610 SUMMARY OF PROGRESS IN ANTHROPOLOGY. 



Ciptain Back, Fort Reliance, Canada, — 56° C. 



Captain Dawson, Fort Rae, — 67^' C. 



Abbe Petitot, Fort Good Hope,— 35° to 42" C. 



M. Martin, E. Siberia, — 63° C. 



Gen. Greely, Discovery Bay, — 66° F. 



Gilder, Northeast Canada, — 71° C. 



Bnveyvier, Tuare Country, -(-68° C. 



A difference of nearly 250° F. 



PHYSIOLOGICAL PSYCHOLOGY. 



In the International Coiigress of Experimental Psychology, of 1892, 

 reported in Mind, 1893, ii, 42-53, is printed a iiajier by Prof. A. Bain, 

 on the respective spheres and mutual helps of introspection and psycho- 

 physical experiment in psychology. The author still holds that intro- 

 spection, or the self-consciousness of each individual working apart 

 must si ill remain at the head of the resources for imparting to psychol- 

 ogy a scientitic character. A few of the researches where both methods 

 are applicable are: 



(1) The muscular mechanism, the primary instrument of our activ- 

 ities for all purposes whatever, 



(2) The theory of the intellect as expressed by such terms as mem- 

 ory, retentiveness, association, reproduction, and the like. 



(3) The momentary fluctuations of ideas in and out of consciousness. 

 Many phrases have come into use in connection with it, such as 

 "threshold" of consciousness, recency of impressions, area of con- 

 sciousness, lapses of attention, etc. 



(4) The determination of the condition of permanent association or 

 enduring memory, as against temporary or so-called "cram." 



Among the great issues now awaiting solution Prof. Bain places in 

 the foreground plurality of simultaneous impressions in every one of 

 the senses. Attached to it is the question of the operative power of 

 impressions while momentarily standing aside from the conscious area. 

 For these problems introspection needs to be helped out by experi- 

 mentation, while the delicacy of tact in the self-conscious observer is 

 also of the utmost importance. One of the most pregnant issues in 

 the whole field of psychology is the swaying of tlie will by motives 

 outside of pleasure and pain, otherwise called the " fixed idea." 



Until there is a more general agreement than at present on the 

 analysis of the fundamentals of the intellect, it is premature to recom- 

 mend a searching investigation into the working of similarity in diver- 

 sity, on which hangs the inventive powers of the mind, Just as much 

 as simple memory reposes the adhesion of conjunctions in time. For 

 the present there is abundant scope for introspection in roaming over 

 the accessible facts of psychical life. By the nature of the case the 

 initiative in the more fruitful inquiries will be most frequently taken 

 by introspection, which also by its powers of anal^'sis will still open 

 the path to the highest generalities of our science. 



