ON THE PSYCHO-PHYSICAL VIEW OF NATURE. 527 



introspective method, had grown to large dimensions in 40. 



Introspec- 



Scotland and in England, long before Herbart and Beneke tive method. 

 in Germany gave it a similar direction. In fact, most 

 of the writings of the introspective school in Germany, 

 which dates from the middle of the century, is con- 

 cerned with the material accumulated by British psycho- 

 logists. And even the psycho -physical method itself 

 would carry us only a little way if its results and obser- 

 vations could not continually be checked, supplemented, 

 and interpreted by what we already know by introspec- 

 tion. One of the foremost representatives of the Eng- 

 lish school of psychology has said, and many will agree 

 with him, 1 " In our desire to know ourselves to frame 

 some conception of the flow of our feelings and thoughts 

 we work at first by introspection purely ; and if at a 

 later stage we find means of extending and improving 

 our knowledge, introspection is still our main resort the 

 Alpha and Omega of psychological inquiry : it is alone 

 supreme, everything else subsidiary. Its compass is ten 

 times all the other methods put together, and fifty times 

 the utmost range of psycho-physics alone." 



A history of Thought must accordingly contain some 

 account of the view which our century has taken of the 

 introspective method and the value of the inner sense as 

 a means of enlarging our knowledge. 2 This discussion 



1 See Prof. Bain's essay in ' Mind,' 

 2nd series, vol. ii. p. 42 : " The 

 respective Spheres and mutual 

 Helps of Introspection and Psy- 

 cho-physical Experiment in Psy- 

 chology." 



2 One result of the modern psycho- 

 physical view, or of the doctrine of 

 parallelism of physical and mental 



states, has been not only to develop 

 a clearer view of physiological psy- 

 chology, but also to define more 

 clearly the object of psychology 

 proper that is, of the science 

 which deals with the facts revealed 

 by introspection. When, in the 

 middle of the century, the physiol- 

 ogy of the senses attracted the 



