The Mind and the Brain. By Alfred Binet. (Regan Paul,
Trench, and Co. 55)—This is a volume of the "International Scientific Series," appearing under the editorship of Mr. F. Legge. M. Binet's philosophy is what we should commonly call materialistic, though he would not accept the description, the tenets of the materialists being one of the objects of his polemic. He is avowedly anti-spiritualist, by "spiritualism" being meant, not the system of preternatural sensations and appearances which is popularly known by that name, but the theory which rests on the supposition that disembodied intelligences are possible. This is not a question which we are going to argue here. What we have to say is that M. Binet sets forth his views with admirable clearness. The argument is a model of French lucidity of expres- sion, and is well worth study, apart from the intrinsic value of the doctrine which it expounds. The title of the volume of which this is a translation is, it is as well to observe, " L'Ame et le Corps."
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