94 The American Naturalist. 
graphical distribution of the flowering plants of the upper St. John 
River, northern Maine. 
SAMUEL HENSHAW, Secretary. 
The Biological Society of Washington.—Following was the 
programme of the evening. Symposium:—B. E. Fernow, C. W 
Stiles, Theo. N. Gill, Geo. Marx and others; on what are the especial 
needs of the Biological Society of Washington. 
December 2, 1893.—The following communications were read: Mr 
Frederick H. Blodgett, Notes on the Development of the Bulb of the 
Adder’s Tongue: Mr. E. W. Nelson, A New Species of Lagomys from 
Alaska; Dr. Erwin F. Smith, On a Bacterial Disease of Cucumbers 
etc., working through the Fibrovascular Bundles ; Probably Transmit: 
ted by Insects; Dr. C. W. Stiles, The Teaching of Biology in Colleges 
FREDERIC A. Lucas, Seeretary. 
Odontological Society of Pennsylvania, Saturday, Decem! 
9th, 8 P. M.—William Romaine Newbold, Ph. D., of the University 
of Pennsylvania read a paper: “The Psychological Significance of 
Hypnotic Suggestion and Kindred Phenomena.” es 
Dr. Thomas Fillebrown of Boston, Mass. opened the discussion: 
, , 
The following is an abstract of Dr. Newbold s paper. | 
found in all normal persons and occurs not infrequently in pathologic 
degree. It can be connected with the conception of the mental stalé 
as representing to us cortical processes and hence as a dynamic f 
due to definite causes and necessarily involying definite effects. : 
Normal perceiving and thinking involves the functioning of the cor 
tex as a whole composed of parts more or less differentiated function- 
ally and standing in multiple intercorrellations with one another 
- Hence in normal life the effects of any given cortical process or MO 
tal state can never be dissociated from those of preéxisting activities 
and predispositions, 
In the condition known as heightened suggestibility, by whatever 
agency it be produced, the cortical codrdination is unimpaired; th 
Activities which chiefly modify the nascent process or state being ae 
porarily inhibited ; we can study at leisure the development and rest™ 
of any artificially produced process, whether connected with conscious 
ness or not. 
