696 



SCIENCE 



[N. S, Vol. XLII. No. 1089 



assistance from still other of the sixty Cana- 

 dian museums. Haelan I. Smith 



DH. EDWARD HINDLE 



To THE Editor op Science: In a review of 

 Dr. Edward Hindle's book on " Flies in Eela- 

 tion to Disease — Bloodsucking Flies," by Mr. 

 W. D. Hunter, printed in the issue of Science 

 for July 16, there occurs the erroneous state- 

 ment that Dr. E. Hindle met his death in 

 Africa. Dr. Hindle is alive and well and 

 occupies the position of divisional signal officer 

 with the rank of first lieutenant in the Eoyal 

 Engineers. He is expecting to leave for the 

 front at any moment. It is clear to me that 

 confusion has arisen through the death of Mr. 

 Gordon Merriman, who likewise belonged to 

 my laboratory staff. Mr. Merriman was killed 

 while fighting in ISTyasaland. Dr. Hindle has 

 never been in Africa, although before the war 

 we planned for him to go there on a scientific 

 expedition. 



Having received many inquiries, from differ- 

 ent parts of the world, owing to the misstate- 

 ment in Science, I shall be much indebted to 

 you if you will kindly help me to quiet the 

 apprehensions of Dr. Hindle's numerous 

 friends by correcting the error referred to. 



G. H. F. NUTTALL 



Cambridge, 



October 10, 1915 



SCIENTIFIC BOOKS 

 Bodily Changes in Pain, Hunger, Fear and 

 Bage; An Account of Recent Researches 

 into the Function of Emotional Excitement. 

 By Walter B. Cannon. New York, D. 

 Appleton & Co., 1915. Pp. xiii + 311. 

 The Origin and Nature of the Emotions, Mis- 

 cellaneous Papers. By George W. Chile. 

 Edited by Amy F. Eowland. Philadelphia, 

 W. B. Saunders Co., 1915. Pp. vii -f 240. 

 It is not altogether an accident that these 

 two volumes, covering ground in many respects 

 very similar, should appear at the same time. 

 For a number of years, and particularly since 

 the publication of Pavlov's work on the effects 

 of emotion upon glandular action, there has 

 been a wide and increasing interest among psy- 



chologists and physiologists in the more inti- 

 mate bodily mechanism underlying emotional 

 processes. This movement has coincided with 

 a rapidly growing appreciation among physiol- 

 ogists and physicians of the organic signif- 

 icance of certain of the so-called ductless 

 glands, and of the physiological importance of 

 gland and muscle tissue in general. Already 

 the discoveries made have quite revolutionized 

 many of the ideas of a generation ago, and 

 the chapter seems hardly more than begun. 



Despite the similarity of the two books, it 

 will be convenient to discuss them separately, 

 and we may first consider Dr. Cannon's work, 

 which represents a series of researches carried 

 ■on by the author in collaboration with a nujn- 

 ber of his colleagues to whom the book is dedi- 

 cated. The work gives every internal evidence 

 of having been done with great care and intel- 

 ligence. The technique pursued is adequately 

 described; the dangers and limitations to 

 which it is exposed are frankly recognized, and 

 the inferences and generalizations proposed are 

 thoughtful and on the whole conservative. The 

 only strictures which a psychologist might be 

 tempted to pass would relate to the large psy- 

 chological literature on the organic accom- 

 paniments of affective states, which is to all 

 intents and purposes wholly disregarded. This 

 may be because it was thought to have no 

 bearing, but to the reviewer this position would 

 hardly seem tenable. In any event. Dr. 

 Cannon's work is written in a manner to in- 

 spire the highest respect for its conclusions, 

 whether one wholly agree with them or not. 



The essential positions of the author may 

 be summarized in a few propositions, which 

 nevertheless represent very extensive experi- 

 mentation both of his own and of other scien- 

 tists. The great divisions of the autonomic 

 system, i. e., cranial, sympathetic and sacral, 

 represent three largely distinct functions in 

 the economy of the organism. The first has to 

 do with the storing up of reserves of energy 

 for times of need, as is represented in the slow- 

 ing of the heart beat under stimulation of the 

 cranial connections of the vagus. The second 

 is the great defensive organ through whose 

 activity these reserves are rushed to the front 



