236 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



a new kind of phenomenon which we term self-consciousness. From 

 the correspondence of our reactions with those of other people we con- 

 clude with scientific probability that they too are possessed of self- 

 consciousness. We draw the same conclusion concerning a few of the 

 higher animals. How far down the scale anything similar is present is 

 not to be ascertained with the means at our command to-day, for the 

 analogy between organization and action rapidly diminishes as we pass 

 down the scale. Still in view of the very great gulf between man and 

 the higher animals, this series is presumably not very long. Moreover, 

 there are many reasons for regarding the gray cortical substance of the 

 brain with its characteristic pyramidal cells as the anatomical sub- 

 stratum for this kind of nervous activity. 



The study of the processes of self-consciousness is the subject-mat- 

 ter of psychology. Some departments usually considered a part of 

 philosophy really belong to this science, viz., the theory of knowledge. 

 Esthetics, and still more ethics, are, however, a part of social science. 



The latter deals with beings in so far as they may be combined 

 in groups with common functions. In place of an individual mind we 

 have here a collective one. The latter, by virtue of the average struck 

 between the variations of the individuals, presents simpler relations 

 than the former. Thence we may deduce the problem of the historical 

 sciences. The events of our world depend partly upon physical, partly 

 upon psychological factors. Both show a one-sidedness in regard to 

 time. Thus arises, on the one hand, a history of the sky and the earth ; 

 and, on the other, a history of the organisms up to man. 



The problem of history is to fix past facts through the effects they 

 have wrought. Where the latter are not present we are dependent for 

 a conception of the facts upon that most uncertain procedure, analogy. 

 We must observe, however, that an event which has left no trail has 

 absolutely no interest for us. Our interest in an event is directly pro- 

 portional to the extent of the change it has produced upon the present. 

 The problem of history is, however, as little exhausted by determining 

 past facts as is that of physics by ascertaining an isolated fact, such as 

 determining the temperature of a given place at a given time. The 

 individual facts serve rather to discover the general properties of the 

 collective mind; and the much-discussed laws of history are laws of 

 collective psychology. Just as physical and chemical laws are dis- 

 covered in order that with their help we may predict future events 

 (such as those produced in experiment or technology), so laws of his- 

 tory should render possible the control and the development of society 

 and of politics. We observe that the great statesmen of all times 

 assiduously studied history; and hence we may conclude that, despite 

 the doubts expressed by many scholars, numerous laws actually exist in 

 history. 



