470 



SCIENCE. 



[X. S. Vol. XXI. Xo. 534. 



probably due to tbe different material used 

 for presenting the colors — colored papers hav- 

 ing previously been employed, whereas in the 

 present tests use was made of colored worsteds, 

 such as are used in the Holmgren test for 

 color blindness. Special tests showed that 

 the same individual is very likely to express 

 a different preference, according as the colors 

 are presented in paper, worsted, or glass. 

 Many persons were also found to dislike 

 strongly the colors of the rose, the violet, and 

 the sunset, when presented in paper or 

 worsted. The inference is that the ' color- 

 tone ' is by no means a compelling factor in 

 determining likes and dislikes of colored ob- 

 jects. 



The Relation of Intensity of Sensation to 



Attention: M. Tsukahara. 



In an experimental study of the effects of 

 distraction on the apparent intensity of a 

 stimulus, a new method of distraction was 

 employed. Two sorts of stimulus — the sound 

 of a falling ball and the impact on the skin of 

 a falling hammer — were employed, and some- 

 times presented simultaneously, so that the 

 attention had to be divided between them. 

 For instance, first a sound was given; next, 

 simultaneously, a sound and an impact; and 

 last an impact alone. The subject was re- 

 quired to compare the intensities of the two 

 sounds and also of the two impacts. The 

 result was that, contrary to the conclusion of 

 Miinsterberg, distraction decreased the ap- 

 parent intensity of the stimuli ; but this re- 

 sult is so far merely provisional. 



Ideas and Temperaments: Dickinson S. 



j\TlLLER. 



In the psychology of intellectual bias one 

 may study the individual or type in its rela- 

 tion to a variety of ideas, or the idea in rela- 

 tion to a variety of individuals or types. At- 

 tempting the latter with the so-called ' ideas 

 of the French Revolution,' liberty, fraternity, 

 equality, reason, the natural goodness of man, 

 and the rights of impulse, spontaneously ad- 

 vocated in literature, we find that different 

 phases of these ideas must first be distin- 

 guished. As regards the ideas in these phases, 

 the sympathy or antipathy of authors is found 



to depend in a determinate manner on the tem- 

 peramental type. 



Organic Levels in the Evolution of the 

 Nervous System: Robert MacDougall. 

 The relation of organization to discrimina- 

 tive reaction may be stated in terms of four 

 tyi^es, the non-nervous, the ringed nervous, 

 the segmented and the cephalic. The types 

 were described. 



Number Hahit: Robert MacDougall. 



By number habit is meant the distribution 

 of frequency in the recurrence of each of the 

 digits when the choice is determined by 

 mental constitution rather than objective evi- 

 dence. Previous reports have given two types, 

 a curve (Minot's) in which the changes from 

 figure to figure are slight, presenting a high 

 plateau in the middle of the series with a de- 

 pression toward either end; and a curve 

 (Dresslar's and Sanford's) in which maxima 

 systematically appear in the odd numbers and 

 minima in the even. From an apparently 

 similar series of guesses in the present case a 

 curve was obtained presenting three different 

 levels. Zero and five formed maxima in rela- 

 tion to which all the other digits fell in a low 

 plateau, and of the rest the even numbers 

 formed maxima and the odd minima through- 

 out. 



TJie Relational Theory of Consciousness : 

 W. P. Montague. 



The new movement in favor of a relational 

 theory of consciousness is to be welcomed in 

 the interest of a scientific psychology. It is 

 however seriously hampered by a failure on 

 the part of most of its advocates to realize the 

 incompatibility of any fonn of idealism with 

 the view that consciousness is a relation be- 

 tween its objects, and not something in which 

 they inhere. Things must be before they can 

 be related, hence if consciousness is a relation 

 no object can depend for its existence upon 

 the fact that it is perceived. In short the 

 realistic theory of the world is a necessary 

 implication of the relational theory of con- 

 sciousness; while, conversely, if we follow com- 

 mon sense in admitting the objective reality 

 of both primary and secondary qualities, there 

 will be no temptation to treat consciousness 



