410 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XL. No. 1029 



red roses, all of one kind, on the table and an- 

 other on the secretary; then at once the room 

 seemed to become filled with roses of various 

 red colors and of aU sizes, in great bunches, 

 ■wreaths and chains, and with regular banks of 

 them, all around me, but mixed with some 

 green foliage, as in the real bouquets. This 

 beautiful illusion lasted only a short time. 

 About this time I had a decided rush of blood 

 to my head, with marked congestion, which 

 caused me to lie down. I then had a very 

 disagreeable illusion. Innumerable human 

 faces, of all sorts and sizes, but all hideous, 

 seemed to fill the room and to extend off in 

 multitudes to interminable distances, while 

 many were close to me on all sides. They were 

 all grimacing rapidly and horribly and under- 

 going contortions, all the time growing more 

 and more hideous. Some were upside down. 



The faces appeared in all sorts of bright 

 and even intense colors — so intense that I 

 could only liken them to flames of fire, in red, 

 purple, green and yellow colors, like fireworks. 



At this time I began to become alarmed and 

 sent for the doctor, but he did nothing, for the 

 effects were wearing off when he came. Eeal 

 objects at this time appeared in their true 

 forms, but if colored they assumed far more 

 intense or vivid colors than natural; dull red 

 becoming brilliant red, etc. A little later, 

 when standing up, I had the unpleasant sensa- 

 tion of having my body elongate upward to the 

 ceiling, which receding, I grew far up, like 

 Jack's bean-stalk, but retained my natural 

 thickness. Collapsed suddenly to my natural 

 height. 



At this time I noticed the parlor organ and 

 .tried to play on it, to see the effect, but could 

 not concentrate my mind nor manage my 

 fingers. About this time my mind became 

 confused and my remembrance of what hap- 

 pened next is dim and chaotic. Probably there 

 was a partial and brief loss of consciousness. 

 Laid down to wait for the doctor. Looking at 

 my hands, they seemed to become small, ema- 

 ciated, shrunken and bony, like those of a 

 mummy. Mrs. T. says that at this time her 

 hands and arms seemed to grow unnaturally 

 large. 



When I attempted to scratch a spot on my 

 neck, it felt like scratching a rough cloth 

 meal-bag full of meal, and it seemed as large 

 as a barrel, and the scratching seemed quite 

 impersonal. Later I imagined I was able, by 

 a sort of clairvoyance, to tell the thoughts of 

 those around me. Soon after this our condi- 

 tions rapidly assumed the very hilarious phase, 

 similar to that of the early stages, with much 

 involuntary laughing and joking. This con- 

 dition gradually diminished after three 

 o'clock, until our mental conditions became 

 perfectly normal, at about six o'clock p.m. 

 The entire experience lasted about six hours. 

 No ill effects followed. There was no head- 

 ache, nor any disturbance of the digestion. 



A. E. Vereill 



Yale Universitt 



SCIENTIFIC BOOKS 



Plane Trigonometry and Applications. By 

 E. J. WiLOZYNSKi, Ph.D., University of Chi- 

 cago. Edited by H. E. Slaught, Ph.D., 

 University of Chicago. Boston, New York 

 and Chicago, AUyn and Bacon. 1914. Pp. 

 xi 4-265. 

 Elementary Theory of Equations. By L. E. 

 Dickson, Ph.D., University of Chicago. 

 New York, John Wiley & Sons. 1914. Pp. 

 V -1-184. 



Among the prominent features of the former 

 of these two elementary text-books is the ful- 

 ness of its explanations of fundamental proc- 

 esses. In fact, it might at first appear that 

 nothing was left for the teacher to explain, 

 but the numerous illustrative examples and 

 problems should serve to awaken discussion 

 and to enliven the recitation periods. The 

 clearness with which the fundamental ideas 

 are developed tends to make the book un- 

 usually easy for the student. 



The book is divided into two nearly equal 

 parts. The first part is devoted to the solution 

 of triangles, and is published separately for 

 the use of secondary schools. In this part 

 practical applications to surveying are empha- 

 sized, and the use of the slide rule and the 

 logarithmic tables are clearly exhibited. The 



