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POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



SCIENTIFIC LITERATURE. 



PSYCHOLOGY. 



There has just been published a 

 group of psychological books which 

 could scarcely have been produced else- 

 where. In both volume and value of 

 work, American psychologists appear 

 to hold their own with Germany and 

 to surpass Great Britain or France. 

 The books to which we especially refer 

 are ' Experimental Psychology and 

 Culture,' by Professor Stratton, of the 

 University of California; 'Outline of 

 Psychology,' by Professor Eoyce, of 

 Harvard University ;/ Genetic Psychol- 

 ogy for Teachers/ by Dr. Judd, of 

 Yale University, and 'Why the Mind 

 Has a Body,' by Professor Strong, of 

 Columbia University.* If we go back 

 a couple of years, there may be added 

 'Talks to Teachers,' by Professor 

 James, of Harvard University; 'Psy- 

 chology and Life,' by Professor Miin- 

 sterberg, of Harvard University; 'Fact 

 and Fable in Psychology,' by Professor 

 Jastrow, of the University of Wiscon- 

 sin; 'Introduction to Psychology,' by 

 Professor Calkins, of Wellesley Col- 

 lege; 'Experimental Psychology,' by 

 Professor Titchener, of Cornell Uni- 

 versity, and 'Analytical Psychology,' 

 by Pi-ofessor Witmer, of the Univer- 

 sity of Pennsylvania. We have in ad- 

 dition the monumental ' Dictionary of 

 Psychology,' edited by Professor Bald- 

 win, of Princeton University, the third 

 and last volume of which has just been 

 published, and various works limited to 

 a special field, such as Professor 

 James's 'Varieties of Eeligious Expe- 

 rience' and 'Aristotle's Psychology,' 



* The books are published by The 

 Macmillan Company, except Professor 

 Judd's which is one of the Interna- 

 tional Education Series of the Apple- 

 tons. 



by Professor Hammond, of Cornell 

 University. The books can not be said 

 to represent a school of psychology, 

 but they show certain rather definite 

 tendencies. They are scientific, being 

 based on the results of recent experi- 

 mental research, and yet they tend to 

 maintain an intimate connection with 

 philosophy. The relations to educa- 

 tion are strongly emphasized. The 

 human interest and literary style are 

 noticeable, being scarcely equaled by 

 similar works in other sciences. 



This is not the place for critical re- 

 views, but a few words may be said 

 about the contents of the books that 

 have just been issued. Professor 

 Strong's work is somewhat technical 

 in character, but is scarcely beyond the 

 comprehension of the untrained reader. 

 It discusses the relations of mind and 

 body, defending a parallelism that 

 gives room for the efficiency of mind 

 and an idealism that makes conscious- 

 ness the reality that appears as the 

 brain-process. The books by Pro- 

 fessor Eoyce and Dr. Judd both appear 

 in series for teachers, but they diff"er 

 widely in their contents and methods. 

 The former is a general treatise on 

 psychology, in which the phenomena 

 are classed in a new way under the 

 heads of sensitiveness, docility and in- 

 itiative; the latter contains chiefly 

 concrete facts of direct use to teach- 

 ers. Professor Stratton's book is a 

 well-informed and well-written account 

 of some of the results of experi- 

 mental psychology treated in relation 

 to wider interests. The difliculty in 

 recommending a book on psychology 

 for students of other sciences or for 

 general readers is not now in the lack 

 of books, but in their number and ex- 

 cellence. 



