Page:Mind (New Series) Volume 15.djvu/267

 R. WALLASCHEK, Psychologic und Pathologic dcr Vorstellutig. 253 In Singing, as in Beading, Writing, Imitation and many other activities, parallel instances are dealt with and the same principles .applied. Here emerges the question of the relation of music to word-text. Music is the expression of feeling, and the text is intel- lectual. But in the song the two must be combined for emotional purposes. It follows that the intellectual element is absorbed in the emotional. The words as intellectual cease to function except as the occasion for the emotional expression. This falls in with Dr. Wallaschek's well-known theory of the early development of song. In primitive song the intellectual content of the words may be little or nothing. The argument based on clinical cases is certainly strong, and he enforces it with much more detail and circumstance in the second part. His practical deductions as to musical education are worthy of careful study, since they are obviously based in no merely theo- retical knowledge of the art. The essence of the whole is that as the playing of music is a cerebral function expressed through the fingers and involves the relation of the brain to the finger, all practising should be not of purely mechanical effects, but of exercises with meaning, of true works of art. In other words, practice should not be of abstract note -scales. This is essential for beginners ; less so for the experienced, who can give a purpose even to isolated notes. He even denies the value of massage for the fingers, because, to be effective, massage should be applied to the brain as well. Here he is on doubtful ground medically. But the results are matter of experiment. Certainly, the total musculo- nervous circle must be kept in view, but there is a periphery as well as a centre, and the relation of the two is so subtle that one hesitates to dogmatise on the reflex nutritional effects that might result to the central nerve-mechanism even from the massage of the fingers. At the same time, he is right to direct the attention to the total functional unit. Part II. deals with " Das Innere Geistesleben, Wesen und Ver- lauf der Vorstellungen '. The first chapter is a very thorough exposition of the leading types of Vorstellungen visual, auditive, motor. Here again the chief illustrations are from music. All three types are to be found among musicians, but the motor type is the most fundamental. The criticism of programme music (p. 141 et seq.) is well grounded. The author's theory of the origin of music again helps him here, but the criticism does not depend on it. The point of his contention is as before that at the time of hearing it, music to be enjoyed must not be thought about, and the programme expositions of motives and meanings make the cardinal mistake of not allowing for this. Whatever be the guiding value of the programme, the appreciation of any piece depends in the end on the subjective state of the listener. A pro- gramme " in his head " is of use to the executant, but it cannot as such be transferred to the mind of the listener, and the effort to do so tends to destroy the strictly musical effect both for player