TEE STUDY OF CHARACTER 613 



analysis in the field of the emotions, with excursions into the com- 

 jiarative psychology of the sexes and of nations. It shows the shrewd 

 analyst in an engaging light. Of the writers affected by the Kantian 

 position, who realized that the study of character offered a great field 

 for the applications at once of philosophy, of anthropology and of 

 education, Julius Bahnsen is the most representative. His work on 

 " Charakterologie " (186T) both in method and scope represents the 

 attempt to reach general and practical conclusions in the spirit of the 

 early nineteenth century. It does not incorporate the views of the 

 bases or sources of character which were even then available and which 

 were represented by a group of German physiologists, such as Johannes 

 Miiller (1801-1858), K. F. Burdach (1776-1847) (and in a different 

 temper Lotze and K. G. Carus) — who as sjinpathetic with the life of 

 the practitioner brought to their philosophical generalizations the spirit 

 of exact knowledge. 



The establishment of modern psychology is the culmination of many 

 interests; in no aspect is this historical development more significant 

 than in regard to the sources of the view of the qualities of men as 

 applied in modern life. The attempt to short-circuit the route from 

 theory to practise, from understanding to application, has always ended 

 disastrously. The correctness of the foundations determines the strength 

 of the edifice. The study of the nervous system and the recognition 

 of the subjection of all human traits to an evolutionary process laid 

 the foundations. The sociological expressions of human qualities were 

 related to their biological significance. The competition of human 

 qualities received a psychological interpretation. Narrow views were 

 avoided by considering the varieties of human culture and expression. 

 Institutions, though dominantly an environmental product, became sig- 

 nificant as embodiments of psychological needs and their satisfaction. 

 Vocations became directions of special endowments. National charac- 

 teristics were similarly interpreted. Education was seen to be a trans- 

 formation of original trends as well as a direct preparation for the 

 situations of an artificial life. Human nature was at once the material 

 upon which all desired ends had to build, while yet to be remodeled 

 for such cherished purposes. A closer knowledge of the mode of work- 

 ing of the human endowment resulted from the experimental study of 

 the underlying processes of the mind. Language, art, science, customs, 

 social institutions, political relations, refiected the spirit of a collective 

 mind, though often articulate through the original contributions of 

 favored individuals. With this combined equipment the psychologist 

 of to-day proceeds to the interpretation of the traits of men summarized 

 in the study of character and temperament. The antecedents of this 

 view form a notable chapter in the development of the human mind, 

 in the story of the control of the psychic forces of which culture is a 

 record. 



