836 



SCIENCE, 



[N. S. Vol. XXII. No. 573. 



Vision and Localization during Rapid Eye 



Movements: E, S. Woodworth, 



The author sought to show that vision 

 occurs during movements of convergence, and 

 also in rapid ' jumps ' of the eye from one 

 fixation point to another. The latter fact is 

 best shown by the clear vision of a rapidly 

 moving object that occurs when the eye moves 

 in the same direction and with the same speed 

 as the object. This can not be explained, as 

 has been attempted, by supposing that only an 

 after image of the impression received during 

 the eye jump comes to consciousness, for the 

 object is not only seen, but correctly localized 

 in space. 



The Measurement of Scientific Merit: J. 



McKeen Cattell. 



A method was explained by which it was 

 possible to select a group of the leading 1,000 

 men of science of the United States for the 

 study of individual differences and by which 

 degrees of scientific merit could be measured. 

 The more eminent scientific men are distrib- 

 uted in accordance with the positive half of 

 the curve of error, the first hundred differing 

 among themselves about as much as the next 

 two hundred or the last seven hundred. Data 

 were also given in regard to the distribution 

 of scientific men, including their birthplace, 

 their place of residence and the institutions 

 with which they are connected. 



Temperament as Affecting Philosophic 

 Thought: Brother Chrysostom. 

 It was urged that the temperament of a 

 philosopher was so potent a factor in de- 

 termining his emphasis of certain doctrines, 

 his introduction of illogical views and his 

 personal influence in the founding of his 

 school, that it must be considered in order to 

 understand his philosophy. Heredity, en- 

 vironment, race, epoch, the personality of the 

 philosopher and of the master who first influ- 

 enced him, were mentioned as elements in the 

 temperamental complex that determines the 

 cast of his thought. 



Are Mental Processes in Space? W. P. Mon- 

 tague. 

 The paper consisted in a protest against the 



current view of mental processes as real oc- 



currences that occur nowhere, and an attempt 

 to show that they could exist in space without 

 being either punctiform or figured (compare 

 sounds and odors), and without displacing 

 matter or being wedged into the spaces be- 

 tween material particles (compare stresses, 

 velocities and accelerations). Potential en- 

 ergy, like mental action, exists in space with- 

 out being visible and without displacing mat- 

 ter. Both are localized intensive states; and 

 it was suggested that mental processes may be 

 forms of potential energy into which the 

 kinetic energy of the nerve currents must be 

 transformed in order to be redirected. 



E. S. Woodworth, 



Secretary. 



DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE. 

 THE theory of ISOLATION AS APPLIED TO PLANTS. 



President Jordan, in his opportune and 

 clearly stated paper on ' The Origin of Species 

 through Isolation,'^ has suggested the follow- 

 ing as a general law : 



Given any species in any region, the nearest re- 

 lated species is not likely to be found in the same 

 region nor in a remote region, but in a neighbor- 

 ing district separated from the first by a, barrier 

 of some sort. 



This we were inclined to accept as applicable 

 to plants with little or no hesitation. 



For several years the writer has studied, 

 more or less critically, the plants of a well- 

 defined floral region, and it has almost in- 

 variably been his experience that the difiicult 

 problems which confronted him were not the 

 discrimination of the various species of a 

 given locality or region, but the question of 

 the relationship of his plants to similar forms 

 occurring in another, usually adjoining, terri- 

 tory. 



Consequently it was with considerable sur- 

 prise that we read Professor Lloyd's^ bold 

 assertion that, if the general law stated by 

 President Jordan were put in the converse 

 form, ' it would be more in harmony with the 

 facts in the case as understood by the bot- 

 anists.' 



In addition to the general and ' sweeping ' 



1 Science, II., 22: 545-562. November 3, 1905. 

 = Science, II., 22: 710-712. December 1, 1905. 



