) the descriptive type, describing only objects, 

 and especially their prominent characteristics, 

 without attempting to seize their significance ; 



(2) the observing type, fixing their attention 

 especially on the subject of the scene, judging 

 and interpreting what is perceived ; (3) the 

 emotional type, attaching emotional terms to 

 the objects described (but this type is not neces- 

 sarily emotional in ordinary life) ; and (4) the- 

 erudite type, who, in place of describing the 

 picture, express their knowledge of its subject. 



Binet applied the test also to older persons, 

 placing before them, as object for description,^ 

 a cigarette. He finds here also four types, 

 identical with the above, with the exception that 

 the emotional type does not appear; and a fifth 

 is described : the idealistic, imaginative and 

 poetic. 



E. B. Delabarre. 



Brown University. 



