October 25, 1889.] 



SCIENCE. 



2%r 



links may in itself be a sufficient means of appreciating the appear- 

 ance of other closely related trains of thought. Under this general 

 position, it remains to interpret the following four characteristics 

 of the results, which may be regarded as the most essential out- 

 come of the study : first, the time of a limited association is longer 

 than the time of a free association (Ilf. is longer than II.); second, 

 univocal association (where the answer is limited to one) is less than 

 the limited, or even than the free (IV. is less than III. or II.) ; third, 

 by reading a series of words belonging to the same category as the 

 words to be compared, the time of the mental process is much 

 shortened (VI. is less than V., and X. than IX.) ; fourth, the com- 

 bination of any two or three factors in the same process takes less 

 time than the sum of the times needed to perform each of the fac- 

 tors separately (VII. is less than the sum of III. and V., less the 

 time of I., which is counted twice). The first fact is not new, and 

 is explained by consideiing that in both cases, III. and II., several 

 associations present themselves to the mind, but that, while any 

 one of them will answer in II., some may have to be rejected (or 

 the association impulse inhibited) in case III. The second fact is 

 more striking, and seems to mean that the mind does not run over 

 the general category and select the one answering to the particular 

 relation, but takes the nearest and usually prominent association of 

 the limited character. Irrelevant associations do not consciously 

 reach the focus of apperception. The third fact brings out the 

 mechanism of preparation. When a series of words is read, and 

 we know we are to compare some two terms of the series, we an- 

 ticipate the general kind of comparison, and so shorten the process. 

 We throw out all those associations with the terms in question other 

 than those which they have in common with the series of words read. 

 The fourth fact accentuates the importance of the position that the 

 mind can do more than one thing at a time. If each mental pro- 

 cess had to be finished before the next one is begun, such acts as 

 reading ahead, as forming a sentence or an argument while speak- 

 ing other words, would be impossible. The results distinctly show 

 how the various processes overlap in time, and form that rich 

 complexity of inter-associated and mutually dependent fators that 

 is the charm as well as the strain of mental labor. 



The Nature of Negative Hallucinations. — M. J. 

 Foutan has recently devised an interesting method of showiog that 

 in hypnotism the physiological processes remain, while their psychic 

 interpretation is altered. If a subject be told that he sees nothing 

 red, every thing of this color falls out of his mental horizon, and we 

 have an ordinary instance of a negative hallucination. If, now, the 

 red object viewed be a red light, and if we suggest to the subject 

 that when a bell is sounded he will again be restored to normal 

 vision, and if as the bell is sounded the light is put out, the subject 

 sees a light of the complementary color, green, just as he would 

 have done when normally viewing a red light. While the brain 

 refuses passage to the sensation of red, the retina is impressed 

 with it, and re-acts to it, just as though the action were normal in 

 every respect. 



ELECTRICAL NEWS. 

 The Telephone on Railways. 



There has been in use on the Austrian State railways a portable 

 telephone that can easily be attached to a passing wire so as to 

 place the trainmen in connection with the neighboring stations. 

 An exhibition of the apparatus was recently made before a number 

 of Austrian railway-men on a line running from Hiittelsdorf to 

 Purkersdorf, with satisfactory results. 



The Duration of a Lightning Flash. — The researches 

 of Trouvelot, CoUadon, and Dufour have shown that the duration 

 of a lightning-flash is not infinitesimal, but that the flash lasts a 

 measurable time. For instance : if one sets a camera in rapid 

 vibration, and exposes in it a plate so as to receive the impre-sion 

 of the flash, it is found that the impressions appear widened out 

 on the negative, showing the negative to have moved during the 

 time the flash was in existence. 



BOOK-REVIEWS. 



The Struggle for Immortality. By ELIZABETH STUART PHELPS 

 New York, Houghton, Mififlin, & Co. i6°. $1.25. 

 This book is characteristic of the times, and could not have 

 been written at any other period. The authoress is a Christian of 

 the new liberal type, — a type so different from the old that it 

 seems another thing, — and she is a passionate believer in immor- 

 tality. She presents her views and arguments in an epigrammatic 

 style and generally with clearness, and her book is certainly enter- 

 taining. Unhappily she is a pessimist of a rather extreme type^ 

 declaring expressly that there is far more pain than pleasure in this 

 life, and consequently, that, if there is no other life before us, God 

 is not good. She admits, however, that with rare exceptions men 

 cling tenaciously to this life, which seems very strange if it brings, 

 a surplus of pain. She insists that there is more in man than 

 material forces can account for, and adduces the phenomena of 

 hypnotism and telepathy in support of this claim. Her theory of 

 immortality is as set forth in the following passage : " Immortality 

 is not a right, but a 'privilege. . . . This gift is offered to you or 

 me upon conditions which we can accept or deny at will. The 

 founder of our religion makes, we may say that he constitutes, the 

 conditions. Everlasting life is, in fact, according to this religion, 

 bestowed by Jesus Christ upon the human soul. The consequence 

 of declining this gift and its conditions would seem to be logically, 

 if not theologically, wrapped in the phrase ' everlasting death 

 (p. 137). This means, if we understand it, that, if we live like 

 Christ in this world, we shall live forever in another and happier 

 one ; but if not, we shall be annihilated. Hence arises a " struggle 

 for immortality " analogous to the struggle for existence here, in 

 which we may win or lose according to our conduct. This seems, 

 to us rather singular doctrine ; yet there is much in the book that 

 is both true and valuable, and it will serve to some extent as an. 

 antidote to the prevailing spirit of negation. 



A Dictionary of Electrical Words, Terms and Phrases. By 

 Edwin J. Houston. New York, The W. J. Johnston Co.. 

 16°. $2.50. 



The need has long been felt of some work that should give good 

 definitions of the terms which have come into use in the electric 

 science and practice that have been brought into existence mainly 

 within the past ten or twenty years. The larger dictionaries are too- 

 slow in adopting new words to serve this special purpose. In fact^ 

 some of the terms defined in Houston's " Dictionary " may be out 

 of use, and no longer words in any proper sense as conveyors of 

 ideas, by the time they figure in Worcester or Webster. Such is- 

 the march of language with those who are creating apparatus and 

 phenomena never before existing. It is unnecessary to introduce- 

 the chief editor of this electrical dictionary to our readers. Pro- 

 fessor Houston is too well known to need this. What he has- 

 done in the dictionary is, first, to give a concise definition of each 

 word or phrase, and then a brief statement of the principles of the 

 science involved in the definition, that it may be clear, in so little 

 trodden a field, just what the definition means. This statement is 

 frequently illustrated by appropriate cuts. To some extent the 

 short explanations make the work encyclopedic in its character. 



This is a first edition, and it may be that the difficulty of intro- 

 ducing a phrase under the most appropriate catch-word, so that 

 it may be readily found, has not been completely overcome ; yet 

 such an elaborate system of cross-references has been introduced 

 as to overcome this trouble to a great extent. We must say we- 

 have found it satisfactory in use so far. 



The publishers are to be commended for the large number of 

 illustrations they have placed at Professor Houston's command. 



Arthur Winslow has entered upon the duties of State geolo- 

 gist of Missouri, with headquarters at Jefferson City, and the work 

 of the survey is now begun. 



AMONG THE PUBLISHERS. 



There is announced to appear Nov. 2, 1889. and each Saturday- 

 thereafter, Nature, a weekly journal for the gentleman sportsman 

 and naturalist, to which the contributing editors will be William C. 

 Harris, Charles Hallock, Charles Barker Bradford, and J. Charles- 

 Davis. The articles will include sketches about all kinds of game- 

 hunting ; sketches about all kinds of game-shooting ; sketches on. 



