524 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XXII. No. 565. 



rank as the standard tests, and so introduce 

 order into the existing confusion, and make 

 the future results of different workers in this 

 field comparable with one another. The prin- 

 cipal difficulty to which the authors address 

 themselves is the selection of materials and 

 conditions which can be described with such 

 scientific precision as to be reproducible from 

 the mere description by any other worker. 

 Eor example, in a specially difficult test to 

 standardize, that for sensitiveness to faint 

 colors, the authors use aqueous solutions of 

 analin dyes; light passes through the solu- 

 tions, under definite conditions, to the sub- 

 ject's eye, and his sensitiveness is measured 

 by the strength of the weakest solution in 

 which he detects the color. This seems, on 

 the whole, the most ingenious of the authors' 

 innovations, of which there are many. In 

 addition to determinations of the least notice- 

 able sensations and differences in sensation, 

 the authors suggest a system of tests on mem- 

 ory, association, imagination, judgment, rea- 

 soning, attention, etc. They frankly point 

 out the gaps in their system, which they are 

 as yet unable to fill satisfactorily. A chapter 

 is devoted to the general technique of experi- 

 mentation, the necessity of noting the condi- 

 tion of the subject, and of excluding certain 

 subjects as unsuited to psychological tests, 

 the proper attitude toward working hypotheses 

 and toward the literature of a question, the 

 necessity, in addition to quantitative tests, of 

 less rigorous observation, which should, how- 

 ever, be brought up as nearly as possible to 

 the exact standard of experimentation. An 

 appendix of sixty pages is devoted to the re- 

 printing of tests which can be fully presented 

 in alphabetical or musical notation. 



In view of the slack attention to standard 

 "conditions that characterizes much work in 

 psychology, this book should do considerable 

 good. As the most serious attempt to present 

 a standard series of tests, it is worthy of at- 

 tention and a large measure of acceptance. 

 It can not hope, of course, to be definitive, 

 and, indeed, the authors repudiate any such 

 claim. More is to be gained, perhaps, by 

 insistence on the general principle of standard 

 and exactly reproducible conditions, than by 



the conformity of all workers in the field to 

 any one set of tests. 



E. S. WOODWORTH. 



Columbia University. 



SCIENTIFIC JOURNALS AND ARTICLES. 



The first number of Economic Geology, a 

 semi-quarterly journal devoted tO' geology as 

 applied to mining and allied industries has 

 been issued under the editorship of John Duer 

 Irving, of Lehigh University. The associate 

 editors are : Waldemar Lindgren, Washington, 

 D. C. ; James Turman Kemp, Columbia Uni- 

 versity; Frederick Leslie Ransome, Washing- 

 ton, D. C; Heinrieh Hies, Cornell University; 

 Marius R. Campbell, Washington, D. C, and 

 Charles Kenneth Leith, University of Wis- 

 consin. The contents of the first number are : 

 ' The Present Standing of Applied Geology,' 

 Frederick Leslie Ransome ; ' Secondary En- 

 richment in Ore-Deposits of Copper,' James 

 Furman Kemp ; ' Hypothesis to Account for 

 the Transformation of Vegetable Matter into 

 the Different Varieties of Coal,' Marius R. 

 Campbell ; ' Ore-Deposition and Deep Mining,' 

 Waldemar Lindgren; ' Genesis of the Lake 

 Superior Iron Ores,' Charles Kenneth Leith; 

 ' The Chemistry of Ore-Deposition — Precipita- 

 tion of Copper by Natural Silicates,' Eugene 

 C. Sullivan; Editorial; Discussion; Reviews; 

 Recent Literature on Economic Geology; 

 Scientific Notes and News. 



The American Museum Journal for October 

 is termed the Batrachian Number, its major 

 portion being devoted to an illustrated syn- 

 opsis of the salamanders, toads and frogs that 

 have been found within a radius of fifty miles 

 of New York City. The text is by R. L. Dit- 

 mars, illustrations from photographs by Her- 

 bert Lang, mainly of animals living in the 

 New York Zoological Park. W. M. Wheeler 

 tells ' How the Queens of the Parasitic and 

 Slave-making Ants establish their Colonies,' 

 and announcements are made of three courses 

 of lectures, for members, pupils and teachers, 

 in October-December. There are, besides, 

 many notes concerning additions to the col- 

 lections and other features of interest at the 

 museum. The figures of the batrachians are 



