514 SCIENTIFIC THOUGHT. 



Whilst his methods are exact and definite, his aim is, 

 nevertheless, wide and comprehensive ; for not only is the 

 animal creation studied as a valuable field for enlarged 

 psycho-physical research, but also the psychology of 

 infancy and of human societies (ethnical psychology) are 

 drawn into the circle of a scientific psychology. At the 

 same time his exposition is directed towards the totality l 

 of the phenomena of life and mind, it being his ultimate 

 object to arrive at some appropriate conception of the 

 whole of human existence. In this respect his scientific 

 labours form a counterpart to those of naturalists like 

 Humboldt and Darwin, who did so much to direct the 

 attention of natural science to the whole of nature, her 

 history and economy. It seems to me that Prof. Wundt 

 has similarly introduced into the psycho-physical study 

 of nature the prominent consideration of the mental side 

 of life in its totality, starting, as Darwin and Humboldt 

 did, from a large accumulation of detailed observations. 



This regard for the whole problem distinguishes 

 Wundt's writings from those of other eminent psycho- 

 physicists, such as Helmholtz, who deals brilliantly and 

 exhaustively with certain special problems, or Fechner, 

 who relegated the discussion of the fundamental ques- 

 tions to a series of half-poetical treatises, which are full 

 of suggestion rather than close scientific reasoning. But 



1 ' Physiologische Psychologic ' 

 (4te Aufl., vol. i. p. 2) : "Our science 

 has accordingly the task, first, to 

 investigate those vital phenomena 

 which, lying in the middle between 

 outer and inner experience, require 

 the simultaneous application of both 

 methods of observation, outer and 

 inner ; and secondly, to throw light 

 from the points thus gained on the 



totality of the phenomena of life, 

 and, if possible, to gain in this 

 way a comprehensive conception of 

 human existence." See also his 

 essay "Philosophic und Wissen- 

 schaf t " in a volume of ' Essays ' 

 (Leipzig, 1885), p. 1 ; also ' Die 

 Aufgaben der experimentellen 

 Psychologic,' ibid. , p. 127, &c. 



