NOVEMIIEK 9, 18§3.] 



SCIENCE. 



623 



some distance beyond his abiding-place l)y reason of 

 mental pre-occupation. There are two lines of cere- 

 bral action going on at once, — one, the active mental 

 study which engrosses liini; the other, the uncon- 

 scious action that keeps hira out of danger from pass- 

 ing vehicles, or from other causes inciilent to city 

 life. The limitation of direction which Professor 

 Newcorab regards as exceptional, I consider as gen- 

 eral: i.e., I believe that there are vastly more men 

 who have no definite idea of lines as a standard of 

 reference, than there are those who refer every thing 

 in direction to such co-ordinates; just as there are 

 many who never have any definite ieiea of the cardi- 

 nal points of the comp.ass, either as real or ideal points, 

 and who never arrive at any clear conception of the 

 bearings of familiar buildings, or the direction of 

 streets, though they may live in the same city for 

 years. The domination or tyranny of a fixed Idea 

 is explanatory of the difficulty which Professor New- 

 comb experiences. His ideal or subjective west was 

 the domination of a fixed idea indelibly imprinted 

 upon the super-sensitive cerebral cortex of youtli, not 

 necessarily associated with ideal or absolute direction, 

 or with any system of horizontal lines, but an iso- 

 lated conception, formed out of the perception of 

 different positions, which in early youtli could hardly 

 be correlated with any abstruse reasoning. This idea 

 of west, once ingrafted upon a developing brain, be- 

 came a fixed factor, so dominant as to tyrannize over 

 the understanding, and so persistent as to require 

 some moments of study to dispel the illusion. This 

 becomes evident from an analysis of his third divis- 

 ion. The tyranny of the early idea has usurped 

 control over the will, and, indeed, over the whole 

 cerebral outcome. Even though the internal evi- 

 dence corres]ionds with the external bearings to show 

 that his preconceived west is really not west, but 

 some other point, yet so strong is the power of this 

 subjective idea, that by no process of argument can 

 he rid himself of it. This is not uncommon, but by 

 no means of frequent occurrence. But it is not a nor- 

 mal harmony of relation between the various recipro- 

 cal functions of the brain. It is likened to a haljit 

 formed in youth, so strong as to be ineradicable in 

 manhood, and has been studied with much care by 

 psychologists. Again : one may be mistaken as to 

 direction, or become confused in tracing his route 

 through the intricacies of his hotel, without associat- 

 ing such perversions with any states of subjective 

 consciousness, so far as these states may involve 

 the consideration or dilTerentiation of the 'co-ordi- 

 nates.' A man who is ignorant of the cardinal points 

 of the compass, and who never can tell in which di- 

 rection he is facing, loses his way because he lias lost 

 his bearings: the road was known by reason of the 

 association of other facts, — a certain house just here, 

 or a lamp just there, — and not because his horizontal 

 lines have led him astray. In view of- what we have 

 h'arned of unconscious cerebral action, of habit, of 

 the association of ideas, of the tyranny of a fixed idea, 

 and of subjective states of consciousness leading on 

 to abnormal objective conditions, it seems to me that 

 Professor Newcomb's case is not an isolated one, and 

 that what he has written of himself has already been 

 written of and discussed. 



HoitATio R. BuiEi.ow, M.D. 

 WHsliinston, Ti.C. 



Colorado climate. 



For the benefit of other sufferers, please allow me 

 to correct nliat is likely to lead to an erroneous im- 

 pression, on reading Dr. Fisk's article on 'Climate in 

 the cure of consumption," as published in Scien'CK of 



Oct. 5. Dr. Fisk, in his very able article, like most 

 of those who have written of the fitness of the cli- 

 mate of Colorado for consumptives, speaks as though 

 Denver City were Colorado, and vice versa. 



Now, this unintentionally misleading impression 

 is calculated to do serious harm. During the late 

 spring, and in summer and autumn, Denver and 

 neighboring localities may be quite as pleasant and 

 beneficial to the consumptive as localities south of 

 the 'divide' that separates the waters of the Platte 

 from those of the Arkansas. 



But, during the cool and cold months, the Arkan- 

 sas valley furnishes a very much l)etter climate than 

 can be found anywhere north of this divide in Colo- 

 rado. It is scarcely necessary to state that the Ar- 

 kansas valley furnishes all the necessary comforts of 

 civilization, including convenient railroad transporta- 

 tion. As a rule, with rare exceptions, the consump- 

 tive should not sojourn in towns or cities, but rather 

 in rural districts. But, should the consumptive pre- 

 fer town or city life, Pueblo, Canon City, and other 

 places in the Arkansas valley, afford ample accom- 

 modation. 



Having long been a sufferer myself, and having 

 sought health in many portions of North America, 

 I speak of the before referred to localities from obser- 

 vation and experience, and without prejudice or pe- 

 cuniary interest. Q. C. S.MiTir, M.D. 



Austin, Tex., Oct. 18, 1833. 



[Dr. Fisk's article was written with especial refer- 

 ence to Denver, as the necessary data exist for that 

 place, furnished by the records of the signal-service 

 station: these do not exist for localities in the Ar- 

 kansas valley. — Editor.] 



A BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF AS- 

 TRONOMY. 



Heroes of science — astronomers. By E. T. C. 

 Morton, B.A., scholar of St. John's college, 

 Cambridge. London, Societi/ for promoting 

 Christian knowledge, [1882.] 341 p. 16°. 



From the title, 'Heroes of science — as- 

 tronomers,' one might expect to find in this 

 little book an account of the lives and a 

 ctilogiiim of the characters of the greatest 

 astronomers, with some general indication of 

 the nature of their discoveries. This expec- 

 tation would be partially corrected by the 

 opening paragraphs of the preface : — 



" The primary object of this little book is. as its 

 name implies, to give some account of the lives of 

 the chief astronomers. But it is impossible to leave 

 in the mind of the general reader any clear notion 

 of their characters, without giving s<itne account of 

 their work. A good deal of space is therefore taken 

 up with explanations of their discoveries; but, as 

 this is only of secondary importance, the explana- 

 tions are given in a popular manner, and no mathe- 

 maJics is introduced, except in ten pages (172-182), 

 where a knowledge of tlie first book of Euclid and 

 of the elements of algebra is assumed. 



" The book may possibly be useful as an introduc- 

 tion to the study of astnniomy, and, in this aspect of 

 it, it is lioped that it may be helpful in two respects: 

 First, by putting before the student the personal 

 difficulties which the first investigators of the law 



