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414 NEW BOOKS. individual is proved morbid by rough contrast with the average, but M. Duprat contrasts all present societies, not with the average, but with the ideal. On the whole, however, this work, if insufficiently systematic, is both interesting and suggestive. T. LOVEDAY. Des Religions Compareets an point de ctw Soclologique. Par RAOUL DE LA GRASSERIE, laureat de 1'Institut de France, Correspondant du Ministere de ['Instruction Publique, Associe^ de 1'Institut Interna- tional de Sociologie, Membre de la Societ^ des Gens de lettres, de 1' Academic de legislation de Toulouse, de la Societt' de legislation eoruparee, Docteur en droit, Juge au Tribunal de Rennes, otticier de I'lnstruction Publique. [Bibliotheque Soeiologique Internationale.] Paris : V. Giard & E. Briere, 1899. Pp. 396. To synthesise all religions (with the help of several histories of religion, not, however, the newest), to discover in them the common object of establishing harmonious social relations between man and the other beings' of the cosmos (vegetables, animals, demons and gods alike), and to formulate the laws governing the intercourse proper to such a " supra- societe " or "hypertooUtt," such has been M. de la Grasserie's labour of love, and thereby has "the science of cosmosociology" come into existence. The book proclaims itself a study in pure cosmosociology, and as such appeals primarily to the pure cosuiosociologist. The author hopes that the Paris Exhibition of 1900 may witness a Congress of Religions, which shall inaugurate a universal religion by eliminating the " uncivilised " religions, by encouraging all to practise two religions just as one learns to speak two languages, and by promoting " syncretism or fusion ". To such a Congress the book will certainly prove useful. Mean while, the student of Religion at its comparative level cannot fail to derive therefrom many a hint as to the advantage of applying the ideas of the higher sociology to the particular 'organism' whose habits he studies. A flood of light, for instance, is let in upon Moses' procedure in raising up a brazen serpent before the eyes of the Israelites by recognising it to have been a case of religious " vaccination ". In short, only the " impious man, "Fanarc'iiste. de la soeicte cosmiquf. is likely to pronounce the book either fantastic or superfluous. R. R. MARETT. Le Problemi df In Mi'mnii-i : Enact! dc Psyc-hu-Mfi-ttii/iiix-. Par le Dr. PAUL SOLLIER. Paris : Felix Alcan. Pp. 218. Price 3 fr. 75. This book does not profess to be a theory of memory. The author holds that there is room for an examination of the problem of memory from the standpoint not of psychology or physiology but of pure physics ; and ac- cordingly he draws out analogies between the phenomena of memory or of its correlated brain processes and those of magnetism and electricity. The value of such exercises is open to question ; to those who find amuse- ment or profit in them this work should prove interesting, for Dr. Sollier shows abundance of ingenuity. The analogy of which he makes most use is that of an accumulator. However, the greater part of the book is given up to psychological and still more to physiological questions, which have to be settled before appropriate physical analogies can be found. The first chapter is an interesting, though not altogether accurate, discussion of previous views ; chapter ii. deals with Fixation and Conservation ; chapter iii. with Evocation and Reproduction ; and chapter iv. with Recognition and Localisation. The last chapter treats of the evolution, seat, and mechanism of memory. As regards the ' seat,' Dr.