ADVISORY COMMITTEE ON PSYCHOLOGY 221 



of Education distinctly needs the services of a psychologist. In cer- 

 tain aspects of the work of the Bureau of Ethnology, of the Surgeon 

 General's Library, of the Smithsonian Institution, and of the National 

 Museum, the cooperation of a trained psychologist would be distinctly 

 helpful. It should likewise be borne in mind that there are in Wash- 

 ington and its vicinity educational institutions furnishing opportunity 

 for the engagement of a psychologist of high standing in advanced 

 instructional work. 



3. Of specific problems worthy of encouragement I bring forward 

 a few which have engaped my special attention : 



(a) A commission for the invention, examination, and establish- 

 ment of mental tests and the dissemination of the laws, so that the 

 normal endowment of man in regard to his fundamental psycholog- 

 ical equipment may be determined An important factor of the 

 problem consists in the investigation of the correlation of such func- 

 tional efficienc)'^ with developmental changes. Such normals would 

 find further application in the study of abnormal variations ; in the 

 determination of the correlation of the several avenues and types of 

 mental endowment with one another and with physical capacities ; 

 in the practical application to educational methods, and in other 

 directions less readily specified. 



(^) A special study of the psychological status of the processes 

 most fundamental to elementary education. Speaking, reading, 

 and writing form one group of these ; the associative processes of 

 mathematical calculation and logical inference form another. The 

 object is to furnish a positive basis upon which education may rely 

 for deciding between rival methods and to terminate the endless 

 and haphazard discussions that form so large a part of educational 

 diversities of opinion. 



i/) The provision for the psychological study of abnormal mental 

 traits, both in connection with insane asylums, the institutions for 

 the defective classes, the examination of special individuals, etc. 

 The purpose of this would be to give a more adequate formulation 

 to the psychological side of the care and treatment of the mentally 

 defective and to furnish the means by which the many false and 

 misleading notions and observations now current in regard to such 

 extreme mental variations might be more successfully combated. 

 Psj'chic epidemics and popular movements of a promiscuous char- 

 acter can be opposed most effectively by providing an authoritative 

 statement, to which those who instruct the public could readily 

 turn. 



