288 NEW BOOKS. dhist' persuasion. As some of the productions of the sect have been men- tioned in recent Nos. of MIND, the concluding words of the Committee's Report regarding its foundress should be quoted : " We regard her neither as the mouthpiece of hidden seers nor as a mere vulgar adventuress ; we think that she has achieved a title to permanent remembrance as one of the most accomplished, ingenious and interesting impostors in history". " Some Higher Aspects of Mesmerism " (pp. 401-24) by Messrs. Gurney and Myers, and "Further Report on Experiments in Thought-transfer- ence" by Mr. M. Guthrie (pp. 425-53), are the other chief contents. Insomnia; and Otlier Disorders of Sleep. By HENRY M. LYMAN, A.M., M.D., Professor of Physiology and of Diseases of the Nervous System in Rush Medical College, &c., Chicago, 111. Chicago : W. T. Keener ; London : Triibner, 1885. Pp. x., 239. The properly medical part of this work consists of three chapters (pp. 38-115), which strike the lay reader as at once comprehensive and tho- roughly practical. They are preceded by a chapter (pp. 1-37) on " The Nature and Cause of Sleep," and followed by three others (pp. 116-229) on " Dreams," " Somnambulism," " Hypnotism ". In the first, the author gives a very good and effective summary of the latest physiological specu- lation on the cause of sleep, agreeing himself with those who regard the notable changes of blood-pressure and circulation that take place as of secondary rather than primary import. "The cause of sleep must be sought in the molecular structure [condition] of the brain, rather than in fluctuations of the blood-current. In the present state of our knowledge it must be negatively represented [with Pnu'ger] as the consequence of a defi- ciency of the amount of movable oxygen in the nervous tissue." The concluding chapters give, partly from the author's personal and professional experience, partly by collation of the recent work of others, an interesting and instructive view of subjects that are now engaging the attention of many inquirers. The author brings so much good sense and sharp insight to bear upon most of the facts with which he deals, that he might have been expected to be a little more suspicious as to some other reports quoted and as to the possibilities of nature in connexion with them. d'une Classification syst&matique dcs Doctrines jMlotOfhimtat, Par CH. RENOUVIER. 2 Vols. Paris : Au Bureau de la Critique philo- sophique, 1885, 1886. Pp. 490, 420. In this new work M. Renouvier seeks to base his philosophical system on the historical study of doctrines. His method of study is to describe successively the positions taken up by each thinker in relation to the chief antinomies of philosophy. The oppositions that are made the ground of this classification of doctrines are these : Thing, Idea ; Infinite, Finite; Evolution, Creation ; Necessity, Liberty; Happiness, Duty ; Evi- dence, Belief. After treating these antinomies historically in six Parts, which fill the whole of vol. i., and pp. 1-126 of vol. ii., the, author goes on to establish his conclusions ; the assumption being that in each antinomy either the thesis or the antithesis (once rationally stated) must be true. Critical Notice will follow. Etude$ phytiologiqnet ft psychologiques sur Ic Somnamlulixmt prorofjm'. Par H. BEAUXIS, Professctir de Physiologic a la Faculte de Medecine de Nancv. Avec 4 Figures intercaldes dans Ic Texte. Paris : J. B. Bailli'ere et Fils, 1886. Pp. 106. These studies on hypnotism, in part physiological (pp. 1-47), in part psychological (pp. 48-99), are not intended to lead up to any positive con-
