24 



NATURE 



[September i, 192 i 



precisely the things wh^ch scientific psycho- 

 logy had to explain. Doubtless the author was 

 inclined to lay too much stress on the view that 

 the different "faculties " all resulted from the com- 

 bination of the same elementary processes, and 

 that each differed from the others by emphasising, 

 so to speak, one principal kind of these processes, 

 whereas the more fruitful procedure has been that 

 of seeking to exhibit such " faculties " rather as 

 differentiations of one common process. Never- 

 theless, his treatment of the growth and develop- 

 ment of mental life, and especially of the higher 

 forms of cognition, is illuminating and suggestive. 

 In regard to feeling, he argues, but scarcely in a 

 convincing way, against the view that pleasure 

 and pain stand out as the only distinguishable 

 qualitative differences characterising the primary 

 experience we designate feeling. 



In 1895 Prof. Ladd published a work entitled 

 " Philosophy of Mind : An Essay in the Meta- 

 physics of Psychology," in which were handled the 

 problems which psychological science passes on to 

 philosophy for a more thorough examination — 

 problems started, for the most part, by that mode 

 of human experience which is described as the 

 consciousness of self. He maintained that a mind 

 is a real being which is known as a self-active sub- 

 ject of states and as standing in manifold relations 

 to other beings. The theory of psychophysical 

 parallelism is vigorously criticised by him, and the 

 theory of interaction defended. 



In the volume of Mind for 1892 Prof. Ladd gave 

 an interesting account of some researches of his 

 concerning the influence of the Eigenlicht of the 

 retina upon visual dreams — a subject that deserves 

 more attention than it has hitherto received. He 

 was one of the first to introduce the study of ex- 

 perimental psychology into America, and the Yale 

 psychological laboratory was founded by him. 



As a philosophical thinker Prof. Ladd was greatly 

 influenced by Lotze, whose "Dictate" he trans- 

 lated into English. Perhaps his most distinctively 

 metaphysical work is that entitled " A Theory of 

 Reality," published in 1899. It presents a con- 

 tinuation of the line of thought he had pursued in 

 an earlier book called "Philosophy of Knowledge," 

 published in 1897, in which he had found that the 

 categories of the understanding are forms of 

 reality as well as of truth ; that the knower has, 

 in individual self-knowledge, an intuitive insight 

 into reality; and that other real existents are 

 known by analogy of the self. In the metaphysical 

 treatise he tries to show that the universe consists 

 of real beings of various grades, each grade being 

 distinguished bv the amount of self-hood possessed 

 by its members. What we name "things" are, 

 in truth, imperfect and inferior selves. Neither 

 " things " nor self-conscious lives are mere mani- 

 festations of an absolute mind, for all have self- 

 , activity and relative independence, yet they exist 

 together as a unitary system which is related to 

 the absolute mind as object to subject. The 

 activities of finite entities are, in fact, twofold; 

 NO. 2705, VOL. 108] 



they are at once acts of the finite entity and acts 

 of the absolute being which is their ground. 

 In this last contention, it is true, he cuts rather 

 than unties the Gordian knot ; the conclusion is 

 one which human thought throughout the ages 

 has been striving to reach, but has never suc- 

 ceeded in rendering logically tenable. 



Two other books of extensive scope followed — - 

 the "Philosophy of Conduct" in 1902 and the 

 " Philosophy of Religion " (two volumes) in 1905. 

 The latter is an exhaustive treatment of the 

 subject from both the historical and the specula- 

 tive points of view, and has scarcely received the 

 consideration that is its due. Prof. Ladd's literary 

 activity was maintained to the end. In the last 

 few years there emanated from his pen a series of 

 popular manuals bearing the titles "What can I 

 know?", "What ought I to do?", "What should 

 I believe?", "What may I hope?", and "The 

 Secret of Personality," all of them thoughtful and 

 replete with the wisdom of experience. 



G. Dawes Hicks. 



The death is announced, in Science of 

 August 12, of Mr. Louis Albert Fischer, 

 physicist and chief of the Division of Weights and 

 Measures of the United States Bureau of Stand- 

 ards. Mr. Fischer died on July 25 last at the 

 early age of fifty-seven years, only a few weeks 

 after his distinguished colleague, Dr. E. B. Rosa. 

 Early in life he joined the old W^eights and 

 Measures Office of the U.S. Coast and Geodetic 

 Survey, and during his eleven years' service with 

 the survey he carried out numerous tests for the 

 standardisation of weights and measures, par- 

 ticularly of the length standards. This work led 

 to the formation in 1901 of the National Bureau 

 of Standards, in which Mr. Fischer took an im- 

 portant part. He was immediately appointed chief 

 of the Division of Weights and Measures, and 

 continued to hold the post until his death. During 

 this time he conducted numerous investigations ot 

 scientific and technical value, which covered such 

 subjects as the standardisation of chemical glass- 

 ware, screw-threads and gauges, the thermal pro- 

 perties of various metals and alloys, the densitiH 

 of water-alcohol solutions, the testing of watcht 

 and clinical thermometers, model laws for Statj 

 weights and measures services, etc. 



In 1905 Mr. Fischer organised the annual Coi 

 ference of Weights and Measures of the Unitd 

 States, and afterwards acted as secretary to tW 

 organisation, which consists of national, Stat( 

 and other officials interested in the promotion 

 uniform legislation regarding weights an| 

 measures. Mr. Fischer was regarded as the lea( 

 ing spirit of the last decade in America in all 

 matters concerning weights and measures, yet in 

 spite of the immense amount of administrative and 

 technical work he accomplished, he also contrived 

 to find time to carrv out researches which have 

 earned for him a reputation as one of America s 

 leading metrologists. 



