MEDICAL ADVANCEMENT AS PRECLUDING HUMAN EVOLUTION 225 



distinguish our age from the objective one of Linnaeus it might be 

 characterized as the Psychological age. It started in a narrow circle of 

 philosophers, but developed into a general interest wherever mental life 

 is touched. The diffusion of the doctrine of evolution, with its historical 

 implication, is largely responsible for the transition. Or, to be more 

 scrupulous in statement, the same factors that brought to the conscious- 

 ness of thinkers the principles of evolution are also accountable for the 

 development of this present historico-psychological interest. Darwinism 

 invaded all quarters and mental phenomena were subjected to the 

 methods and the views of natural science. 



The psychological interest, at first narrow, began with a study of the 

 senses, and sense mechanisms. The field widened to a simple analysis 

 of the feelings, and developed to an insight into the factors of higher 

 mental life. 1 Today there are at its service many large, and elaborately 

 equipped laboratories of psychology, physiology, and biology where 

 almost every aspect of consciousness, or response may be subjected to 

 analysis. As a result of introspection and the spirit of the times interest 

 was developed in the mental equipment of the species, as well as of chil- 

 dren and savages, and the psychological organization of society. The 

 developmental implications according to Darwinian views, created an 

 interest in the genesis of mind as well as of the body. 



Since these developmental theories have been advanced history has 

 acquired new meaning and interests and there is a demand for new 

 explanations. Man — the whole physical, mental, and moral man — 

 is looked at as the product of development; and in history are sought 

 the steps of change which he has undergone, and the factors accountable 

 for them. History, literature, art, religion, language, law, and politics 

 all become data for the psychologist. The world is a psychological 

 laboratory in which every living being acts and has acted as a subject. 

 In history the experiments of the past are written up, under the different 

 headings just enumerated, and the facts of mental life and development 

 are recorded. It is in proportion that these facts are co-ordinated and 

 interpreted that we are learning the nature and processes of mind, and 

 its relation to its surroundings. 



1 Munsterberg, Psychology and Life, Chap. I. 



