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 130 PHILOSOPHICAL PERIODICALS. ism.' [There is no valid reason for believing that there is any difference between the volitional process in ' ordinary ' volitional action and that in the action performed under posthypnotic suggestion. To the subjective consciousness there is, as a rule, no such difference ; and where a differ- ence is felt, it can be satisfactorily accounted for by regard to the circum- stances under which the introspective testimony is apt to be right or wrong. Hence posthypnotic experiments strengthen the position of the determinist.] Psychological Literature. New Books. Notes. AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PSYCHOLOGY. Vol. xiii., No. 1. H. C. Stevens. ' Studies from the Psychological Laboratory of the University of Michigan. V. The Relation of the Fluctuations of Judgments in the Estimation of Time Intervals to Vasomotor Waves.' [The vasornotor wave coincides, in at least 50 per cent, of the author's experiments, with fluctuation in the judgment of a time interval. For intervals above 3'7 sec. the strain of respiration may be employed as an aid to estimation. The method of single reproduc- tion tends to lower the indifference point. Intervals below O40 to 070 sec. (the limit differs with individuals and methods) are overestimated ; intervals from this point to 240 sec. underestimated ; intervals from 3'70 to 7 '24 sec. again overestimated. Weber's Law does not hold for the time sense. Temporal judgments in general are mediate, depending on organic processes, of which change in blood volume is one of the more important. Vasomotor change plays a predominant part in time up to 2 sec. ; respiration strain comes in with longer intervals. These are, of course, not the only factors involved in interval estimation.] C. H. Sears. ' A Contribution to the Psychology of Rhythm.' [An experimental study of the time values given by competent performers to the notes of several simple musical selections. Two successive executions of the same selec- tion (with short pause or without break) show a considerable temporal variation. In general, the second performance is the slower. The varia- tions of the measures are not constant ; and the relative length of the tones i-; also variable. In some cases there is marked lengthening of accented notes. There is a slight tendency to make the second note of a triplet longer than the first, and a marked tendency to make the last longer than either of the others. Intervals occur between successive notes on the same degree and on different degrees of the staff. Overlaps are common and of varying length. Playing in parts does not ensure greater accuracy than playing the air alone. Meumann's view that the musician is aided by a motor appreciation in his rendering of the frac- tional parts of intervals is probably right ; but his conjecture that, in playing with both hands, the one hand helps the other in giving the cor- rect relative length to time intervals is not borne out.] H. B. Woolston. 'Religious Emotion.' [The religious emotions are dependent on certain constitutional and organic factors. They vary pretty constantly with certain meteorological conditions and with bodily rhythms. They are increased by the use of physical stimuli. Exaggerated religious emotion is connected with certain diseased nervous states. As to their office in the religious life, they have no value at all, " except as the inward reson- ance shows ready response of the nature to a certain sort of influence, and except as the excitation leads to a large and worthy effort ". In general, " religious emotion arouses the expansive manifestations of love, to which it is very much akin. And thus it leads to unselfish activity." Religion is also of value in enforcing morality, and thus forming a strong social bond.] S. S. Colvin. ' The Psychological Necessity of Religion.' [Religion may be defined as the feeling of absolute dependence. It can never be transcended or eliminated, (1) because intelligence is not perfect, nor knowledge absolute ; (2) because life is not and can never be satis-