A recent work by Prof. Th. Flournoy, entitled ‘Des Indes à la Planète Mars,’[G] contains an account of a remarkable case of mental automatism, or sub-conscious personality. The subject is a young woman of about thirty years, apparently in good health, but always of a nervous and imaginative type. She developed tendencies towards lapses of consciousness, hallucinations and automatic actions; and these developed later, under the inspiration of spiritualistic séances, into a series of cycles, or automatic dramas, in which the medium speaks or writes and acts under the influence of several diverse subordinate personalities. In one of these cycles—which, it must be understood, are continued from one sitting to another, although in her intermediate normal life she knows nothing of what she has said or done in the trance—she becomes Marie Antoinette, and is said to act the part with unusual dramatic skill. In another and far more elaborate cycle the scene is transferred to the planet Mars, and the houses, scenery, plants and animals, peoples, customs and goings-on of the planet are described; sketches are made, and reproduced in the volume, of these extra-mundane appearances. Still more remarkable is the appearance of the Martian language, which in successive séances the subject hears, speaks, sees before her in space, and, in the end, even writes. From the mystery of Mars we are taken to the equally mysterious Hindu cycle; here the medium becomes an Indian princess of the fifteenth century, reveals her history and that of her associates in the Oriental life, tells of herself as Simandini; of Sivrouka, her prince, who reigned over Kanara and built in 1401 the fortress of Tschandraguiri. Wonderful to relate, these names are not fictitious, but are mentioned by one De Marlès in a volume published in 1828; the author, however, does not enjoy a high reputation as a historian. When occasional utterances of the Hindu princess are taken down, they are found in part to have close resemblance to Sanskrit words; while in her normal condition the medium is as ignorant of Sanskrit as she is of any language except French, and is entirely ignorant of both De Marlès and the people of India five hundred years ago. Surely this is a tale, bristling with mystery and improbability, which, if told carelessly or with a purpose, we should dismiss as a willful invention! M. Flournoy has been unusually successful in revealing the starting points of the several automatisms and of connecting them with intelligible developments of the medium’s mental life; and the manifestations, though they remain as remarkable examples of unconscious memory and elaboration of ideas, nowhere transcend these limitations. The sketches of Martian scenery are clearly Japanesque or vaguely Oriental; the Martian language is pronounced an ‘infantile’ production, and is clearly modeled after the French, the characters being the result of an attempt to make them as oddly different from our own as possible; the Sanskrit goes no farther than what one could get from a slight acquaintance with a Sanskrit grammar; and while there is a copy of De Marlès in the Geneva Library (where the medium lives), no connection can be established between either De Marlès or the grammar and the subject of this study. Most of this knowledge of these remarkable sub-conscious states would have been impossible were it not for ‘spirit control’ of one Leopold, who, in accordance with the doctrine of reincarnation which permeates the several cycles, was in his life the famous Cagliostro. By suitable suggestion, Leopold can be induced to make the entranced subject speak, write, draw, or interpret her strange messages from other worlds; and where Leopold says ‘nay’ all progress is stopped. This case has many analogies with other cases that have been recorded, but goes beyond most of them in the complexity and bizarre character of the unconscious elaborations and in the feats of memory and creative imagination which it entails. These accomplishments, it should be well understood, never appeared suddenly or fully developed, but only after a considerable period of subliminal preparation, and then only hesitatingly, and little by little, just as is the case with the acquisitions of normal consciousness; and all these acquisitions bear unmistakable marks of belonging to the same person. The special value of this account thus lies in the accuracy of the description and the success with which the account has been made thoroughly intelligible and significant.
[G] The book has just been published by the Harpers in an English version, under the title ‘She Lived in Mars.’
THE MOSQUITOES OF THE UNITED STATES.
Dr. L. O. Howard, the entomologist of the United States Department of Agriculture, has just published a bulletin entitled, “Notes on the Mosquitoes of the United States: Giving some Account of their Structure and Biology, with Remarks on Remedies.” The author has, for some years, been interested in the general subject of the biology of mosquitoes and of remedies to be used against them, and has brought together in this bulletin all the published and unpublished notes which he has been collecting during this period. The bulletin contains synoptic tables of all North American mosquitoes, prepared by Mr. D. W. Coquillett, and gives detailed facts regarding the geographical distribution of the different species mentioned. All the five North American genera are illustrated and full, illustrated accounts are given of the life history of the two principal genera, Culex and Anopheles, as studied in Culex pungens and Anopheles quadrimaculatus. The author calls special attention to the two genera of large mosquitoes, Psorophora and Megarhinus, and urges the importance of the study of these two genera, especially by physicians in the South, in regard to their possible relation to the spread of malaria. Considerable space is given to the subject of remedies, the principal ones considered being kerosene on breeding pools, the introduction of fish in fishless ponds, the artificial agitation of water and general community work. It is clearly shown not only that the mosquito may be, in many localities, readily done away with at comparatively slight expense, but that by careful work many malarious localities may be made healthy. The subject of mosquitoes and malaria is not discussed in the bulletin, which contains simply references to available papers on this subject, like the article by Dr. Patrick Manson, published in The Popular Science Monthly for July, the aim of the author being to bring together all available facts about the mosquitoes of the United States, in order to assist physicians who are studying the malarial relation from the point of view of local conditions.
THE PROGRESS OF SCIENCE.
The British, French and German Associations for the Advancement of Science have held their annual meetings in the course of the past month. In each of these countries and in most other European countries, as well as in America, there are migratory scientific congresses of the same general character. As these have grown up somewhat independently, they evidently meet a common need. Science cannot be advanced by a man working independently and in isolation. The printing press was essential to the beginnings of modern science, while at the same time it was usual for the scientific student to travel from place to place that he might learn and teach. Then in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, as the cultivation of science became more general, royal academies were founded. The Royal Society was established at London in 1660 under the patronage of Charles II., the Academy of Sciences at Paris in 1666 under Louis XIV., the Royal Academy at Berlin in 1700 under Frederick I., the Imperial Academy at St. Petersburg in 1724 under Peter the Great, and in other cities similar academies were founded under similar auspices. Then in the first half of the present century, as science continued to grow, the more democratic organizations for the advancement of science were established. The Society of German Scientific Men and Physicians was formed, chiefly through the efforts of Humboldt, in 1822; the Swiss Association in 1829, and the British Association in 1831. Our own Association was established in 1847, but was then the intergrowth of a society dating from 1840. These associations are significant of the spread of science among all the people. Science is no longer the concern of a few men under royal patronage, but the two great movements of the present century—the growth of democracy and the growth of science—have united for their common good.
* * * * *
The British Association held its annual meeting at Bradford, beginning on September 5, under the presidency of Sir William Turner, professor of anatomy in the University of Edinburgh. We are able to publish, from a copy received in advance of its delivery, his presidential address, which traces the growth during the present century of knowledge regarding fundamental biological problems. The addresses of the presidents before the sections are usually written in a way that can be readily understood by those who are not specialists, and are consequently of greater interest to a general audience than some of the corresponding addresses before the American Association. The addresses at Bradford were: Before the section of mathematical and physical science Dr. Joseph Larmor discussed recent developments of physics with special reference to the extent to which explanation can be reduced purely to description; before the section of chemistry Prof. H. W. Perkin argued that radical changes should be made in the methods of teaching inorganic chemistry; before the section of geology Prof. W. J. Sollas spoke of the development of the earth, including the different critical periods in its history; before the section of zoölogy Dr. R. H. Traquair chose as his subject the bearing of fossil fishes on the doctrine of descent; before the section of geography Sir George Robertson considered certain geographical aspects of the British Empire and the changes brought about by improved means of intercommunication; before the section of economic science and statistics Major P. G. Craigie spoke of the use of statistics in agriculture; before the section of mechanical science Sir Alexander Binnie traced the historical development of science; before the section of anthropology Prof. John Rhys dealt with the ethnology of the British Isles, with special reference to language and folk-lore; before the section of botany Prof. Sidney H. Vines reviewed the development of botany during the present century. In addition to these addresses, evening discourses were given by Prof. Francis Gotch on ‘Animal Electricity,’ and by Prof. W. Stroud on ‘Range Finders.’ The usual lecture to workingmen was given by Prof. Sylvester P. Thompson, his subject being ‘Electricity in the Industries.’