162 



SCIENCE. 



[N. s. Vol. VIII. No. 



datiou there is a microbous growth which sets up 

 interior disarrangements, * * * which eventu- 

 ally result after fecundation in the formation of 

 a miniature plant. The strange thing about the 

 matter is that the little plant may, when grown 

 up, turn out to be greatly different from either 

 the plant from which the pollen drifted or from 

 the plant which caught and nourished the 

 pollen on its stigma and then received the ' be- 

 ing ' of the pollen in its ovary." The question 

 of the ascent of water in plants is attacked, 

 and the author seems sceptical about the exist- 

 ence of root-pressure and transpiration, while 

 the famous spiral tendency is revived in con- 

 nection with the ascent of sap and phyllotaxy. 

 Evolution, natural selection and spontaneous 

 generation are mentioned in a way that shows 

 that there are still dark places into which cor- 

 rect notions of these phrases have not pene- 

 trated. As has been indicated, quotations from 

 good authors are interspersed, but the result is 

 rather like that which follows a mixture of ice 

 cream and lobster salad. 



It is hard to say what object this article can 

 be conceived to serve. The distinguished met- 

 aphysician who has been the eificient head of 

 the bureau so long, and may he long remain 

 there, might perhaps be able to give an answer 

 from the depths of his philosophic lore. No 

 plain man can. Fortunately from the method 

 of its publication, the indigestible mass of 

 actinic rays, earthworms, Eothamsted experi- 

 ments and circumnutation — in addition to the 

 constituents already mentioned — cannot do 

 much harm except to the naive folks who think 

 that government reports are a sort of gospel. 



Seriously, although scientific men are becom- 

 ing accustomed to the notion that pedagogical 

 ' experts ' have a plenary inspiration which 

 gives them the right to discuss all subjects 

 under the sun without studying them ; and 

 although they may simply smile when a psy- 

 chologist speaks of the legs of a hydra, and 

 opposes the sarcolemma to the germ-plasm, or 

 attributes the upward growth of a stem tohelio- 

 tropism, if he has something to say that com- 

 pensates for the blunders ; yet it does seem 

 that these people might at least take the trouble 

 to submit their manuscript to some Fachmann 

 before publication. And the Bureau of Educa- 



tion might do well to investigate the training 

 of its ' specialists ' a little before employing 

 them to write up scientific subjects. 

 University of Coloeado. John Gardiner. 



the psychology of suggestion. 



To THE Editor of Science : Permit me to 

 make a few remarks in regard to the review of 

 my book, ' The Psychology of Suggestion' by 

 Professor Wm. Eomaine Newbold in Science 

 for June 24, 1898. 



Professor Newbold contends against the truth 

 of my second law, that of abnormal suggestibil- 

 ity. He brings the phenomena of rapport. "In 

 states of heightened suggestibility," he writes, 

 " suggestibility to suggestion has no significant 

 relation to the mode in which the sugges- 

 tion is administered, but rather to the source 

 whence it comes.'" (The italics are his own.) 

 "Eapport," he says further on, "although 

 not an inevitable, is perhaps one of the most 

 constant traits of heightened suggestibility, 

 and this Dr. Sidis' second law ignores." Now 

 this is not true. Rapport is not a characteristic 

 spontaneous trait of the advanced stages of 

 hypnosis, it is itself due to a suggestion forced 

 on the subconsciousness of the subject. Where 

 the personal element is considered important, 

 there the phenomena of rapport will naturally 

 be frequent. Where, however, it is realized 

 that hypnosis has little to do with the personal- 

 ity of the experimenter, rapport is absolutely 

 absent even in the very last stages of hypnosis. 

 TJius in none of my best subjects have I found 

 the phenomena of rapport. Rapport had to be 

 specially induced by most emphatic suggestions. 

 This is simply due to the fact that in my exper- 

 iments I have taken precaution to guard against 

 all unconscious suggestions in general, and par- 

 ticularly against the 'personality suggestion.' 

 The importance of the personal element, ' the 

 source' in hypnosis is a widely spread, but an 

 unjustified belief due, no doubt, to some linger- 

 ing remnants of mesmeric theories. As a mat- 

 ter of fact, rapport is not spontaneous in hyp- 

 nosis, it is induced by suggestion, and, like all 

 other suggestions, depends on the conditions 

 and laws of suggestibility. 



Professor Newbold finds fault with my pre- 

 liminary definition of suggestibility. I won- 



