LITERARY NOTICES. 



Three New Psychologies. 



In spite of obvious and serious defects, Alfred Binet's Introduc- 

 tion to Experimental Psychology 1 is well adapted to put into the hands 

 of the student as an introductory collateral text-book, as well as for 

 the general public for whom it is obviously written. It will do much 

 not merely to popularize the subject, but to correct many errone- 

 ous notions now afloat as to the real scope and method of Experi- 

 mental Psychology, while, on the other hand, the incomplete and un- 

 symmetrical character of many of the sections may foster other errors 

 equally grave. The following quotations will show the standpoint 

 from which the work is conducted. Speaking of the relation between 

 Psychology and Metaphysics on the one hand and the physiology 

 of the nervous system on the other hand, he says, " Our subject has 

 one characteristic which, well understood, will prevent all confusion. 

 Introspection (inner sense, consciousness, etc.) is the basis of Psy- 

 chology; it characterizes Psychology in so exact a manner that we 

 may say that any study which is carried on by means of in- 

 trospection may be called psychological, while those employing 

 other methods belong to other sciences." Of course the word intro- 

 spection is used in the broad sense. Again, at the close, he urges 

 that the Experimental Psychology of today is a pure natural science 

 and nothing more. While independent of Metaphysics it does not 

 exclude such researches. 



The first chapter is devoted to psychological laboratories and con- 

 tains a full description of his own laboratory at Paris and of the Ger- 

 man laboratories. He enumerates several of the American labora- 

 tories but lacks detailed information of their organization. The re- 

 cent papers of Varigny in the Revue Scientifique and of Baudoiun in 

 Les Archives de Neurologie will, we trust, supply this deficiency in 

 part. 



As to methods, observation is ranked as correlative with experi- 

 ment, though relatively small space is given to it in the text ; and in 



1 Introduction a la Psychologie Experimental by Alfred Binet with the 

 collaboration of MM. Philippe, Courtier and V. Henri. Pan's, F. Alcan, 1894. 



