March 8, 1889.] 



SCIENCE. 



'85 



stitute of Philadelphia. The chapter on " The Age of the Sun's 

 Heat " is reprinted from MacmiUan's Magazine, and consists of 

 three parts, treating respectively of the secular cooling of the sun, 

 the sun's present temperature, and the origin and total amount of 

 the sun's heat. 



The Psychic Life of Micro-organisms : a Study in Experimental 

 Psychology. By Alfred Binet. Tr. by Thomas iMcCor- 

 mack. Chicago, The Open Court Publ. Co. 12°. 75 cents. 



It may, perhaps, not be rash to venture the statement that in 

 no field of study has the introduction of the comparative method 

 been so helpful as in the study of mental phenomena; of the co- 

 ordinations between the organism and the environment. It is this 

 that has widened the horizon of the psychologist from the observa- 

 tion of his own individual, adult, civilized consciousness, to the ob- 

 servation of other men and of other races in different stages of 

 civilization, of other ancestries, of other no less interesting though 

 more lowly forms of life, of the embryonic, immature stages of 

 development. It is to the apparently most insignificant group of 

 such phenomena that M. Binet devotes his monograph, — to the 

 psychic life of the lowliest denizens of the earth, forms so simple 

 that even the distinction between animal and vegetable becomes 

 doubtful when their classitication is attempted. Many a reader 

 would perhaps be likely to think that an account of the psychic life 

 of micro-organisms might be as brief as that celebrated essay 

 on the snakes of Greenland, which was all contained in the sen- 

 tence, " There are no snakes in Greenland." M. Binet shows most 

 conclusively, however, that there is psychic life in these uni- 

 cellular specks of protoplasm ; that they exhibit relations to their 

 environment similar in kind, though vastly inferior in degree, to 

 those to which we unhesitatingly attribute an intellectual origin, 

 when we observe them in ourselves or any of the higher animals. 



M. Binet classifies these evidences of embryological mental ac- 

 tivity into (i) those connected with motion and sensation, (2) those 

 connected with nutrition, (3) those connected with reproduction, 

 and (4) those connected with " social relations." Under the first 

 head we observe that the Didiniuin nasutum (a type of the ciliated 

 infusoria) has the power of reversing its motion, of arresting it, and 

 that for this purpose it makes use of a perfect miniature steering 

 apparatus. We note, too, that the most rudimentary sensation is 

 that of contact, many of these microscopic animals having no 

 other; that after this, sight develops, it being not improbable that 

 certain vegetable forms possess the analogue of an eye. The Didin- 

 iiini has vision enough to hurl a shower of darts at its prey, thus 

 paralyzing it, and making it an easy victim ; while the EtiglencBsx^ 

 sufficiently sensible to color to constantly congregate between the 

 lines F and G of the solar spectrum. The, maintenance of life is 

 always the result of a re-action to the environment, and in this 

 " life of relation " a psychic element must enter. In the motions 

 necessary to seize the prey, in the power of selection that enables 

 the organism to seize certain particles and reject others, we have a 

 rudimentary form of choice. In the recognition of the position of 

 the desired food, M. Binet does not hesitate to detect an elemen- 

 tary space-perception. The excitement preceding the times for 

 copulation shown by unicellular organisms suggests an analogue 

 to the emotions. Under the fourth head belongs the formation of a 

 group of cells into a colony, in which the individuals act harmo- 

 niously, and each contributes to the general welfare. 



These are only a few of the very suggestive observations and 

 comments that M. Binet brings together ; and if from the rest of 

 the work a single example of the possibilities this study reveals 

 must be selected, it should be the experiments of Professor Pfeffer 

 on the spermatozoids of ferns. This observer finds that when a 

 solution of malic acid is held in a tube, and a similar solution of 

 one-thirtieth the strength be placed in a watch-crystal in which are 

 the spermatozoids, the latter will leave the watch-crystal for the 

 tube ; and not only this, but when the solution in the tube is 

 only twenty times as strong, these organisms remain unaffected. 

 It seems to be the ratio of the intensities of the two solutions that 

 brings about the result, and in this Professor Pfeffer sees an un- 

 doubted analogy to the psychophysic law illustrated in the power 

 to distinguish between sensations as tested by Weber, Fechner, and 



others. If this law can be thus corroborated, it is a wonderful law 

 indeed. 



The general position of M. Binet is thus somewhat in opposition to 

 current vievvs. He combats the view that in the unicellular orga- 

 nisms we have a simple and blind mechanical reflex action between 

 irritable substances and an irritating environment, but holds that 

 rudimentary forms of various psychic functions take their origin 

 here. He pronounces Mr. Romanes' attempt to fix the grade at 

 which the several constituents of psychic function enter into play 

 as artificial and arbitrary, and believes that a more complete study 

 of these lowliest forms of life will establish a more rigid and scien- 

 tific criterion of mind, and show the substantial unity and primor- 

 diality of the psychic element. It is certainly a long step from the 

 days when man was defined as a rational animal, denying by in- 

 ference, to the rest of creation, a share in this possession, to the 

 days when what we can see only with the aid of the most improved 

 results of science is pronounced akin to the most human part of 

 man. 



AMONG THE PUBLISHERS. 



Til's, Atlantic for March contains an article by Stuart F. Weld, 

 on " The Isthmus Canal and Our Government," which will interest 

 students of politics. The author is strongly in favor of placing the 

 canal under international control, as the Suez Canal has already 

 been placed ; and he shows, by quotations from public documents, 

 that our own government has always been in favor of such control, 

 except during a brief period beginning with the administration of 

 President Garfield. Another article of interest is " Personal Remi- 

 niscences of William H. Seward," by Mr. and Mrs. Samuel J. Bar- 

 rows. Mr. Barrows was for a time private secretary to Mr. Seward 

 at the State Department, and during an illness of some months his 

 wife took his place. Hence they have much to tell us about the 

 statesman's official and private life, and they tell it in a simple and 

 pleasant way. Mr. John Fiske continues his articles on American 

 revolutionary history, treating in his usual excellent style of " Ticon- 

 deroga, Bennington, and Oriskany." The Atlantic has also a paper 

 on " Some Colonial Lawyers and Their Work," by Frank G. Cook, 

 which lawyers will like to read, and the usual variety of lighter 

 articles. 



— Mr. John" Delay of this city has begun the publication of a 

 series of Gleanings from Foreign Authors, the first number of 

 which now lies before us. It contains " A Love Match," translated 

 from Ludovic Halevy, and " King Apepi," by Victor Cherbuliez. 

 The former is a very pleasant little love-story told by the lovers 

 themselves in extracts from their diaries, which they read to each 

 other after their marriage. The other is less agreeable as a whole, 

 but ends in an amusing and unexpected way. We are not told 

 whether the whole series of which this book is the beginning is to 

 consist of novels, but they will doubtless constitute the greater 

 part ; and, if the other volumes are up to the level of this one, 

 they will make an addition to the lighter literature of English 

 readers. 



— Outing for Marches a sporting number. We note the follow- 

 ing principal articles : " Fox-Hunting ; A Day in the Shires," by 

 Henry H. L. Pearse; " Lawn Tennis in the South," by Henry W. 

 Slocum, jun. ; " Snowshoeing in Canuckia," by James C. Allan; 

 " Salmon-Fishing on Loch Tay," by " Rockwood," and illustrated 

 by J. & G. Temple ; " Spaniel-Training," by D. Boulton Herrald ; 

 " How to Cycle in Europe," by Joseph Pennell ; " Amateur Pho- 

 tography," by Ellerslie Wallace ; " Winter Shooting in Florida," 

 by F. Campbell MoUer ; and " Coaching and Coaching Clubs," by 

 Charles S. Pelham-Clinton. 



— A catalogue of the contents of the Magazine of American 

 History for March reveals great current interest. The leading article 

 describes the " Historic Homes and Landmarks" about the Battery 

 and Bowling Green, New York City. The whole procession of 

 Dutch and English governors who resided in the old historic fort 

 opposite the Bowling Green are passed in review, as well as those 

 who lived in the house built for Washington on the same site. 

 One of its features is the sketch of the site of the City Hotel, of 



