60 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XLIV. No. 1124 



that some of the clinical cases cited for illus- 

 tration contain insufficient data to make them 

 entirely convincing, loses some of its force 

 perhaps, when it is recalled that the book is 

 intended primarily for popular instruction, and 

 to that end lapses naturally into the anecdotal 

 style. 



The author is delightful in his incorrigible 

 optimism as to the hopefulness of treatment of 

 insanity, crime and feeblemindedness under 

 more rational conditions of organization and 

 classification, and by more scientific methods 

 than have hitherto existed. The general treat- 

 ment of insanity he considers under three pe- 

 riods corresponding to the three tenses. The 

 past was the period of mechanical restraint. 

 The present is the period of custodial care. 

 The future will be the period, let us hope, of 

 curative treatment. The present, with all its 

 humanitarian ideals and active therapeutic 

 efforts is still the period of custodial care. "We 

 must perhaps admit it. 



But the author looks ahead to the time when 

 the state hospitals shall no longer be in the 

 main simply repositories for the mentally in- 

 firm. He suggests that these institutions 

 should comprise five definitely organized de- 

 partments: (1) research, (2) curative, (3) in- 

 dustrial, (4) custodial, (5) hospital. The re- 

 search and curative departments he would have 

 under one administration consisting of an 

 alienist, a physiologist, a pathologist, and a 

 psychologist, together with field-workers and 

 such other assistants as might be required. 

 The plan as outlined is admirable, and already 

 partially operative in many institutions. But 

 Dr. Smith's forecast culminates in an ultra- 

 optimism. " Might not the per cent, of ' dis- 

 charged as cured' from our asylums be raised 

 from twenty-five or thirty-three per cent, to 

 eighty or ninety per cent., if all the resources 

 of science, art and humanity were brought into 

 requisition immediately on admission of each 

 person legally committed as insane ? " In the 

 author's discussion it might seem that the 

 environmental factors, important as they are 

 unquestionably, are stressed too much, or 

 rather that the endogenic factors are insuffi- 

 ciently stressed. 



Excellent is the author's insistence upon the 

 value of the work-cure in mental disease, and 

 of the work-habit as prophylaxis, maintained 

 onward into old age. " Betirement from busi- 

 ness at this period, to enjoy the fruits of a life 

 of toil, is to turn one's face towards the ceme- 

 tery to which he will hasten with ever quicken- 

 ing step." 



The nonagenarian physician evidently prac- 

 tises his own gospel, for now at ninety-three 

 comes from his pen a book full of valuable and 

 interesting material and fruitful suggestion, 

 reflecting the youthful spirit of hopefulness 

 and progress, rather than the retrospective 

 sadness of a less efficient old age. 



C. B. Farrae 



Beekeeping. By E. F. Phillips, Ph.D. Bural 

 Science Series. New York, Macmillan & 

 Co. Pp. xxii + 457. 190 figs. Price $2.00. 

 We are living in an age of applied science; 

 but the student of animal behavior is perhaps 

 little concerned with the possible application 

 of his branch of scientific inquiry. On this 

 account the author's fundamental conception 

 and mode of treatment are of particular inter- 

 est. Beekeeping is applied animal behavior. 

 As the author suggests, the well-informed 

 beekeeper probably has a wider and more 

 accurate knowledge concerning bees than have 

 many students of animal behavior concerning 

 the species with which they work. The suc- 

 cessful beekeeper is, as we are told, the man 

 " who has a knowledge of the activities of bees, 

 whereby he can interpret what he sees in the 

 hives from day to day, and who can mould 

 the instincts of the bees to his convenience and 

 profit." In this volume, therefore, the bee is 

 treated as a living animal and special stress is 

 laid upon its behavior and physiology in so far 

 as investigations have thrown light upon these 

 processes. 



The United States Department of Agricul- 

 ture is singularly fortunate in having as its 

 chief expert in bee culture one so well 

 fitted by the character of his training as Dr. 

 Phillips, who has approached, from the stand- 

 point indicated above, a subject which is per- 

 haps more liable than most branches of agri- 



