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An interesting study of the psychogalvanic reflex from both physiological and psychological points of view. The author considers in order the chief conditions and characteristics of the reflex and under each heading reviews the work of previous authors and records fresh experimental contributions of his own. With regard to the question of the physiological
action and nature of the reflex, he considers that the reflex (although obviously connected with the function of the sweat glands) is not due to a simple diminution of resistance, but rather to 'a diminution in the counter E.M.F. of polarization set up by the polarizing currents traversing the body at the moment the response is elicited' (p. 104). In general we may look upon this polarization effect as in the nature of 'a diminution of concentration of the polarized sweat through the admixture of fresh unpolarized substance which is secreted each time the subject responds to a stimulus'.
Among the important psychological aspects of the reflex that are here considered the following may be mentioned as being perhaps of special interest to the psycho-analyst. There is in general a fairly marked positive correlation between the intensity of the reflex and the intensity of the corresponding emotional experience as noted introspectively. When the stimuli were reaction-words, the author employed the method of free association in the hope of throwing light upon those cases where this correspondence was absent and he discovered that where the introspectively judged emotion-intensity was small as compared with the psychogalvanic reflex, the associations led to ideas of greater emotional value than those indicated by the reaction-words, whereas this was not the case when the judged emotional intensity was relatively greater as compared with the intensity of the psychogalvanic reflex (p. 151). These facts seem to show that the reflex is connected with the affectivity of the deeper layers of the mind rather than with th