48 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. XIV. No. 337 



these, the total number of deaths was only 71. It is only by palpa- 

 ble and wilful misrepresentation that a number differing from the 

 above, and differing by more than double, has been published by 

 those who are systematic enemies of the method. In short, the 

 general mortality applicable to the whole of the operations is i per 

 cent ; and, if we subtract from the total number of deaths those of 

 persons in whom the symptoms of hydrophobia appeared a few 

 days after the treatment, — that is to say, cases in which hydro- 

 phobia had burst out (often owing to delay in arrival) before the 

 curative process was completed, — the general mortality is reduced 

 to .68 per cent". But let us for the present only consider the facts 

 relating to the English subjects whom we have treated in Paris. Up 

 to IVIay 31, 1889, their total number was 214. Of these, there have 

 been five unsuccessful cases after completion of the treatment, and 

 ■two more during treatment, or a total mortality of 3.2 per cent, or, 

 more properly, 2.3 per cent. But the method of treatment has 

 'been continually undergoing improvement; so that in 1888 

 and !i889, on a total of si.\ty-four English persons bitten by 

 mad dogs and treated in Paris, not a single case has succumbed, 

 although among these sixty-four there were ten individuals bit- 

 ten on the head, and fifty-four bitten on the limbs, often to 

 a very serious extent. I have already said that the lord mayor, 

 in his invitation, has treated the subject in a judicious man- 

 ner, from the double point of view of prophylaxis after the bite 

 and of the extinction of the disease by administrative measures. It 

 is also my own profound conviction that a rigorous observance of 

 simple police regulations would altogether stamp out hydrophobia 

 in a country like the British Isles. Why am I so confident of this } 

 ■Because, in spite of an old-fashioned and widespread prejudice, to 

 which even science has sometimes given a mistaken countenance, 

 rabies is never spontaneous. It is caused, without a single excep- 

 tion, by the bite of an animal affected with the malady. It is need- 

 less to say that in the beginning there must have been a first case 

 of hydrophobia. This is certain ; but to try to solve this problem 

 is to raise uselessly the question of the origin of life itself. It is 

 sufficient for me here, in order to prove the truth of my assertion, 

 to remind you that neither in Norway, nor in Sweden, nor in Aus- 

 tralia, does rabies exist ; and yet nothing would be easier than to 

 introduce this terrible disease into those countries by importing a 

 •few mad dogs. Let England, which has exterminated its wolves, 

 make a vigorous effort, and it will easily succeed in extirpating 

 rabies. If firmly resolved to do so, your country may secure this 

 ^reat benefit in a few years ; but, until that has been accomplished, 

 and in the present state of science, it is absolutely necessary that 

 all persons bitten by mad dogs should be compelled to undergo the 

 anti-rabic treatment. Such, it seems, is a summary of the state- 

 ment of the case by the lord mayor. The Pasteur Institute is pro- 

 foundly touched by the movement in support of the meeting. The 

 interest which his royal Highness the Prince of Wales has evinced 

 in the proposed manifestation is of itself enough to secure it suc- 

 cess. Allow me, my dear colleague, to express my feelings of af- 

 fectionate devotion." 



BOOK-REVIEWS. 

 -D^r Hypnotismiis. Von Dr. Med. Albert Mall. Berlin. 8°. 



The modern study of hypnotism may now be said to have out- 

 grown the limits of its birthplace, France, and to have acquired 

 that universal recognition that belongs to a scientifically established 

 body of doctrines. The attitude of Germany towards these ex- 

 tremely fascinating experiments and results was at first suspicious, 

 then rather adversely critical. Now, while retaining a judicious 

 scepticism regarding the more surprising results, German scholars 

 •have come to recognize the intrinsic value of hypnotism as a psy- 

 chologic method, as well as the importance of the place it occupies 

 in modern psychology. 



The German literature consists in the main of single contribu- 

 iions, partly critical and partly original, dealing with single phases 

 of the various hypnotic conditions. There have been but few gen- 

 eral treatises aiming at a convenient resume of what has been es- 

 tablished, and the present work by Dr. Mall is a rather successful 

 -attempt to supply this lack. 



The work is methodically arranged, intelligibly written, but is 



defective in laying too much stress upon individual minor points of 

 special interest to the author, and in a lack of clear distinctions- 

 between the important and the subsidiary, perhaps uncertain 

 points. 



After a brief historical introduction, in which some hitherto neg- 

 lected points in the history of hypnotism in Germany are noted, 

 the general symptoms of the hypnotic conditions are described. 

 The various stages are distinguished as to their intensity merely, 

 no other criterion as yet offered being found satisfactory. The more 

 detailed description consists of a physiological and a psychological 

 portion. In the former the changes in the movements and sensa- 

 tions, in the latter effects brought about in the region of memory 

 association and more complicated processes, are described. This 

 is naturally the most important part of the work, and is a useful 

 resume of the position taken by the Nancy school. The processes 

 are described throughout as explicable on the ground of sugges- 

 tion, conscious or unconscious. The role of the latter is particu- 

 larly important, and finds here due recognition. A further point of 

 view pervading the entire exposition is the assimilation of psychic 

 and physiological conditions observed in hypnotism with analogous 

 occurrences in sleep and waking life. This analogy with the phe- 

 nomena of normal sleep is both real and important ; and, while it 

 does not warrant our regarding hypnotism as something entirely 

 normal, it ought to remove the usual view that places it entirely in 

 the region of pathology. 



The latter half of the work deals with various aspects of hypnotic 

 study, its theoretical bearings, its practical bearings as a therapeutic 

 agent, its forensic aspect as a means of concealing crime, the allied 

 conditions found in the lower animals, and so on. While some of the 

 opinions there set forth will doubtless have to be modified, the work 

 none the less, reflects the present state of knowledge very well. 

 The work is not original, except in its arrangement and the various 

 degrees of importance it attaches to different results of experimen- 

 tation. The chief objection to its use by the laity is the rather un- 

 critical collation of good and indifferent works, of important and 

 trivial points. As a contribution to the German literature on hyp- 

 notism, it is welcome, and will find use. 



AMONG THE PUBLISHERS. 



A HOST of boys and girls under eighteen years of age have 

 been profiting themselves, and at the same time entertaining their 

 teachers, parents, and friends, by telling prize-stories in Treasure 

 Trove Magazine of New York. They have won cash prizes to the 

 extent of two hundred dollars, besides seventy dollars' worth of 

 books. Story-telling as a means of education is taking a first place 

 in the regular exercises of our public schools, where the usually 

 irksome task of composition-writing, upon which so many other 

 studies depend, has been turned by these prize-story competitions 

 into a genuine pastime. 



— B.abyhoodiox July contains much seasonable advice for moth- 

 ers of young children, the question of where to go and where not 

 to go during the summer months being thoroughly discussed. 

 " Botany for the Little Ones " is continued, and there are enter- 

 taining and instructive contributions concerning the mariy perplex- 

 ing questions that are apt to arise at the present time in the city 

 nursery as well as in the temporary country home. 



— Messrs. E. & F. N. Spon announce as in preparation " Chemi- 

 cal Technology : the Application of Chemistry to the Arts aad 

 Manufactures," by C. E. Groves and William Thorp (about 8 vol- 

 umes) ; and " Egyptian Irrigation," by W. Willcocks, M.I.C.E., 

 with introduction by Lieut.-Col. J. C. Ross, R.E., C.M.G., being a 

 physical description of Egj'pt, with particulars of various methods 

 of irrigation and drainage, and full details of engineering construc- 

 tion, and illustrated by numerous plates. They also announce as 

 nearly ready, " The Engineer's Sketch-Book of Mechanical Move- 

 ments, Devices, Appliances, and Contrivances," by Thomas Walter 

 Barber, containing details employed in the design and construction 

 of machinery for every purpose ; collected from numerous sources 

 and from actual work ; classified and arranged for reference for 

 the use of engineers, mechanical draughtsmen, managers, mechan- 

 ics, inventors, patent agents, and all engaged in the mechanical 



