The Transcendent Function: The Numinosum in Gene Expression,Neurogenesis, and Healing

The process of coming to terms with the unconscious is a true labor, a work which involves both action and suffering. It has been named the “transcendent function” because it represents a function based on real and “imaginary,” or rational and irrational, data, thus bridging the yawning gulf between conscious and unconscious. It is a natural process, a manifestation of the energy that springs from the tension of opposites, and it consists in a series of fantasy-occurrences which appear spontaneously in dreams and visions, (p. 80) —C. G. Jung, 1943/1966     

Discussion — reviews

Sociology of Faith

Werner Stark: The Sociology of Knowledge. The International Library of Sociology and Social Reconstruction, Routledge and Kegan Paul, London, 1958. 36s. net. 356 pp.

Carnap Introduces Symbolic Logic

Rudolph Carnap: Introduction to Symbolic Logic and its Applications, Dover Publication, New York 1958, $1.85, 241 pp.     

Reinforcement and Inhibition of Eyelid Reflexes

Taste preferences, as measured in 48-hour, Richter-type drinking tests (test solution opposite distilled water), were determined for northern grasshopper mice (Onychomys leucogaster, ssp. breviauritus). The Ss were nine males and nine females which were individually housed within an environmental chamber. The test solutions were prepared from five sugars (fructose, glucose, lactose, maltose, sucrose), three salts (magnesium sulfate, potassium chloride, sodium chloride), and two acids (citric acid and hydrochloric acid). In randomly assigned order, each sugar and each salt solution was presented at five molar concentrations, and each acid was paired with distilled water at six levels of pH. Strong drinking preferences were shown for all concentrations of the sugars above .05?.10 M, and sugars ranked in order of preference as follows: Maltose = sucrose > glucose = fructose > lactose. Preferences were also shown for hypotonic concentrations of NaCl. The other salts and both acids, however, were indifferently preferred at low concentrations and were rejected at the higher concentrations. Taste preferences by grasshopper mice for these chemicals were similar to those exhibited by Mongolian gerbils tested with the same items. The similar patterns of preference shown by New World cricetid rodents (grasshopper mice) and Old World cricetid rodents (gerbils) suggest that conclusions concerning disparity in taste sensibilities among animal forms may be premature.     

Ipsilateral Loudness Adaptation Over Multiple Intensity Levels

Three mirror tracing experiments were conducted to investigate the connection between perception and motor behavior. In the first experiment, some subjects traced a hex-maze, other subjects traced a hex-maze after observing a model trace, others traced a hex-maze after reading instructions on mirror images, and others traced a hex-maze after having observed a model and heard the instructions. There were no significant differences between the groups' error scores, but their time scores differed significantly, although not always in the predicted direction. In Experiment 2, the subjects were to trace selected letters of the alphabet. Error scores for the second experiment did not differ much from those for the first experiment. In Experiment 3, the experimenter gave each subject commands for the correct directions of movement, using the subject's body as a frame of reference. There was little improvement in motor performance. These results suggest that the visual information presented in the mirror captured the subjects' attention and blocked their motor tracing program.     

The Perception of Low Tones and the Resonance-Volley Theory

To investigate the effect of two analgesic dosages of acetophenetidin and of Anacin upon the latency of the pricking-pain sensation under conditions of single and repetitive stimulation of the skin, each of six trained male subjects participated in 12 120-minute sessions (each subject had two sessions with 1.0 gm and with 0.5 gm dosages of each drug, placebos, and no capsule). Threshold (latency) determinations were made every five minutes, each time on a different one of 24 numbered spots on the volar surfaces of the forearms. Concomitantly, Spot A on the left forearm was stimulated repeatedly every five minutes, and Spot B, on the right forearm, every 10 minutes. No analgesic effects were observed on pricking-pain latency. Analyses of variance showed no significant interaction, no consistent time effect, and no significant conditions effect that could be interpreted as resulting from drug action. Repetitive stimulation at five- and 10-minute intervals was thus alone responsible for the latency elevations observed on Spots A and B respectively. It was suggested that such repetitive stimulation may have contributed to an indeterminate extent to the positive results with analgesics reported by Hardy, Wolff, and Goodell (7).     

The Role of Imagery in the Production of Written Definitions

This study of a literacy course begins with methodological approaches useful in the historical study of the literacy profession, its practices, beliefs, and participants. A model course is presented via “moments” in the history of literacy. Results from implementations of the model course are also presented.