60 A Century of Science 



argument from correlation above mentioned. He 

 expressed warm approval of the chapter, without 

 making any specific qualifications. In the course 

 of the chapter I had occasion to quote a passage 

 from the Psychology, 1 in which Mr. Spencer twice 

 inadvertently used the phrase "nervous shock" 

 where he meant " psychical shock." As his object 

 was to keep the psychical phenomena and their 

 cerebral concomitants distinct in his argument, 

 this colloquial use of the word " nervous " was 

 liable to puzzle the reader, and give querulous 

 critics a chance to charge Mr. Spencer with the 

 materialistic implications which it was his express 

 purpose to avoid. Accordingly, in my quotation 

 I changed the word "nervous" to "psychical," 

 using brackets and explaining my reasons. On 

 showing all this to Mr. Spencer, he desired me to 

 add in a footnote that he thoroughly approved 

 the emendation. 



I mention this incident because our common, 

 every-day speech abounds in expressions that have 

 a materialistic flavour ; and sometimes in serious 

 writing an author's sheer intentness upon his main 

 argument may lead him to overlook some familiar 

 form of expression which, when thrown into a pre- 

 cise and formal context, will strike the reader in a 



1 Vol. i. p. 158. Cf. my Cosmic Philosophy, vol. ii. p. 444. 



