Dr. Wolfgang Haler is already widely known for his epoch-
making and charmingly-written study of the Mentality of Apes. In a new book, Gestalt Psychology (G. Bell, 15s.), he seeks to give a more general application to the views he holds of the nature of the learning process in apes and men. Dr, Kohler's argument is a brilliant one, though parts of it are extremely speculative. Briefly, it states that, in addition to the formative influences of anatomical inheritance and environ- mental conditioning, a third factor is at work in shapi ll g human reactions, that of the dynamic nervous system itself. The latter has the power of displaying patterns or grsfol/eit• of behaviour, which are new and complete wholes ; it is thus creative. Here in the eternal battle between vitalists and mechanists an intermediate position is held, similar to that of much current physics. Why do " wholes " occur, unpredict- able from the mere knowledge of their parts '? It is interest- ing to find psychology at last concerning itself with this fascinating problem.
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