Abstract
M. BINET'S volume originally appeared in the “Bibliothèque Scientifique Internationale,” and was reviewed in NATURE in July 1892 (vol. xlvi. p. 219). The subject with which it deals is beset with peculiar difficulties, and great caution is necessary before coming to any definite conclusions concerning the psychological phenomena involved; for though many observers have recorded strange alterations and modifications of personality, the cause of this spontaneous somnambulism is much disputed. M. Binet holds “that in a great many cases, and in very diverse conditions, the normal unity of consciousness is broken up, and several distinct consciousnesses are formed, each of which may have its own system of perceptions, its own memory, and even its own moral character.” His book contains a detailed account of the results of researches by various psychologists on these alterations of personality. It is an authoritative statement of facts, and the translation, with Prof. Baldwin's notes, will be read with interest by the more intelligent section of the general public, as well as by the student of psychology.
Alterations of Personality.
By Alfred Binet. Translated by Helen Green Baldwin; with notes and a preface by Prof. J. Mark Baldwin. Pp. xii + 356. (London: Chapman and Hall, Ltd., 1896.)
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Alterations of Personality. Nature 55, 389 (1897). https://doi.org/10.1038/055389a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/055389a0