aS a. s 
— Se eS 
, 
Fuly 3, 1873] 
NATURE 
179 
should be open at the cost of a penny or twopence each 
lecture ; and that each person of this class who attends 
the Exhibition should have the benefit of the lectures and 
demonstrations, these should be more frequent, and the 
theatre larger. 
Something may be done before the Exhibition closes ; 
but the cookery question is a permanent one. Cannot 
something be done to establish a School of Cookery, in 
which teaching such as is now going on at the Interna- 
tional show can be carried on continuously? We can 
conceive such an institution possible, and even self-sup- 
porting, The whole of the middle and upper classes are 
interested in getting good cooks, and the school boards 
should be urged to allow their elder female pupils to 
attend the instructions given in such an institution. This 
would be an immense economy to all, for it would save a 
large portion of that waste which now goes on in every 
household, in teaching girls to become the sort of cooks 
they are. 
If girls and women could be sent to such a school with 
a previous elementary knowledge of chemistry, physiology, 
and natural philosophy, they would derive more advan- 
tage than they would otherwise get from the necessarily 
short courses in such a school. In short it comes to this, 
that nearly all the details of practical life are dependent 
on facts which are comprehended in the various branches 
of scientific knowledge ; and it is only as men and women 
are taught the nature of these facts that society can pro- 
gress and man attain the highest possibilities of civili- 
sation, E. LANKESTER 
COX’S POPULAR PSYCHOLOGY 
What am I? A Popular Introduction to Mental Philo- 
sophy and Psychology. Vol. I. The Mechanism of 
Man. By Edward William Cox, Serjeant-at-law. (Long- 
mans and Co.) 
O doubt many of the Serjeant’s friends will read his 
1 popular introduction to the study of psychology, and 
think it very profound, and many of them, especially his 
lady friends, charmed with the vague denunciation of 
** Scientists” and materialists, the religious element, the 
quackery of science, and the scraps of poetry, will be 
able to tell him in all sincerity that they think it “a very 
nice book.” But from those whose opinion is worth the 
paper it is written on, Mr. Cox has nothing to hope. The 
first sentence of the preface declares that “ The study of 
psychology has not kept pace with the progress of the 
physical sciences.” The truth of this statement must be 
painfully brought home to every real student of psycho- 
logy, by the fact that a man possessing the intelligence 
and general culture of Mr. Cox could write such a book, 
and that educated people will be found to read it. We 
can agree with the author that there is at the present time 
room for a work presenting the leading truths of mental 
science in, if possible, a popular shape. But surely one 
qualification of the writer who would make such a book 
for the benefit of the “many persons who desire to obtain 
some knowledge of psychology, but who are deterred from 
its study by the ponderous volumes of abstruse argument 
. . - intelligible, only to the far advanced philosopher,” 
must be, that he is himself up with the best science ol 
the day, that he has made himself acquainted with “the 
ponderous volumes of abstruse argument.” Unfortunately 
Mr. Cox does not appear to have taken this view of the 
matter. In setting himself to produce an “ outline of the 
| science of psychology written in plain language,” he has, 
in plain language, attempted work for which he is no 
more qualified than an ordinary farm labourer is qualified 
to translate Homer into the vernacular of his native 
village. 
Like books of its class the volume before -us is rich 
in curious absurdities of presumption, For instance, 
scientific men are very severely taken to task for their 
lamentable want of scientific method ; and there is no end to 
the tirade against materialists, metaphysicians, and mental 
philosophers. Who these greatest of sinners are, we can- 
not tell ; for Mr. Cox prudently refrains from mentioning 
names. Nor are we told very precisely what are the 
particularly damnable heresies with which they have 
poisoned the public mind; indeed, it would appear that 
mindful of the good old proverb that one cannot touch 
tar without being defiled, Mr. Cox has been careful to 
keep his own mind at an angry distance from all their 
evil thinking. It may however aniuse some of our readers 
to know what, according to Mr, Cox, is not materialism, 
while it will enable all to estimate the claim of the 
writer to rank as a psychologist. This is spiritualism : 
“ Rightly, then to conceive of spirit, the first step is clearly 
to comprehend that it is not, and cannot be, zvmaterial 
—but only that it is composed of very refined matter— 
so refined that it is imperceptible to our bodily senses, 
which are adapted only to perceive certain forms of 
matter that affect ourselves.” “ The soul, therefore, being 
composed of molecules infinitely finer than the molecules 
of the body—as fine possibly -as those of the comet, 
could, with the utmost ease, permeate the body, infusing 
itself among all the atoms of which the body is built, 
and thus occupy the whole frame ; ” and as a consequence 
“the shape of the soul must be the shape of the body.” 
The soul here spoken of is not “the mind” nor the “ life,” 
but the proprietor of the body, the mind, and the life. 
As Mr. Cox’s “inquiry is designed to be purely scéentific,’ 
and is “ addressed mainly to those who reject the authority 
of the theologian,” we must give one specitnen of the 
scientific arguments, in support of the existence of this 
entity, which scientists ia their stupidity have hitherto 
failed to appreciate. Here is the best one :—* Does any 
sane man ever talk or write of his mind or his life as 
‘Me?’ Does he not always say ‘ my mind,’ ‘your mind, 
‘my life, ‘your lifey—that is to say ‘the mind, the life, 
—that belongs to me,’ ‘the life—the mind—that belongs 
to you.” We hope the learned serjeant does better than 
this when he has a concrete mortal for a client. Without 
going farther a-field for an answer it must be sufficient 
to remind him that we not only say “ zy mind,” and “ your 
mind,” but also “ zy soul,” and “ your soul,” “myself,” and 
“ yourself.” Who, or what is the “ Ze,” which according 
to the profound word-argument must exist as the pro- 
prietor of the sov/ and the se/f? This very refined exist- 
ence has not yet got a name ; but perhaps Mr. Cox, now 
his attention has been called to it, will be able to tell us in 
his second volume (which already promises to be much 
more interesting than the one before us) what Sort of 
matter it is made of, its shapé, and its dwelling place. 
