644 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. IV. No. 96. 



the other senses analogous to Daltonism.' 

 Among the number of people examined by 

 him during the past thirteen years he found 

 161 such abnormal people, of whom 108 

 were hearing defectives, 23 taste, 18 touch, 

 and 12 smell. Of the whole number (161) 

 only two were also color defectives. The 

 proportion of men to women for the several 

 defects were : hearing, 2 :1 ; taste, 1 :3 ; 

 touch, 1:5 ; smell, 1:2. Among the num- 

 ber it was found that there were three times 

 as many of the poorer classes as of those in 

 better social condition. 



Prof. "W.Wendensky (St. Petersburg) re- 

 ported some experiments to determine what 

 influence the stimulation of a cortical center 

 on one hemisphere of the brain had on the 

 corresponding center of the opposite side. 

 The results were very variable, but led to 

 the conclusion that there was a functional 

 relation between the hemispheres much 

 closer than has been usually admitted. 



Dr. E. Hering (Prague) propounded and 

 attempted to answer the question ' In how 

 far is the integrity of the centripital nerves 

 a condition for voluntary action ?' His 

 conclusion was that if all centripital stimu- 

 lation cease, voluntary acts would also cease, 

 but if after centripital paralysis the excita- 

 bility of the nerves still remained, then one 

 could not say that acts might not be volun- 

 tary. 



Dr. L. William Stern (Berlin) discussed 

 the' manner in which we perceive changes. 

 These he found to be: (1) through momen- 

 tary perception; (2) through prolonged per- 

 ception, and (3) through the comparison of 

 an event's separate phases. 



SECTION II. 



Prof. H. Flournoy (Geneva) reported ex- 

 periments made on the association of figures. 

 Observers were intructed to write as quickly 

 as possible single numbers (those from one 

 to nine), thinking of them only as single, 

 and writing pMe mele, not in the order 



of the figures (e. g., 1. 2. 3. or 9, 8. 7). 

 The results showed considerable individ- 

 ual differences both in the quantity and in 

 the numbers written, A decided preference 

 for the numbers 3, 5 and 7 was noted and 

 also a seeming dislike for 2, 6 and particu- 

 larly 1. The individuals were found to be 

 constant in their preferences, etc., over a 

 period of four years. 



Prof. L. Edinger (Frankfort on the 

 Main), in answer to the question " Can psy- 

 chology derive benefit from the present 

 state of brain anatomy?" considered that 

 from anatomical study psychology had 

 much to learn, and particularly was this 

 the case for comparative psychology in ex- 

 perimenting on the psychic condition of 

 animals. 



Prof. J. Courtier (Paris) made some pre- 

 liminary announcements on memory for 

 music. He had used as. subjects the pro- 

 fessors and students at the conservatory of 

 Paris and had also experimented with other 

 musical people, singers, instrumentalists 

 and composers. 



Prof. y. Basch (Rennes) spoke of ' Method 

 in aesthetics.' He considered it entirely un- 

 scientific to follow exclusively the logical, 

 or metaphysical, or psychological lines when 

 dealing with this subject, and concluded 

 that any proper treatment must include the 

 three, first psychological, then logical, and 

 finally metaphysical. 



■ A. T. Shand (London) discussed, in his 

 paper, 'On the psychological hypotheses 

 concerning the relation of the mind and the 

 brain,' the two theories most commonly ac- 

 cepted, viz : those of ' parallelism,' and that 

 of 'interaction.' He showed that the two 

 are not mutually exclusive and that when 

 taken together would make a better hy- 

 pothesis than either separately. He at- 

 tempted to reconcile and combine them. 



Prof. C. Ueberhorst (Innsbruck) anal- 

 yzed out the psychic factors in visual per- 

 ception. 



