40 BULLETIN OF THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN. 



While in general the analytic method of experimental science 

 is to be highly commended, still in some situations it is proba- 

 ble that more satisfactory results can be attained by studying a 

 thing in the large than in its elements, — macroscopically rather 

 than microscopically. The French school of psychologists, fol- 

 lowing the lead of Binet and Henri, maintain that more of genu- 

 ine worth for science is gained by examining an individual 

 human mind in its totality, so to speak, than in its elements; 

 while the German school, represented notably by Kraeplin, take 

 an opposite view, — that reliable results can be secured only by 

 a study of the most elementary processes in different minds. 

 The one studies the living, complex entity, the other dissects 

 and examines relatively simple factors. The movement in our 

 own country seems just now to be headed in the direction of 

 the French rather than of the German school. At all events, 

 it should be apparent that we can apprehend, and that truth- 

 fully, characteristics in an organism when various forces work 

 together that we would miss if we concentrated our attention 

 solely upon each separate factor. These latter are not differ- 

 entiated enough, it may be, to claim our attention; it is only 

 when a vast number of them co-operate, when their properties 

 are pooled, so to speak, and we have a personality, that we dis- 

 cern the significance of their total influence. 



So in the study of conduct there are certain advantages in 

 viewing a person as a whole, as an entity whose distinctive attri- 

 butes are not apparent in each primary factor of mind or body. 

 And this may be done with something like scientific precision. 

 To illustrate, I may describe with accuracy the conduct of a 

 drunken man without investigating in detail the simple physical 

 and mental processes which totalized beget the state of inebria- 

 tion. If I see clearly and tell truthfully my story may be relied 

 upon. So one may set forth the effects of certain modes of 

 living upon the energies of the organism without studying the 

 most elementary phenomena involved in the total process. A 

 fact observed, whether it relate to exceedingly complex or mark- 

 edly simple objects, is in any event a fact and as such is worthy 



