Medicine and the Mind. Translated from the French of Dr.
Maurice de Fleury by Stacy B. Collins, M.D. (Downey and Co. 12s. net.)—This treatise, to which a prize has been awarded by the Academie Francaise, cannot, from its nature, be treated in detail. But we may say generally that it is a very striking piece of work. We are not prepared to accept all its conclusions. The translator, who has added a quite admirable preface, expresses his own misgivings. So far as Dr. de Fleury's argument goes, we seem to be landed in something like sheer materialism. But he himself would acknowledge that there is, or at least may be, something outside the region of his facts. Meanwhile the facts themselves must be studied, and, when established, their signifi- cance must be accepted. The power of the mind over the body is indeed amazing. Dr. de Fleury's first chapter contains state- ments, made on what seems to be unimpeachable authority, that induce very serious reflection. They throw light on the very remarkable phenomenon of the stigmata, and, at the quite opposite pole of human consciousness, on many things which have, it would seem, been wholly misunderstood. Indeed, it dismays one to think what wrong has been done from the neglect of this branch of scientific investigation. The book is not for every reader, but for some students it is, we may say, indispensable.
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