98 THE EIDDLE OF THE UNIVERSE. 



chap. x.). It is, however, most unsatisfactory, and it 

 leads to entirely false or incomplete notions, to take 

 this self-observation of the mind to be the chief, or, 

 especially, to be the only, source of mental science, 

 as has happened in the case of many and distin- 

 guished philosophers. A great number of the 

 principal psychic phenomena, particularly the activity 

 of the senses and speech, can only be studied in the 

 same way as every other vital function of the organism 

 — that is, firstly by a thorough anatomical study of 

 their organs, and secondly by an exact physiological 

 analysis of the functions which depend on them. 

 In order, however, to complete this external study 

 of the mental life and to supplement the results of 

 internal observation, one needs a thorough knowledge 

 of human anatomy, histology, ontogeny, and physio- 

 logy. Most of our so-called " psychologists " have 

 little or no knowledge of these indispensable founda- 

 tions of anthropology ; they are, therefore, incompetent 

 to pronounce on the character even of their own 

 " soul." It must be remembered, too, that the distin- 

 guished personality of one of these psychologists 

 usually offers a specimen of an educated mind of one 

 of the highest civilised races ; it is the last link of 

 a long ancestral chain, and the innumerable older 

 and inferior links are indispensable for its proper 

 understanding. Hence it is that most of the psycho- 

 logical literature of the day is so much waste paper. 

 The introspective method is certainly extremely 

 valuable and indispensable ; still it needs the constant 

 co-operation and assistance of the other methods. 



In proportion as the various branches of the human 

 tree of knowledge have developed during the century 

 and the methods of the different sciences have been 



