but he believes that the term having been generally introduced may be retained. He defines it as that complex of sensations which results from muscular activity. The second part of the dissertation contains the reports of the experiments, describing the instruments used and the methods employed. We are informed that Dr. Delabarre has been appointed to the chair of psychology in Brown University. κρς. LE NIHILISME SCIENTIFIQUE. I. Dialogue entre le Doctor Oudèn et L’Etudiant Ti son Neveu. Rapporté par _P. Van Bemmelen_. Leide: E. J. Brill, 1891. Dr. Oudèn’s nephew thus summarises the scientific, or rather “philosophic” views of his uncle: “There is no God, but there is the world. In this world there are neither souls, nor mind, nor life; there is only matter and its elementary forces. Nevertheless these forces do not exist; there is only movement, the sole function of matter, which is inert. In its turn, matter has no reality; it is composed of geometrical points which are susceptible of movement. But as there is neither time nor space, there is no movement.” Nothingness is thus reached, but beyond is illusion, the _maja_ of the Hindoos, which explains all our conceptions of nature including that of our own being. This scientific _maja_ is not the semblance of a real world, but that of a world which does not exist, so that illusion and nothingness are the same thing. From which it follows that there is no illusion and no mind to be deceived! Mr. Van Bemmelen’s opuscule is an ingenious _jeu d’esprit_, evidently intended to exhibit a certain phase of speculation as a _reductio ad absurdum_. Ω. DIRITTO SOCIALE TENTATIVO IN BOZZA. Dell’Avv. _Pietro Pellegrini_. Borga a Mozzano. 1891. There is no denying the activity of the statesmen and scholars of modern Italy in the cause of radical, social reconstruction and, as remarked by a recent traveller in Italy, in the “building up again a Commonwealth, founded on high principles of right and equality.” “Diritto Sociale,” in Italian jurisprudence, of course, relates to municipal and positive law, in its social-economical and social-political aspects. But, in a country with the municipal and political traditions of Italy, this “Diritto Sociale,” even in modern times, exhibits a tendency to crystallise into a kind of concrete, social religion. The Avvocato Signor Pietro Pellegrini, the learned author of this book, appears to feel deeply concerning the present condition of this branch of jurisprudence in Italy.