December 27, 1912] 



SCIENCE 



907 



ical analysis. Much experimental material 

 follows under the titles of attention, appre- 

 hension and perception, while the need for the 

 special understanding of the immediate mean- 

 ing of these words is recognized and met. 

 Clinical methods have had a relatively large 

 share in the development of experiment along 

 these lines. As in other cases, the chapter on 

 memory leaves the reader with a decided 

 sentim.enial d'incompletude, hut the clinician 

 should find very convenient the samples of 

 material for the different sorts of memory 

 tests. The work of Kent and Eosanoff has 

 due recognition in the chapter on association, 

 though not the work of the Zurich school, 

 which is the opposite of the usual ease. Some 

 simple material which can be used for calcula- 

 tion tests is also presented. Under the " Time 

 of Mental Processes " are discussed various 

 forms of sorting tests, also of the A-test, 

 these latter apparently all of Franz's own 

 devising, though several other forms are ex- 

 tant. The remaining chapters are of an 

 observational rather than experimental bear- 

 ing, but are very useful in their present rela- 

 tion, especially the scheme of general exam- 

 ination, which is an excellent groundwork. 

 In closing, there are described the elementary 

 statistical procedures which the clinical ob- 

 server might have occasion to use. 



It is evident that to adequately write a book 

 of this sort one must have the clinical view- 

 point continually in mind and keep it con- 

 tinually in the reader's mind; the author has 

 accomplished this better than other writers of 

 similar books who have been physicians. The 

 commentaries, both general and on the special 

 tests presented, should be an exceedingly use- 

 ful complement to the meager training in 

 psychology which the younger physicians in 

 our mental hospitals have usually received; 

 it is for their hands that the book seems in- 

 tended, and for whom it should perform its 

 most useful work. The reference lists, how- 

 ever, are ill-proportioned and too condensed. 

 The book is clear and very practical within 

 certain limits, but it is not as good a book as 

 its author should have written. J". L. W. 



Building Stones and Clay-Products: A Hand- 

 book for Architects. By Heinrich Ries. 

 New York, John Wiley & Sons; London, 

 Chapman and Hall, Limited. 

 The work under the above title, comprising 

 upwards of 400 pages, is acknowledgedly an 

 attempt to prepare an elementary treatise on 

 the subjects mentioned for the benefit of the 

 students in the College of Architecture of 

 Cornell University and for architects in gen- 

 eral. 



The first 250 pages of the work are devoted 

 to building stones, the remainder to clay and 

 clay-products. In attempting to cover so much 

 ground within a limited number of pages 

 much has to be omitted, and the question nat- 

 urally arises if the subject does not suffer by 

 such condensation to the extent of largely 

 losing its value. The portion devoted to stone 

 contains nothing that is not to be found in 

 other easily available works and its usefulness 

 must depend largely upon the method of ar- 

 rangement of the subject material. The sec- 

 ond portion is little more than an abbreviation 

 of what the author has already included in 

 his well-known work on " Clays, Their Occur- 

 rence, Properties and Uses." The subject is 

 one on which the writer is acknowledgedly an 

 authority. 



The numerous illustrations are for the most 

 part well selected and executed. A very good 

 bibliography, glossary and index accompany 

 the work. 



A few minor errors are observed, as in the 

 credit to Merrill on page 49, and to Watson 

 on page 50. These are, however, compara- 

 tively immaterial matters. 



Geo. p. Merrill 



SPECIAL ABTICLES 



the relationships of the chestnut 



blight fungus 



The writer was the nrst to question the 



identity of the chestnut blight fungus, Dia- 



porthe parasitica Murrill. In the 1908 Eeport 



of the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment 



Station he said: 



We are not yet sure that Viaporthe parasitica 

 has not been collected before under some other 



