Psychology 

 Purity 



SCIENTIFIC SIDE-LIGHTS 



564 



can be no question of an experimental psy- 

 chological method, in the exact sense of 

 those words, in this matter of hypnotizing. 

 The condition of hypnosis is such as absolute- 

 ly to preclude the possibility of a psycho- 

 logical experiment in the real sense. The 

 psychological experiment demands from its 

 subject concentration of the attention, prac- 

 tise, skilled introspection in short, the ful- 

 filment of all manner of conditions, which, 

 if not altogether and normally out of the 

 reach of the hypnotic subject, is at least 

 wholly impossible during the course of the 

 induced sleep. If we compose ourselves to 

 sleep with the intention of observing our 

 dreams, so far as that is possible, or even 

 if we take morphin for the same purpose, 

 we are not making an experiment, not doing 

 anything that in execution or result is es- 

 sentially different from simple observation. 

 The conditions of dream observation are not 

 altered in the slightest degree by the fact 

 that we have brought on sleep intentional- 

 ly. The characteristics of the experimental 

 method are variation and gradation of the 

 phenomena, and elimination of certain con- 

 ditions. Such a mode of procedure can be 

 followed out in artificially induced sleep as 

 little or, let us say, as imperfectly as in 

 natural sleep; we shall gain no more by 

 investigating the former than by collecting 

 casual observations of normal dreams. And 

 all this holds in still greater measure of hyp- 

 notism, since just in the cases which present 

 the most interesting phenomena there is a 

 total absence of any subsequent recollection. 

 We can only infer what goes on in the mind 

 of the somnambulist from his words and 

 actions; if we wish to subject him to special 

 influences we are hampered by the same con- 

 ditions as hinder the investigation of sleep 

 and dreams. WUNDT Psychology, lect. 22, 

 p. 336. (Son. & Co., 1896.) 



2783. PSYCHOLOGY EXPLAINING 



SOCRATES Heroism and Self-devotion Defy 

 Analysis Character Known by Experience 

 and Sympathy. We can say that Socrates 

 remained in the prison because his knee 

 muscles were contracted in a sitting posi- 

 tion and not working to effect his escape, 

 and that these muscle processes took place 

 because certain psychophysical ideas, emo- 

 tions, and volitions, all composed of ele- 

 mentary sensations, occurred in his brain, 

 and that they, again, were the effect of all 

 the causes which sense stimulations and dis- 

 positions, associations, and inhibitions, 

 physiological and climatic influences, pro- 

 duced in that organism. And we can say, on 

 the other hand, that Socrates remained in the 

 prison because he decided to be obedient to 

 the laws of Athens unto death. This obedi- 

 ence means, then, not a psychophysical proc- 

 ess, but a will attitude which we must un- 

 derstand by feeling it and living through 

 it, an attitude which we cannot analyze, but 

 which we interpret and appreciate. The 

 first is a psychological description; the sec- 



ond is an historical interpretation. . . . 

 And yet both are equally true, while they 

 blend into an absurdity if we say that those 

 psychophysical states in the brain of Soc- 

 rates were the objects which inspired the 

 will of his pupils, and were suggestive 

 through two thousand years. MUNSTER- 

 BERG Psychology and Life, p. 219. (H. M. 

 & Co., 1899.) 



2784, PSYCHOLOGY, FANTASIES OF 

 COMPARATIVE METHOD IN Wild State- 

 ments about Children and Savages. There 

 are great sources of error in the compara- 

 tive method. The interpretation of the 

 " psychoses " of animals, savages, and in- 

 fants is necessarily wild \vork, in which 

 the personal equation of the investigator 

 has things very much its own way. A sav- 

 age will be reported to have no moral or 

 religious feeling if his actions shock the 

 observer unduly. A child will be assumed 

 without self-consciousness because he talks- 

 of himself in the third person, etc., etc. No* 

 rules can be laid down in advance. Com- 

 parative observations, to be definite, must 

 usually be made to test some preexisting 

 hypothesis; and the only thing, then, is to 

 use as much sagacity as you possess, and 

 to be as candid as you can. JAMES Psy- 

 chology, vol. i, ch. 7, p. 194. (H. H. & Co., 

 1899.) 



2785. PSYCHOLOGY IN THE SCHOOL- 

 ROOM Science Limited by an Incalculable Ele- 

 ment The Unknown Mind of an Opponent. 

 The science of psychology, and whatever 

 science of general pedagogics may be based 

 on it, are, in fact, much like the science of 

 war. Nothing is simpler or more definite 

 than the principles of either. In war alL 

 you have to do is to work your enemy into- 

 a position from which the natural obstacles, 

 prevent him from escaping if he tries to; 

 then to fall on him in numbers superior to 

 his own, at a moment when you have led 

 him to think you far away; and so, with 

 a minimum of exposure of your own troops, 

 to hack his force to pieces, and take the 

 remainder prisoners. Just so, in teaching, 

 you must simply work your pupil into such 

 a state of interest in what you are going 

 to teach him that every other object of 

 attention is banished from his mind; then 

 reveal it to him so impressively that he 

 will remember the occasion to his dying 

 day; and finally fill him with devouring 

 curiosity to know what the next steps in 

 connection with the subject are. The prin- 

 ciples being so plain, there would be nothing 

 but victories for the masters of the science, 

 either on the battle-field or in the school- 

 room, if they did not both have to make 

 their application to an incalculable quantity 

 in the shape of the mind of their opponent, 

 JAMES Talks to Teachers, ch. 1, p. 9. (II. 

 H. & Co., 1900.) 



2786. 



Teacher Deals with 



Mental Life; Not with Brain Processes and 

 Ganglion - cells Pedagogy Independent of 



