: 
JANUARY I, 1914] 
In the afternoon Dr. Watt gave a careful exposition 
of “Some Main Principles of Integration.’ Prof. 
Carveth Read followed with an analysis of ‘‘ The Con- 
ditions of Belief in Immature Minds.” The chief 
relevant characteristic of the mind of the savage and 
the child, he pointed out, is the unusual influence of 
illogical inferences, or imaginations, and of non- 
evidentiary causes of belief. This characteristic de- 
pends upon (1) ap unusual vividness of imagination ; 
(2) an absence of exact knowledge as a standard; 
(3) an inability to make comparisons, either because 
of the influence of desires, or because of the imperfect 
development or education of the mind; the mind is 
consequently in a state of incoordination, and _ its 
beliefs form relatively isolated systems. 
On Friday the subsection held a joint sitting with 
Section I (Physiology). In the morning Prof. R. M. 
Ogden (of Knoxville, Tennessee, U.S.A.) gave an 
account of ‘‘Some Experiments on the Localisation of 
Visual Images.’ The images were suggested by a 
series of fifty words. It was found that the images 
of memory tended to be located at their proper place 
and distance, while the images of imagination tended 
to be placed upon the disc fixated during the intro- 
spections. 
Dr. Myers described ‘‘Experiments on Sound 
Localisation,” carried out in the sound-proof room of 
the new psychological laboratory at Cambridge. The 
sound was usually a fundamental tone of 200 vibra- 
tions, accompanied by overtones separately emitted; 
these were led into the sound-proof room by a tube 
ending in a movable funnel carried by a noiseless 
perimeter. In the end, timbre and _ loudness 
proved the only trustworthy criteria whereby 
his subjects localised the sounds; laterality and 
medial incidence, exploited at first, were eventually 
abandoned. Alteration in the intensity of the several 
overtones, and in the loudness of the whole sound, 
increased very distinctly the number of erroneous 
localisations. In the case of a medial sound, just as 
in the case of a lateral sound, the spatial (and, some- 
times, tactual) impressions seemed illusory. In 
reality they appeared to be of auditory origin. And 
in each case the spatial experience seemed to be a 
cue leading to a head movement, whereby the sound 
is more correctly localised. : 
Miss E. M. Smith described a series of observations, 
carried out in the same laboratory, upon ‘“ Habit 
Formation in Guinea-pigs.” The tests used—(r) 
labyrinth test, (2) a new sensory test discrimination 
test—formed part of a larger scheme to test inherit- 
ability of learning, &c., and incidentally brought to 
light hitherto unrecorded points of interest concerning 
the behaviour of guinea-pigs. Miss May Smith re- 
ported results yielded by tests of Bergson’s two forms 
of memory. ‘The correlations tended to show that 
rote memory is distinct from pure memory (recogni- 
tion) and more closely allied to physiological memory 
or habit. Dr. Shrubsall briefly discussed ‘‘The Rela- 
tive Fertility and Morbidity of Defective and Normal 
Stocks.” On examining the family histories of several 
thousand children, he found that the correlation be- 
tween the size of the paternity and the number dead 
is much higher in defective stocks than in normal. 
In spite, therefore, of the notorious fertility of defec- 
tive stocks, by adult age the disparity in size of family 
has, owing to higher morbidity, almost disappeared. © 
In the afternoon papers upon “Variations in the 
Spatial Threshold” and ‘‘ A Simple Method of Demon- 
strating Weber’s Law” were read by Mr. Godfrey 
Thomson and Mr. Shepherd Dawson respectively 
Two important contributions to the study of fatigue 
were given by Miss May Smith and Mr. J. H. Wimmis. 
On Monday a joint meeting was held with Sec. 
NO. 2305, VOL. 92] 
NATURE 
517 
tion L (Education}.. The morning was chiefly occu— 
pied with a discussion of spelling. A full report of 
the proceedings has appeared in the account of the 
work of the Education Section (December 25, 1913, 
». 491). 
Fe apie 8 of Dr. Kimmins (chief inspector, L.C.C.): 
for educational research may be mentioned as of 
special interest and importance. In the afternoon 
Mr. Valentine gave a paper on the phonic method of 
teaching reading, Mr. E. D. Lewis upon analytic and 
synthetic methods in learning, and Mr. Burt upon the- 
mental differences between the sexes. ‘ 
On Tuesday the greater part of the morning was- 
occupied with papers on tests of intelligence. Dr. 
McIntyre and Miss Rogers described ‘* The Application. 
of the Binet-Simon Scale to Scots Children,”’ and Mr. 
Moore and Mr. Winch described some “Tests of 
Reasoning” carried out at Liverpool and London.. 
Mr. Fox recounted a series of experiments upon “ The 
Conditions which arouse Mental Imagery in 
Thought.” Imagery, it was found, appeared to arise: 
chiefly when thought was momentarily hindered or 
obstructed. 
In the afternoon the president of the Economics. 
Section (Rev. P. H. Wicksteed) appealed for a study 
of ‘‘The Psychological Basis of Economics.’* Mr. Pear 
followed with an ‘‘Analysis of Some Personal: 
Dreams,” and Dr. Brown with a discussion of 
“Psycho-analysis.”” Dealing with the psychological 
doctrines of the school of Freud, the afternoon’s dis— 
cussion perhaps aroused a more general interest than 
any other- 
On Wednesday morning the chief feature was a. 
couple of papers by Mr. Pear and Mr. Wyatt upon 
testimony. Mr. Pear described the chief “ Modern 
Experimental Investigations of Testimony,” and 
emphasised their legal significance. Mr. Wyatt de-. 
scribed experiments upon normal and defective school 
children in Manchester and Liverpool. He found that 
normal children, when uninfluenced by cross-examina— 
tion and the personality of the questioner, can give 
testimony of a high degree of accuracy, but of small 
range; the testimony of defective children differs im 
quality more than in degree, but the difference is not 
very abrupt. 
The chief impression created by the meetings of the 
subsection was a sense of the great and varied activity 
now going on in the various psychological laboratories. 
recently established throughout the country, and the 
eagerness of the public and of the Press to recognise 
the ‘‘new’’ science and to emphasise (often to over- 
emphasise) its possibilities of development. The in- 
terest in practical applications was marked. But it 
was equally clear that the applications already 
attempted themselves pointed to the urgent need of 
further work the character of which shall be more 
purely scientific. Cyrit Burt. 
ON THE HIGHEST UNIVERSITY 
EDUCATION IN GERMANY AND FRANCE.® 
[% the beginning of the nineteenth century Napoleon 
crushed the spirit and power of the Germans for 
a time, but the nation soon recovered from the blow 
through the stirring appeals which their great men, 
many of them professors in the universities, made to: 
them, and their politicians and wise men, men of 
deep thought and strong will, deliberated earnestly in 
what way they could rescue their country from the 
depression under which it lay and restore it to independ- 
ence and to a high place amongst the nations of the 
earth. They became convinced that one of the most 
effective means for this purpose was education, and 
1 Fion, an address delivered at the University of St. Andrews on Occober 
13, by Principal Sir James Donaldson. 
