360 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



SKETCH OF ALEXANDER BAIN". 



PROFESSOR BAIN", of the University of Aberdeen, is a repre- 

 sentative man of the modern school of English thought, who has 

 done his best work in the field of psychology. His elaborate treatises 

 upon the human mind now take a leading place in our literature, and 

 are used as text-books in many colleges and universities. Besides this 

 more special line of inquiry, to which Prof. Bain has given prominent 

 attention, he has also been very active in the general field of higher 

 education as lecturer, examiner, and author. He was born at Aber- 

 deen, in 1818, and entered Marischal College, in the university of that 

 town, in 1836, where he took the degree of M. A. in 1840. From 1841 

 to 1844 he taught as deputy the class of Moral Philosophy in Maris- 

 chal College, and 1844-45 he had charge of the class of Natural Phi- 

 losophy in that institution. In 1845 he was elected Professor of Nat- 

 ural Philosophy in the Andersonian University at Glasgow. In 1847 

 he was appointed by the " Metropolitan Sanitary Commission " their 

 assistant secretary, and in 1848 he was transferred to the same office 

 in the General Board of Health, a post which he resigned in 1850. 

 From 1857 to 1862 he held the position of Examiner in Logic and 

 Moral Philosophy in the University of London. During several years 

 from 1858 to 1870 he held the office of Examiner in Moral Science in 

 the India Civil Service Department, and in 1860 he was appointed by 

 the crown Professor of Logic in the University of Aberdeen. In 1864 

 he was reelected examiner in the University of London, and continued 

 to hold that position till 1869. Prof. Bain's first literary production 

 is said to have been an article in the Westminster Review, published 

 in 1840, and he subsequently contributed much to the pages of that 

 periodical. In 1847-'48 he wrote text-books on astronomy, electricity, 

 and meteorology, in Messrs. Chambers's school series, also several of 

 Chambers's " Papers for the People," and the articles on " Language," 

 " Logic," " The Human Mind," and " Rhetoric," in the " Information 

 for the People." In 1852 he published an edition of the " Moral Philoso- 

 phy of Paley," with dissertations and notes. " The Senses and the In- 

 tellect," his first independent and systematic work, appeared in 1855, 

 and in 1859 was followed by "The Emotions and the Will," thus com- 

 pleting a new methodical exposition of the human mind. In 1861 

 appeared from his pen " The Study of Character," including an ex- 

 amination of phrenology. In 1863 he published an English Gram- 

 mar, and in 1866 a "Manual of English Composition and Rhetoric." 

 His more recent works are: "Mental and Moral Science," 1868; 

 " Logic, Deductive and Inductive," 1870; and "Mind and Body," con- 

 tributed to the "International Scientific Series," in 1873. In 1874 

 appeared " A Companion to the Higher English Grammar," " Exam- 



