La Conception Inductive De La Vie: By Enzo Lolli. Traduit de l'italien par Mme de Vesme. (Librairie Félix Alcan, Paris, 1937. Pp. 127. Price 15 francs.)

This book describes a cosmological hypothesis, which purports to explain the origin and persistence of all natural phenomena, including life. the concept of induction that is used derives from electricity, in which one current can set up and endow with a certain independent existence another current. The induced current has, as it were, a life of its own, but its existence is dependent upon that of the inducing current. The author attempts to explain this in terms of rhythm and movement, and applies these ideas to life in general and to a number of miscellaneous activities, including psychotherapy, in particular.

The book is a brief exposition of a longer volume of lectures, and the author has deliberately sacrificed rigour and exactitude of expression to clarity. It cannot be said, however, that the work is particularly clear—it is far too sketchy to be at all suggestive or convincing. The main idea of induction is, none the less, attractive, and it might become a useful scientific concept. But though the author does suggest the possibility of experimental work based on the hypothesis, no indication whatever is given of the lines such research might take; and the book consists, therefore, of nothing more than an arm-chair hypothesis, entirely speculative and outside the domain of empirical verification.