consulted several practitioners, but received no benefit, and was declared incurable. For years she had worn a "supporter," for the purpose of keeping the ankle from turning, and the foot from dropping; the apparatus was unnecessarily cumbersome.

Upon the 2d of August, 1868, she came under my observation. An examination showed the limb to be considerably wasted, colder, softer, and 14 inches shorter than the sound one. The before-mentioned muscles, to all appearance, were atrophied; sensation normal. The patient had never been able to walk fifty yards without resting.

Began treatment upon the 5th of August, more as an experiment than with any hope of success. A stream of water, at the temperature of 100° Fahr., was allowed to fall upon the leg for a half hour three times per day, the rest of the body being kept as cool as comfort would permit; the muscles were afterward shampooed, strychnia was administered, and the direct galvanic current employed for a short time daily. For a period of three weeks no improvement was noticed, at the end of which time the patient stated that she experienced a sense of comfort and heat. A few days after, the slightest possible contraction was noticed in the extensor of the toes, and the limb had gained in temperature, color, and somewhat in size. The supporter being of little use, and weighing some three pounds, was laid aside, and a lady's ordinary gaiter, raised upon a curved spring, with two delicate steel uprights placed between the leather and lining so as to be invisible, was substi tuted, much to the delight of the patient. In order to assist in flexing the tarsus, a rubber muscle was attached at one end to the toe, and at the other to a strong garter. The treatment has been continued, and the im

provement steady, up to the present time. It should be here stated that only within the last few days have I been able to get contractions with the induced current. The weight of the supporter substituted was four

ounces.

Nov. 4.-Still improving; the patient went out yesterday unaccompanied, for the first time in her life.

CONTEMPORARY LITERATURE.

THE appearance of a work on the human intellect, from a thinker so profound and a scholar so learned as Prof. Noah Porter,' of Yale College, is an event of no small importance. Treatises upon the subject are sufficiently numerous, but, with few exceptions, they are wildly nonsensical, stupidly foolish, or mere rehashes of the opinions of others. No one of these allegations can properly be made against the work before us. It is a learned, laborious, and sufficiently-original exposition of psychological science from the author's stand-point. As he states in the preface, "the philosophy taught in this volume is pronounced, and positive in the spiritual and theistic direction, as contrasted with the materialistic and anti-theistic tendency, which is so earnestly defended by its advocates as alone worthy to be called scientific."

In the introduction, which is a very admirable synopsis of his views, he combats the doctrines of the cerebral psychologists those who look upon the mind as a property of the brain, and as being dependent upon this organ for its integrity. The brain, for him, is only a tool of a spiritual something which he calls the soul. Now, the existence of the soul is a matter of revelation and of faith, not of science; the existence of the mind, on the contrary, is susceptible of proof, and consequently falls within the legitimate domain of science.

The Human Intellect; with an Introduction upon Psychology and the Soul. New York: Charles Scribner & Co., 1868. 8vo, pp. 673.

Prof. Porter confounds the two. It is the soul, according to him, which thinks, wills, judges, and performs other intellectual acts; while, for those who base their psychological views on the anatomy and physiology of the brain, these operations are the results of cerebral action.

The question of the existence of the soul no physiological psychologist cares to discuss. It is a matter for the theologian; not for him. He believes it or not, according to his religious convictions. He might as well inquire into the truth or falsity of the real presence, as to endeavor by scientific data to determine its actuality. To ascribe attributes to a spiritual essence the very existence of which is not susceptible of proof, is what he cannot do. For him the mind constitutes the intellect of man. He studies it as a property of the brain, just as the physicist studies gravity or light or heat as properties of other forms of matter. There is no more mystery for him in cerebral activity than there is in hepatic or gastric activity. The brain secretes mind, and the liver and stomach bile and gastric juice respectively. A diseased brain gives a diseased mind, and a diseased liver or stomach produces imperfect bile or imperfect gastric juice. The spiritualistic and theistic psychologist never, perhaps, studied the anatomy and physiology of the most important organ in the body, the one through which he admits that the intellectual operations are manifested. In all probability, he has never even seen a human brain. He goes beyond it. He assumes the existence of a soul, and then attempts to demonstrate its faculties. Such a course is no longer in accordance with the spirit of the age. In science, we believe nothing without proof, and no work on psychology can pretend to a scientific status, that is not based upon science instead of assumption and speculation.

It is impossible for us, in a short book-notice, to enter at any length into the discussion of the many points connected with the important questions which meet the psychological student at the very threshold of his inquiries. Prof. Porter has done so with much thoroughness in the introduction, and has stated the views of the physiological psychologists with fulness and fairness, combating them, however, and gaining the victory, in his own opinion, as a matter of course. It is

very evident that he has great respect for their doctrines, and, if he were a young man beginning his studies, we have very little doubt as to where he would be found. It is difficult to shake off the opinions of a long life, and no one knows this better than Prof. Porter, though he might not be willing to ascribe it to anatomical and physiological causes.

With the exception of the prevailing idea of the work, we find little in Prof. Porter's treatise which is not deserving of commendation. The reasoning is clear, the descriptions exact, and the physiology, what there is of it, with a few exceptions, correct. Doubtless, the book will be largely read and studied. It is probably the best of its kind.

A VERY different work is the recently-issued volume of Prof. Alexander Bain,' which, so far as it relates to the mind, is an abridgment of his two large volumes on the "Senses and the Intellect" and the "Emotions and the Will." These works are of such a character that on their publication they at once took high rank among psychological treatises. The volume on the "Study of Character," by the same author, is full of scientific and practical details of great importance.

Prof. Bain founds his psychology on the anatomy and physiology of the brain and nervous system. His declarations on this point are explicit, and the proofs he adduces are such as have long since carried conviction to the intelligence of all who cannot conceive of the existence of force without matter as its generator. His summary of faith and evidence is so clear and pointed, that we quote it in full:

"The brain is the principal, although not the sole, organ of mind; and its leading functions are mental. The proofs of this position are these:

"(1.) The physical pain of excessive mental excitement is localized in the head. In extreme muscular fatigue, pain is felt in the muscles; irritation of the lungs is referred to the chest, indigestion to the stomach; and, when mental exercise brings on acute irritation, the local seat is the head.

1

"(2.) Injury or disease of the brain affects the mental

1 Mental and Moral Science: a Compendium of Psychology and Ethics. London: Longmans, Green & Co., 1868. 12mo, pp. 751; Appendix, pp. 99.

powers; a blow on the head destroys consciousness; physical alterations of the nervous substance (as seen after death) are connected with loss of speech, loss of memory, insanity, or some other mental deprivation or derangement.

"(3.) The products of nervous waste are more abundant after mental excitement. These products, eliminated mainly by the kidneys, are the alkaline phosphates combined in the triple phosphate of ammonia and magnesia. Phosphorus is a characteristic ingredient of the nervous substance.

"(4.) There is a general connection between size of the brain and mental energy; in the animal series intelligence increases with the development of the brain. The human brain greatly exceeds the animal brain, and the most advanced races of men have the largest brains. Men distinguished for mental force have, as a general rule, brains of an unusual size. The average weight of the brain is 48 oz.; the brain of Cuvier weighed 64 oz. Idiots commonly have small brains.

"(5.) By specific experiments on the brain and nerves, it is shown that they are indispensable to the mental functions." Professor Bain shows that he has studied the structure and functions of the cerebro-spinal nervous system. It is, however, a singular fact that in his account of the emotions he omits all mention of the sympathetic nerve and its ganglia.

As a text-book for students of psychology we know of none superior to Professor Bain's treatise. It is a condensed and practical exposition of the most advanced condition of the science, and one which is well calculated to take away from the study of the human intellect the obscurity and mystery which the older writers, and some of more recent date, have sought to throw around it. As regards the ethical part of the volume, our praise is equally well deserved. Not the least valuable feature of the work is the statement of the views of noted writers on points under discussion.

1

In a very practical monograph, Dr. R. v. Kraft-Ebing' dis

1 Ueber die durch Gehirnerschütterung und Kopferletzung hervorgerufenen psychischen Krankheiten. Eine Klinisch-forenzische Studie. Erlangen, 1868. 8vo, pp. 79. On the Mental Diseases produced by Concussion and other Injuries of the Brain. A Clinico-Forensic Study.