92 PSYCHOLOGICAL METHODS OF TESTING INTELLIGENCE 



tion that has attained international usage ; on the one 

 hand such tinkering will destroy the balance of the 

 whole system in which every test is peculiarly bound 

 up with every other test, and on the other hand it 

 will put an end to the comparison of the results of 

 different investigators. 



For these reasons it is to be recommended that 

 we proceed in the future in this way: wherever our 

 object is to lay the emphasis on the substance of the 

 results secured, as in the testing of children for 

 practical purposes, let us for the present still con- 

 tinue to use the old system, despite its evident de- 

 fects. But independently from this, let investiga- 

 tions directed to methodological issues be under- 

 taken ivith the aim of constructing a gradation sys- 

 tem that shall be revised in every particular. But 

 this task is beyond the ability of the individual in- 

 vestigator : the problems to be solved are too many 

 and varied and the number of individuals that 'should 

 be tested is too great. Bather is it true that here, if 

 anywhere, is there opportunity for that community 

 and division of work that is everywhere now de- 

 manded in psychology. 



To prepare the way for the carrying out of such a 

 program I enumerate here the chief points to be 

 considered in this work of reconstruction and also 

 offer for discussion some specific proposals of my 

 own for modifications in the system. 



(a) Selection and appraisement of the various 

 tests. The criticism that has been passed upon the 

 various tests has been based sometimes on theoreti- 

 cal considerations, sometimes on practical results. 

 The critique of Ayres (31), who has done no work 



