May 15, 1896.] 



SCIENCE. 



lAl 



Fear. Angelo Mosso. Translated from the 

 fifth edition of the Italian by E. Lough and 

 F. Kiesow. London, New York and Bombay, 

 Longmans, Green & Co. 1896. Pp. 278. 

 Prof. Mosso is' one of the most eminent of 

 modern physiologists, and he is an Italian. 

 This book bears ample witness to both facts. 

 It is largely occupied with descriptions of the 

 author's ingenious experiments on the cerebral 

 blood-supply, and is written with naive open- 

 ness, eloquence and assurance that read more 

 oddly in the English translation than in the 

 original Italian. 



The book not only describes the emotions, 

 but also expresses them and appeals to them. 

 It contains graphic descriptions of convivial 

 feasts and death-bed scenes, even of a syi^hili- 

 tic woman and of a head cut off from the body. 

 We are told of the author's feelings at his 

 mother's grave and on which side of the face 

 his sister blushes. The book is expressly in- 

 tended for the general public, but will probably, 

 in the Anglo-Saxon race at least, contribute 

 less to its instruction than to the morbid appe- 

 tite already sufliciently fed by the daily news- 

 papers. 



The first half of the book discusses chiefly the 

 functions of the brain and spinal cord, and 

 more especially the relation of the circulation 

 of the blood to emotional disturbances. It is 

 well known that we owe to Prof. Mosso the 

 method of measuring the decrease in the vol- 

 ume of the extremities of the body due to con- 

 gestion of the brain when it is excited by 

 mental activity, the balance showing the move- 

 ment of blood to the brain, and many other im- 

 portant investigations on cerebral circulation. 

 Mosso's work in this field is of much value and 

 originality, and it is an advantage to have it ac- 

 cessible in English, even though the method of 

 presentation is not very systematic nor scien- 

 tific. 



The second half of the book is concerned 

 chiefly with the expression of the emotions, not 

 being confined exclusively to fear. Mosso argues 

 against the view that the expression of the emo- 

 tions must of necessity be useful to the individ- 

 ual. As the translation makes him say ' Spencer 

 and Darwin were not physiologists enough.' 

 It is undoubtedly true that certain expressions 



of the emotions are pathological. Trembling, 

 as an effect of fright, is probably no more useful 

 to the individual than paralysis agitans. There 

 are evident limits to the adaptability of the 

 organism. The nervous system best suited to 

 ^■espond to ordinary stimuli may and does fail 

 in the presence of unusual conditions. Mosso 

 does not accept Mantegazza's extraordinary 

 theory that a frightened animal trembles to keep 

 its blood warm, but he holds that this is the rea- 

 son why its hair stands on end ! 



The psychology in the book is not such as to 

 warrant serious criticism. Mosso writes : 



" We imagine that the impressions of the external 

 world form a current which penetrates the nerves, 

 and without either abatement or check, diffuses and 

 transforms itself in the centers, finally reappearing in 

 the sublime form of the idea ; this is the notion of 

 the soul held by the philosophers o£ remote an- 

 tiquity ; this is the base of modern psychology." 



Indeed, the book does not appear quite con- 

 temporary ; there is no discussion of the relation 

 between pain and sensation, nor of the James- 

 Lange theory of emotions, according to which 

 the expression is the cause of the emotion and 

 not conversely. The heredity of acquired 

 characters is taken as a matter of course. We 

 are told ' ' civilization has remodeled our nerve- 

 centers ; there is a culture which heredity trans- 

 mits to the brains of our children." 



The reader who looks for an index will find 

 in its place a twenty-four page catalogue of 

 Messrs. Longmans, Green & Co.'s publications. 

 J. McKeen Cattell. 



Natiirwissenschaftliche Einfuhrung in die Bak- 

 teriologie: By Ferdinand Hueppe, Univer- 

 sity of Prague. 268 pp. C. W. Kheidel, 

 Wiesbaden, Pub. 



Books upon bacteriological technique have 

 been somewhat common in recent years but 

 nothing has hitherto appeared, which, leaving 

 out laboratory methods and systematic details, 

 gives a summary of the important discoveries 

 of modern bacteriology. The reputation of the 

 author of the present work as one of the leaders 

 in modern bacteriology is a sufficient guarantee 

 of its value fi-om a scientific standpoint, and the 

 subjects treated are a sufficient guarantee of its 

 interest. To one who wishes to know what 

 bacteriology has accomplished and what prob- 



