2l6 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. XI. No. 274 



accepted that there is a most violent rush of air from under rain- 

 drops in a squall. Computation has shown that this cause for the 

 observed wind is purely imaginary, and the air-motion caused by 

 the heaviest possible rainfall is entirely inappreciable. In seeking 

 for an explanation of changes of pressure-distribution, our author, 

 at p. 389, suggests as a cause, " the general circulation of the at- 

 mosphere from the hot equator to the cold poles." This statement 

 is hardly borne out by the observations of air-currents. 



On the whole, the book is a most admirable and practical exposi- 

 tion of weather-changes, and will repay careful perusal by all inter- 

 ested in the weather and the progress of meteorology. 



A Study of the Histological Characters of the Periosie-iiiii and 

 Peridental Membrane. By G. V. BLACK. Chicago, W. T. 

 Keener. 8°. 



The contents of this volume appeared in serial form in the 

 Dental Review. They include a thorough study of the peridental 

 membrane and its tissue elements, and also of the periosteum, 

 which is so closely related to it. Very little has been written on 

 the subject of the peridental membrane, and until recently there 

 has been very little interest in the subject among dental specialists. 

 Within a short time, however, attention has been directed toward 

 this membrane and its structure, and a great and wide-spread in- 

 terest has been awakened. There are several reasons for this, 

 among which the following may be mentioned : there is a greater 

 and a more general interest felt now than ever before in the cor- 

 rection of irregularities of the teeth, in which changes in this mem- 

 brane, and the relation of the parts which it unites, are brought 

 about ; and then, too, there is a greater interest manifested by the 

 masses of the dental profession in the retention of pulpless teeth, 

 and roots which have lost their crowns, and which are dependent 

 upon the continued health of the peridental membrane under modi- 

 fied conditions. Another reason which the author advances for the 

 renewed interest in the subject is the revival, under varied forms, 

 of the ancient methods of replanting and transplanting teeth, 

 the success of which is supposed to be dependent, in whole or in 

 part, upon the reconstruction of the peridental membrane, in its 

 re-attachment to the teeth. Dr. Black has made a thorough, and, 

 as it seems to us, an exhaustive study of the subject from an histo- 

 logical standpoint. The illustrations, of which there are sixty- 

 seven, are admirably drawn, and reproduced in a most satisfactory 

 manner. For dentists and those who desire the latest researches 

 into the histology of the periosteum and peridental membrane, this 

 book is invaluable. 



The Mind of the Child. Part I. The Senses and the Will. By 

 W. Preyer. Tr. by H. W. Brown. (International Educa- 

 tional Series, Vol. VII.). New York, Appleton. 12*. $1.50^ 

 Dr. Harris is performing a useful service in the editing of the 

 series of which this work is a volume, and nowhere more so than in 

 the publication of this issue. The work itself is well known, and 

 it will be sufficient to say that it is the very careful and detailed 

 record of the development of Professor Preyer's own child, corrob- 

 orated by observations from the literature of the topic. The growth of 

 the powers of the senses are studied, and the results controlled by 

 ■experimental methods. The gradual control of the muscles as the 

 ■organ of the will is no less carefully pictured, and the work has 

 long been recognized as the most complete contribution to the 

 growing science of ' infant psychology.' The American edition is 

 presented under the most favorable auspices. It is prefaced by an 

 introduction from the pen of Professor Stanley Hall, in which he 

 points out the great educational significance of the work, and de- 

 monstrates the practicability of this kind of work in the normal 

 school by a reference to the system in vogue in the Worcester school, 

 of which Mr. E. H. Russel is the principal. Here part of the course 

 in psychology consists in gathering observations of child-life under 

 various rubrics, and studying from this material the psychology of 

 the child-mind. Not only is a valuable material thus gained, but 

 the students are taught to see the meaning of what they are apt to 

 let pass unnoticed, and to enter more intelligently and sympatheti- 

 cally into the thought-habits of the young pupil. The system, has 

 been an entire success, many of the normal-school graduates taking 

 such original observations of children as the bases of their graduat- 



ing theses. The work is creditably translated from the second 

 German edition, and is a very essential contribution to the further 

 spread of useful educational ideas. This is only the first part of 

 Professor Preyer's work. The translation of the second part will 

 soon be ready, and will be anxiously waited for. 



Der Tierische Magneiismus {Hypnotismiis) und seine Genese. \'on 

 JOH. G. Sallis. Leipzig, 1887. 8°. 



De la Suggestion et de ses Applications a la Pedagogie. Par Dr. 

 Edgar Berillon. Paris, 188S. 8°. 



These pamphlets are but samples illustrative of the wide-spread 

 interest in the study of hypnotism, that forms so notable a feature 

 of the scientific activity of France, and, to a far less extent, of 

 other European countries. The first of these essays is devoted 

 largely to the historical aspects of the subject ; and, in addition to 

 the usual account of Mesmer and his successors, the author brings 

 into connection with hypnotism many of the pseudo-sciences of 

 former centuries, and thus surrounds the history of mesmerism 

 with a suggestive philosophical interpretation. A second leading 

 point in the essay is in the form of a warning as to the dangers of 

 hypnotism, urging that it is a purely technical acquisition, to be 

 used only by experts, and that, above all, is it unsuited for public 

 exhibition by money-making adventurers. The practices of the 

 latter should everywhere (as they have been in many European 

 countries) be forbidden by law. This feeling that Dr. Sallis so 

 forcibly expresses is gaining wider and wider sympathy ; and it 

 seems necessary, for the maintenance of the good name that this 

 young science has with difficulty acquired, that it should be placed 

 entirely in the hands of reliable scientists. 



Dr. BeriUon's -essay contains what at first sight is an alarming 

 proposition: it is nothing less than 'hypnotic moralization.' Un- 

 ruly, vicious, or lazy children are to be put into the hypnotic condi- 

 tion, and then to have impressed upon them the reformation of 

 their faults. In support of the good that can be thus accomplished, 

 cases are cited in which bad habits of a very perverse type were 

 cured, children backward and sluggish were aroused to a more nor- 

 mal activity, and the benefits thus brought about were shown to be 

 quite permanent. Such a proposition naturally and properly arouses 

 an objection, not only because such an interference with the nor- 

 mal development of the child seems unwarranted, but because we 

 do not as yet know enough of the after-effects of hypnotization to 

 make such an application of what must be a semi-morbid state 

 justifiable. On the other hand, it must be remembered that Dr. 

 Berillon recommends this treatment only for cases in which ordi- 

 nary educational means fail, and that it is only to be practised 

 with the consent of the parents and by a skilled physician. He re- 

 minds us, too, that many of our reformatory methods interfere with 

 the child's moral freedom, and are equally artificial. We have 

 simply become accustomed to them. He claims, that, if carefully 

 applied, the danger of harmful results is practically nil, and has 

 succeeded in gaining the indorsement of several prominent physi- 

 cians and educators to his plan. It is of course wrong to measure 

 the utility of a project by its liability to abuse ; but the abuse is an 

 important factor, and it is at least an open question whether the 

 varied abuses to which the practice here proposed is evidently open 

 does not seriously interfere with its general adoption. The author 

 has at least succeeded in convincing many capable of forming an 

 opinion, that his project is worth a serious consideration. 



NOTES AND NEWS. 

 The sixteenth annual meeting of the American Public Health 

 Association will be held at Milwaukee, Wis., Nov. 20-23, 1888. The 

 executive committee have selected the following topics for consider- 

 ation at the meeting : the pollution of water-supplies ; the disposal 

 of refuse matter of cities ; animal diseases dangerous to man ; mar- 

 itime quarantine, and regulations for the control of contagious and 

 infectious diseases, and their mutual relations. The topics given 

 indicate the subjects which it is desired to consider, yet they are not 

 to be regarded as the exclusive topics of the meeting. Mr. Henry 

 Lomb of Rochester, N.Y., now well known as the originator of the 

 ' Lomb Prize Essays,' offers, through the association, two prizes for 

 the current year, on the following subject : ' Practical Sanitary and 



