PSYCHO-PHYSICAL METHOD in 



to define briefly the scope and aims of the science ; 

 especially in this country, in which this branch of science 

 has not been pursued with the same ardour and has 

 not attained to the same degree of popularity as in 

 some other countries, notably in Germany and in 

 America. 



In the second lecture of this course, Professor Gotch put 

 before you in glowing language that scientific conception 

 of the universe to which the researches of the great 

 physicists and mathematicians have led us ; the con- 

 ception of a universe consisting of matter and ether in 

 ceaseless motion ; a universe in which all events, the 

 smallest and the greatest alike, are to be regarded as 

 phases in the motion of matter and ether, resulting 

 from, or wholly caused by, the preceding phases of the 

 motion of matter and ether according to rigid unchanging 

 laws, laws discoverable and in part already discovered 

 by the application of scientific method to the study of 

 phenomena. And Professor Gotch, like the majority of 

 scientific men, did 'not hesitate to include within this 

 great scheme of things the bodies of animals and men 

 and all the phenomena presented by them to our 

 senses. 



This conception is one that fascinates by its simplicity, 

 and by the grandeur of its comprehensive sweep. But 

 is this great conceptual scheme all-inclusive ? Has 

 science no other task than to fill in its details ? Is 

 there no province, no form of existence, that does not 

 fall within its scope and that is yet capable of being 

 studied by the scientific method ? 



There are some who to this question reply, * Yes, 

 there is no such province ; when, or if ever, the physical 

 universe shall be completely described in terms of matter 

 and motion science will have achieved its task, and 



