William Alexander Hammond

“ This contradiction in Homer, who sometimes speaks of the body as the real person and opposed to the Psyche, and again, of the Psyche on its way to Hades as the man proper, is reconciled by the author on the ground that there are two "selves." Both the body and the Psyche may be called the "self." Man has a double personality, viz. the man visible to sense, and the invisible self, which is set free at death. This Psyche dwells in the living man like a guest, a second ego. As a parallel to this, the author cites the conceptions among primitive peoples of a double life in man. ”

“ Thus, to some patients, substances that are hot feel cold, and vice versa; others feel the things on which they sit or lie glide from under them. Illusions of a general character as regards the whole body are quite common—giving the sensation of extreme weight or lightness, or as if the body were immensely lengthened or shortened.
As regards frequency, illusions of the sense of touch occupy the front rank; next are those of sight, and next those of hearing. Illusions of taste and of smell, except with persons who are otherwise insane, are not common. ”

“ The step which placed the "Ionian cosmologists once for all above the level of the Maoris" is not the "substitution of impersonal causes acting according to law for personal causes acting arbitrarily," as Grote and Zeller say, but simply that the Milesian philosophers "left off telling tales. They gave up the hopeless task of describing what was when as yet there was nothing, and asked instead what all things really are now." The underlying principle of all the philosophy of the Ionian cosmologists, says our author, was ex nihilo nihil fit. ”

“ Illusions of sight often relate merely to the size of objects. Thus, a young lady who had overtasked herself at school saw everything of enormous size at which she looked. The head of a person seemed to be several feet in diameter, and little children looked like giants. So far as her own person was concerned there were no illusions. ”

“ The views of this revered Nestor in the history of philosophy do not, however, detract from our interest in the English publication. It is interesting to get the views of a member of a younger generation of scholars, the more so when he comes from a different nation from the Berlin savant. Burnet is quite independent in his treatment of the period, and we find him all the while going counter to Zeller, though not always happily. In fact, he seems frequently to join issue with the younger investigators against Zeller, where the weight of evidence is overwhelmingly with the senior. ”

“ The German books, to which in the main we have to look for the history of ancient educational institutions and theories, are so fortified with quotations and references to all kinds of authorities that it is like scaling a bristling rampart to get at them, and the references frequently constitute their greatest worth. ”

“ The reiteration in the ears, during every minute of the day, of the command to jump into the river, to plunge a convenient knife into the heart, and so on, day in and day out, is calculated to shake the power of control of the strongest-minded. ”

“ There is, indeed, ground for associating democracy with the Individualism of the Sophists, though to attempt to carry out such analogy in the development of philosophy is quite as futile as Hegel's application to it of the categories of pure thought or Boeck's employment of Plato's theories in Epistemology for the same purpose. ”

“ In the matter of classification the author follows in the main the divisions of Zeller, though she prefers the pre-sophistic division of Überweg-Heinze to the pre-Sokratic one of the former historian. Inasmuch as we have both in English and German an abundance of passably good histories of this period of philosophy, and the materials have been in the main already critically sifted, there is no likelihood of a writer nowadays making very glaring mistakes in the compilation of a handbook. ”

“ Mental excitement will cause a like effect in some persons. I am acquainted with a gentleman who can not participate in any engrossing conversation without having a bitter taste developed in his mouth. ”

“ There will be no one, however, who will not regret that more was not said about Aristotle, to the presentation and discussion of whose theories only fifty pages are devoted. The chapter on Plotinus, whose position in the history of pedagogy is unimportant, might easily be spared and the space given to the further elucidation and criticism of Aristotle's ideas. Brief, however, as this account of Aristotle is, one does not know where to look for so direct and lucid a treatment of this side of the Stagirite's philosophy. ”

“ Hallucinations of hearing are more common than those of any other of the special senses, and, according to my experience, are more apt to lead to further mental disorder. Far more people kill themselves under the influence of hallucinations of hearing than from those of all the other senses combined. ”

“ Xenophanes, however, regards the universe as a unit and if "the universe is really a god, there can be nothing more primary than itself." In this way, Burnet supposes, Xenophanes arrived at his theistic doctrine. Within the universe, interpreted as a unity, there is room for other gods which are "reduced to material phenomena." The conception of a personal god is unknown to Xenophanes, as is also the distinction between matter and spirit. ”

“ Hallucinations of the sense of touch are, on the other hand, very frequently met with. Sensations apparently not based on any real impression are experienced in various parts of the body. It is difficult, however, to discriminate between illusions and hallucinations of touch.
Occasionally persons have the power of voluntarily producing hallucinations. A practice fraught with danger, for the time is apt to come at which they can not get rid of their false perceptions. ”

“ Among those who do not suffer separation of body and soul are those who, without dying, go to the Elysian Fields, beyond Okeanos or the Fortunate Islands. Rohde finds this union of the body and Psyche necessary, because, as he says in connection with Odys. ”

“ Children are very liable to be subject to hallucinations, and frequently give circumstantial accounts of incidents which they believe have occurred to them, of voices they have heard, etc. It is often impossible for them to discriminate between the true and the false, and I am afraid they are often punished for lying by ignorant parents, when they have told nothing but what they have had the evidence of their senses for believing. ”

“ In my opinion, they are the cause of the hallucination becoming a delusion, and, indeed, between a psychic hallucination and a delusion there is very little difference. The former can not exist without the involvement of the intellect. ”

“ In this treatment of Greek conceptions of the spirit-world, Rohde gives us an exceedingly valuable contribution to one of the most interesting branches of Anthropology. The book is occupied with description of facts rather than with exposition of them, and is conservatively written. ”

“ The difference between illusions and hallucinations can be recognized without difficulty, for the latter are entirely cerebral in origin, and do not require, as do the former, a material basis. They can not be produced by any defects or derangements of the sensory organs, or by any external circumstances tending to interfere with the normal action of these organs. ”

“ As hallucinations of sight often exist while the eyes are closed, or in persons who are totally blind, so hallucinations of hearing continue though the ears be stopped, or originate in persons who are entirely deaf. ”

“ In speaking of the book more in detail, we should like to call attention to certain minor defects. The characterization of the periods of Greek Philosophy by political parallels (p. 82 seq.) is not felicitous. To call the Ionic philosophy "kingly" and that of Pythagoras "aristocratic," does not tend to elucidate the character of the two philosophies, although the philosophical order or school of Pythagoras may well be characterized as aristocratic ”

“ The dialogues are not classified on any satisfactory principle, and the student gets very little instruction on the important question of the chronology, though, to be sure, a detailed discussion of this difficulty would not be in place in a work of this compass. Most students, we venture to think, will find the account of the Republic (pp. 146-150) rather meagre and not very clear. A good deal of space is taken up with the myth of the cave, which of course is very beautiful, but it does not give the student the salient features of the Republic. ”

“ There is some evidence to show that the thalami optici are the centers for all real perceptions, and that hence they are the organs, which, through their disease, give rise to all centric illusions and hallucinations. ”

“ To supplement these three papers, Pearson has edited and given us a critical commentary on these three hundred fragments. He prefaces this by an introduction of fifty pages, which, to the general student of the history of Philosophy, will prove the most valuable part of the book. For the student working specially in Greek Philosophy and Literature, the commentary on the fragments will be found a serviceable supplement to Zeller and Hirzel. ”

“ At last she lost control of the operations, and became constantly subject to hallucinations of sight and hearing.
Although no one presumes to question the honesty of Jerome Cardan, or of Swedenborg, it is probable that their visions were also induced by intense mental concentration. In some persons very slight thought is sufficient to cause hallucinations of great distinctness.
The causes of central illusions and hallucinations are generally to he found in derangements of some kind in the blood circulating in the brain. ”

“ The author identifies the "dark" vapors of Herakleitos," which increase the moist element" (p. 157) , with darkness itself, and this seems to me a plausible explanation. When, however, he applies his theory to the extinction of the sun he says, "it" (i.e. the "dark" vapor) "could no longer rise upwards unless the sun gave it motion, and so it becomes possible for a fresh sun (fr. 32) to be kindled." ”

“ After the first day the figure of the deceased person no longer appeared, but its place was supplied by many other phantoms, sometimes representing acquaintances, but mostly strangers. After about four weeks he began to hear them talk. The application of leeches to the arms relieved him promptly of his hallucinations. ”

“ The volume presents nothing new in matter or original in treatment; it is further marred by many inaccuracies, which render it unserviceable for pedagogical purposes; and scholars familiar with the theme handled (though these are evidently not the persons for whom the book was intended) will find it smacks strongly of dilettantism. ”

“ Did any one before her ever suppose that Aristotle meant a purification of the emotions of fear and pity (p. 224) , and not through (διά) pity and fear? This, however, is not more inaccurately stated than Xenophon's (Mem. iv. 8. 11) characterization of Sokrates on page 65. Instead of new academy (p. 254) , the author evidently means to say middle academy. These are a few of the defects, from which one can readily conclude that the volume is ill-fitted for a handbook of reference. ”