The Psychic Life of Micro-Organisms
A Study in Experimental Psychology
Description:... "M. Alfred Binet, the collaborator of Ribot, Féré, and one of the most eminent representatives of the French School of Psychology, has presented in this work, the most important results of recent investigations in the world of micro-organisms. The subject is a branch of comparative psychology little known, as the data of this department of natural science lie scattered for the most part in isolated reports and publications, and no attempt has hitherto been made to collate and present them in a systematized form.
"Especial use has been made of the investigations of Balbiani, Claparède and Lachmann, Maupas, Ribot, Engelmann, Pouchet, Weber, Pfeffer, Kent, Dujardin, Gruber, Nussbaum, Bütschli, Lieberkühn. The cuts, eighteen in number, are illustrative of the movements, nutrition, digestion, nuclear phenomena, and fecundation of proto-organisms.
"The most interesting chapters are those on fecundation, which demonstrate the same instincts and vital powers to exist in infusoria as are found in animals of higher organization.
"M. Binet's researches and conclusions show, 'that psychological phenomena begin among the very lowest classes of beings; they are met with in every form of life from the simplest cell to the most complicated organism.' The author contests the theory of the distinguished English scientist, Prof. George J. Romanes, who assigns the first appearance of the various psychical and mental faculties to different stages or periods in the scale of zoological development. To M. Binet there is an aggregate of properties which exclusively pertain to living matter, the existence of which is seen in the lowest forms of life as well as in the highest."
-The American Practitioner, Volumes 7-8
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