TEE STUDY OF CHARACTER 607 



in the common heritage of modern science. The notable extension of 

 knowledge through experiment is ever paralleled by a development of 

 logical method and critical interpretation, as well as by an extension of 

 technical resources. To this general movement psychology owes its 

 present status, and shares in its benefits. It finds a concrete expression 

 in the psychological laboratory, and a yet more comprehensive one in 

 the transformation of the entire range of accredited problems, and the 

 introduction of new realms of inquiry. The technical advance in the 

 knowledge and control of physical, biological and psychological forces 

 characterizes the modern world of science. These divisions of intellec- 

 tual enterprise, though differently directed, are mutually corroborative. 

 They progress by the application of a common logic. Standards of 

 evidence, extension of data, and the basis of interpretation develop to- 

 gether. Jointly they determine the spirit of modern science, from 

 which psychology along with the rest of the sciences, receives its direc- 

 tive bent and the temper of its pursuit. A coordinate factor is the 

 dominance of an expanding practical philosophy — a worldly wisdom 

 born of a larger experience in social, political and economic relations. 

 It is expressed in the standards of intercourse and living, and more par- 

 ticularly in the cosmopolitan outlook, reflecting the insight into the de- 

 termination of events and careers as of the qualities of men shaped 

 b\', iand shaping them. This influence extends to literature, philosophy 

 and the arts of life ; it provides the background against which the tech- 

 nical pursuits are projected, from which they emerge. 



The establishment of the principles and the body of knowledge de- 

 termining the present study of character and temperament is the con- 

 vergent product of a complex development; it forms an integral part 

 of the general advance for which the nineteenth centiiry — the cul- 

 mination setting in with marked acceleration in the second half thereof 

 — is notable. Our purpose will be served by considering broadly the 

 contributory branches of investigation to which psychology is particu- 

 larly indebted. Among these the establishment of the relation between 

 body and mind is clearly central. Equally fundamental is the inter- 

 pretation of the vital processes and provisions through a unifying and 

 illuminating principle. This was supplied by the master-key of evo- 

 lution, and at once rationalized and vitalized the conception of origins 

 and transformations of natural processes and products — including 

 the manifestations and endowments of the mental nature. Interpreta- 

 tion became possible in a convincing language — quieting the babel of 

 tongues. Both of these guiding principles — the latter particularly — ■ 

 were revolutionary in their influence, not primarily by the new exten- 



the regulation of mental affairs in the future. The attempts to restate certain 

 aspects of the phrenological position in modern form should be mentioned. 

 They undertake a "Revival of Phrenology" and are represented by Hollander 

 "The Mental Functions of the Brain" (1901). 



