PROORESS OF ANTHROPOLOGY TN 1890. 537 



abnormal psychology, and an advanced conrsc in physiological and 

 experimental psychology. These courses inclnde either practical work 

 or research on the part of the student. A lecturer on ])hilosophy and 

 an assistant in psychology are about to be appointed, and additional 

 courses will be given next year. 



"In addition to these spe(!ial courses, physiological, abnormal, and 

 comparative psychology may be studied in the medical and biological 

 departments of the university. These ars probably without rival in 

 America, and offer comj)lete courses of lectures, i)ractical work, and 

 clinics. Psychology borrows from and lends to all the sciences. Every 

 one of the large number of advauced courses offered by the universit3' 

 bears some relation to psycLology, and may prove useful to the stu 

 dent. The asylums and hospitals will be found of special advantage to 

 the studtnit of psychology. 



The new library building of the university is nearly completed. There 

 is a special endowment for the i)urcbase of philosophical and psycho- 

 logical books, and any books needed by students for special work will 

 be obtained. The university press is about to begin the issue of a series 

 of monographs representing work done in the fields of philosophy and 

 psychology. The first number, no win press, is a psychological study 

 on "Sameness and Identity," by Professor Fullerton. Following this 

 number will be a series of researches from the laboratory of psychology 

 and an edition of Descartes' •' Meditations," with Latin and English 

 texts and philosophical commentary." 



Professor Cattell makes the following report of work done in the 

 psychological laboratory. '-The chief work before experimental psy- 

 chology is the measurement of mental processes. As experimental 

 physics is devoted to the measurement of time, space, and mass in the 

 material world, so experimental psychology may measure time, com- 

 plexity, and intensity in consciousness. In so far as cases are investi- 

 gated in which one mental magnitu(le is the function of another, a 

 mental mechanics is developed. 



"The laboratory possesses apparatus, which measures mental times 

 conveniently and accurately. This apparatus has been described in 

 Mind (No. 42), but since then it has been improved. The chronoscope 

 has been altered and a new regulator made, so that the mean variation 

 of the apparatus is now under one-thousandth of a second. New 

 pieces have been built for the production of sound, light, and electric 

 stimuli. Ajxparatus for measuring the rate of movement and for other 

 purposes have been added. The observer is placed in a compartment 

 separated from the experimenter and measuring apparatus. With this 

 apparatus researches are being carried out in several directions. Pro- 

 fessor Dolley is measuring the rate at which the nervous impulse trav- 

 els, using two different methods. In one series of experiments an 

 electrical stimulus is applied to different parts of the body, and a reac- 

 tion is made either with the hand or foot. The rate of transmission in 



