﻿JOURNAL 
  

  

  OF 
  THE 
  

  

  WASHINGTON 
  ACADEMY 
  OF 
  SCIENCES 
  

  

  Vol.. 
  12 
  March 
  19, 
  1922 
  No. 
  6 
  

  

  GENERAL 
  SCIENCE. 
  — 
  Psychophysics 
  as 
  the 
  key 
  to 
  the 
  mysteries 
  of 
  

   physics 
  and 
  of 
  metaphysics.^ 
  Leonard 
  Thompson 
  Troland, 
  

   Harvard 
  University. 
  

  

  I. 
  THE 
  PRESENT 
  PHILOSOPHICAL 
  STATUS 
  OE 
  PHYSICAL 
  SCIENCE 
  

  

  Physical 
  science 
  begins 
  with 
  the 
  naive 
  man's 
  division 
  of 
  his 
  every- 
  

   day 
  experience 
  into 
  external 
  and 
  internal 
  portions. 
  One 
  of 
  these 
  

   portions 
  comprises 
  for 
  the 
  primitive 
  intellect 
  an 
  external 
  world 
  while 
  

   the 
  other 
  part 
  makes 
  up 
  the 
  man's 
  own 
  personal 
  feelings. 
  The 
  line 
  

   of 
  demarcation 
  between 
  these 
  two 
  segments 
  of 
  experience 
  seems 
  at 
  

   first 
  sight 
  to 
  be 
  quite 
  distinct. 
  There 
  are, 
  however, 
  obvious 
  affilia- 
  

   tions 
  between 
  components 
  of 
  the 
  two 
  subdivisions 
  of 
  experience. 
  

   One's 
  own 
  body, 
  as 
  visually 
  or 
  tactually 
  perceived, 
  is 
  a 
  portion 
  of 
  

   his 
  external 
  experience, 
  but 
  its 
  posture 
  and 
  its 
  movements 
  are 
  normally 
  

   correlated 
  with 
  internal 
  feelings, 
  this 
  correlation 
  giving 
  rise 
  to 
  the 
  idea 
  

   of 
  will, 
  or 
  the 
  control 
  of 
  one's 
  own 
  externally 
  perceived 
  body 
  and 
  its 
  

   relations 
  to 
  the 
  external 
  world, 
  by 
  changes 
  in 
  the 
  internal 
  feelings. 
  

   The 
  notion 
  of 
  consciousness 
  in 
  other 
  men 
  is 
  at 
  first 
  simply 
  a 
  belief 
  

   in 
  the 
  existence 
  of 
  further 
  systems 
  of 
  internal 
  feelings 
  which 
  are 
  corre- 
  

   lated 
  with 
  the 
  behavior 
  of 
  other 
  externally 
  perceived 
  organisms 
  which 
  

   resemble 
  in 
  general 
  form, 
  if 
  not 
  in 
  central 
  position, 
  the 
  organism 
  of 
  

   the 
  given 
  individual. 
  

  

  For 
  the 
  primitive 
  intellect, 
  standing 
  at 
  the 
  threshold 
  of 
  scientific 
  

   inquiry, 
  physics 
  would 
  undoubtedly 
  be 
  the 
  science 
  of 
  the 
  external 
  

   world 
  thus 
  defined, 
  while 
  psychology 
  would 
  be 
  the 
  science 
  of 
  the 
  in- 
  

   ternal 
  system 
  of 
  feelings 
  or 
  of 
  any 
  other 
  similar 
  system 
  of 
  feelings 
  which 
  

   might 
  be 
  inferred 
  to 
  exist 
  beyond 
  the 
  experience 
  of 
  the 
  given 
  observer. 
  

   However, 
  as 
  science 
  advances 
  on 
  its 
  quest 
  for 
  knowledge 
  the 
  province 
  

   of 
  physics 
  in 
  relation 
  to 
  experience 
  constantly 
  narrows, 
  while 
  that 
  

   of 
  psychology 
  undergoes 
  a 
  compensatory 
  expansion. 
  The 
  naive 
  

   physicist 
  looks 
  upon 
  his 
  external 
  experience 
  as 
  being 
  independent 
  

   of 
  himself 
  because, 
  with 
  the 
  single 
  exception 
  of 
  his 
  own 
  externally 
  

  

  1 
  Received 
  Jan. 
  28, 
  1922. 
  

  

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