1875.] Notices of Books. 381 
the strictest methods of inductive investigation. In reference 
to the evidence demanded, Serjeant Cox says—‘ It is an inflex- 
ible rule of our Courts of Law that the best evidence only shall 
be accepted, and that secondary evidence shall not be received 
when primary evidence can be had. It is a rule of reason and 
common sense. Its observance is no less essential to scientific 
investigation, and I trust that by this Society no relaxation of it 
will be permitted. Necessarily we shall be called upon to deal 
with some reports of alleged phenomena of rare occurrence and 
transcending common experience. It is scarcely necessary to 
remind the members that a higher degree of proof should be 
required in proportion to the strangeness of the phenomenon, and 
that strictest scrutiny must be made into the minutest details 
before the Society will be justified in giving to it a place among 
its records of psychological facts.” 
Theology is to be excluded from the deliberations of the 
Society. The desirability of this is unquestionable. The sub- 
jects of investigation are precisely those which, without such 
exclusion, would inevitably drift into sectarianism, and open the 
portals of superstition. At the same time, it is equally obvious 
that the difficulty of keeping clear of theology will be consider- 
able, but this difficulty must be boldly faced, as the danger and 
mischief are precisely proportionate to the proximity of the sub- 
jects. Serjeant Cox treats this part of the subject but lightly ; 
and we think that a clear definition of the boundaries between 
psychology and theology is much needed, and we venture to 
suggest the following for the serious consideration of the 
Society :—Psychology is a science of experiment and direct obser- 
vation, while neither direct observation nor experiment are pos- 
sible in theology. Indirectly the Society may do good service in 
promoting sound and wholesome theology; for although the 
Society, as a Society, will deal only with the facts and laws of 
the operations of human life, mind, and the ‘“ psyche,”—as 
Serjeant Cox prefers to name the possibly separate essence,— 
and thus will deal with matters of observation and experiment, 
the individual member, each for himself and on his own respon- 
sibility, may make such theological inferences as present them- 
selves to his own mind. The separation of these subjects in the 
Proceedings of the Society does not necessarily imply any 
separation of them in the thoughts of the individual members, 
and still less does it suggest any exclusion of theology or reli- 
gious sentiment. 
Many special subjects of investigation are suggested in this 
Address,—such as the great question of matter and non-matter ; 
whether our consciousness, our individuality, ourselves in fact, 
are merely cerebral functions beginning and ending with cerebral 
action, or whether a separate something or ‘ psyche” exists 
which uses the brain and bodily mechanism as the organ of its 
manifestation. Whether the brain acts as a whole, or is com- 
