442 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 



familiarly known as illusions and resembling the former in their structure and 

 mode oC origin. The points treated are as follows : The Study of Illusion ; the 

 Classification of Illusion; Illusions of Perception, general, active and passive; 

 Dreams ; Illusions of Introspection ; Other Quasi-Presentative Illusions ; Errors of 

 Insight; Illusions of Memory; Illusions of Belief; Results. The whole contained 

 in twelve chapters, covering three hundred and seventy-two pages. 



Starting with statement that the flattering supposition of common sense that 

 illusion is essentially an incident in abnormal life is so erroneous that many regard 

 it as the natural condition of mortals, he takes the middle ground that most men 

 are sometimes liable to illusion. From this position he follows the subject as above 

 indicated, having due regard to the physiology as well as the pathology of mind. 

 The chapter on Dreams will be found especially interesting to the general reader 

 from the comprehensive and practical manner in which the subject is handled. 

 Various theories of dreams are considered, but the conclusion is reached that they 

 are to a large extent the semblance of external perceptions, their materials drawn 

 from our waking experiences and that they are largely intelligible by help of the 

 physiological and psychological principles previously considered. In explaining 

 dreams the the condition of the organism in sleep is first set forth, then the dream 

 state, the causes of dream illusions, such as the action of external and internal 

 stimuli; dream exaggeration, dream hallucinations, effects of direct and indirect 

 central stimulation, combination of dream elements, incoherence of dreams, their 

 coherence, the lyrical element in dreams, etc. 



The whole book is the work of a careful student, a skillful physiologist and 

 a logical thinker, and it is full of valuable information and suggestions. 



The old testament in the jewish church. By W. Robertson Smith, M. A.; 

 i2mo., pp. 446; D. Appleton & Co., New York, 1881. For sale by M. H. 

 Dickinson, $1.75. 



Biblical criticism in the scholarly sense includes the most careful examina- 

 tion and weighing of every expression of every prophet, historian, psalmist and 

 apostle whose writings are found in the Bible; differing in the widest degree from 

 the Bible reading of the ordinary student whose search is either wholly devotional 

 or perhaps for doctrinal purposes. In the first case the reader puts himself as 

 far as possible in the exact position of the writer and interprets his words and 

 thoughts by means of a full comprehension of his surroundings; tracing the suc- 

 cessive steps of religious progress in the world from thp simple sacrificial offerings 

 of Cain and Abel to the vicarious sacrifice of Jesus Christ; in this way arriving at 

 an exhaustive and complete, critical knowledge of the Bible. In the other case 

 certain portions are selected, which, on account of their precious promises or their 

 pathos, or their wondrous revelations of the future life, or some other practical 

 quality, arouse the sympathies or strengthen the faith of the reader. Necessarily 

 this latter manner of study leaves out of consideration a large portion of the 



