2o8 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. XVI. No. 401 



even whenfsuch topics are treated, the discussion is begun in 

 medias res, taking up the points of chief interest and referring to 

 other works for the rest. There are few students indeed who can 

 be counted upon to Iiave this knowledge; and there is great dan- 

 ger that the student will think he has practically acquired this 

 knowledge when he has paged through an elementary text-book 

 of physiology, or will regard the acquisition of it as a slight and 

 unimportant consideration. The youthful fondness for the most 

 abstract and least soluble problems should be decidedly suppressed 

 as regards the study of psychology; and, before such a student 

 can at all profit by Professor James's volumes, he must have suc- 

 cessfully outgrown this earlier stage. Then, again, the extreme 

 eclecticism regarding the points considered would hardly be 

 rightly interpreted by the student. The order of topics is also 

 unpedagogical; but the author suggests in the preface a changed 

 order, with omission of certain chapters, which would partly 

 remedy this defect. Furthermore, the great size of the work 

 renders it unsuitable to college purposes. There is no attempt at 

 condensation or suppression. One feels that the writer is taking 

 all the space that he wants, and fashioning his exposition of a 

 topic according to his personal interest in it. One obtains very 

 frequent glimpses of the personality of the author; and the text 

 and footnotes, with their frequent witticisms and telling phrases, 

 are about as unlike the ordinary text-book strain as could be im- 

 agined. It will be mainly to the teacher, and to those preparing 

 to be teachers, that this work will appeal, and to them mainly as 

 a reference-book for inspiring views of a few topics. 



Psychology teaches that the proverbial odium attaching to 

 comparisons is irrational, and that this is a legitimate and useful 

 method of forming a judgment. Accordingly, it will be fitting 

 to compare this new work with former attempts at a survey of 

 modern psychological doctrines. It more immediately invites 

 comparison with the woi-ks of Wundt and of Ladd. It lacks the 

 completeness and patient collection of facts characteristic of both 



these works: it forms a marked contrast to them in the clearness 

 and interest of its expositions. The student is repelled by Wundt 

 or Ladd, but will be attracted to James, It shares in common 

 with Wundfs work, what is perhaps the greatest defect of Ladd's, 

 in giving the reader an impression of originality, coupled with 

 sincere enthusiasm on the part of the author. It is less fitted 

 than either to be the basis of a course in psychology, and is mucb 

 more than these an expression of personal views and interests. 

 This may suffice to indicate the probable sphere of the work, and 

 to suggest to the reader how far and in what way the work may 

 answer his needs; and we can certainly echo the sentiment ex- 

 pressed by the author in his preface: "But iver Vieles bringt wird 

 Manchevi etwas hriiigen; and, by judicious skipping according to 

 tlieir several needs, I am sure that many sorts of readers, even 

 those who are just beginning the study of the subject, will find 

 my book of use." 



The Theory of Determinants in the Historical Order of its De- 

 velopment. Part I. By Thomas Munt. London and New 

 York, Macmillan. 8°. 



Professor Muie's treatise on the theory of determinants is well 

 known, and it may inlerest our readers to know that a new and 

 greatly enlarged edition of the work is in course of prejiaration. 

 Part I., which is before us, is devoted especially to a history of 

 determinants in general, from Leibnitz in 1693 to Cayley in 1841. 

 Every one is familiar with the tendency to overrate the influence 

 of a few great minds on the progress of any science. It is easier 

 for the students of a science to look up the work of those with 

 whose names they are most familiar; and from lack of confidence, 

 they feel obliged to overlook the more obscure workers, even if 

 they know of their existence. 



In the book before us Professor JIuir has attempted to round 

 out the history of determinants by bringing forth in their true 

 relations the contributions of all those who have taken part in the 



Sept. 



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American Household Magazine. Vol. I. No.], m. 

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Canada, Proceedings of the Royal Society of, for the 

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Dauchy & Company's Newspaper Catalogue, 1890. 

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Hardy. I. Elementary Composition Exercises. New 

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Ingalls, J. M. Handbook of Problems in Direct 

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James. W. The Pripciples of Psychology. 2 vols. 

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