SECTIONAL TRANSACTIONS.— J. 377 



The votes for the individual examples of the test afford material for remarks on 

 transposition, augmentation, diminution, ornamentation, and other elements which 

 contribute to the development of a musical composition. 



Monday, September 5. 



Presidential Address by Dr. W. Brown on Mental Unity and Mental 

 Dissociation. (See p. 167.) 



Dr. H. Rutgers Marshall (the late). — Self-consciousness and the Self. 



(I) We speak of our conscious experiences as presentations to the Self of the 

 moment of apprehension, and we accept Ward's conception of the presentation- 

 continuum. The Self is part of the consciousness of the moment, but being that 

 part to which the mental items are presented, cannot itself be part of that presentation. 

 Its nature can only bo known by indirection. But it would seem likely to prove to 

 be a continuum. But in our experiences of self-consciousness the mental item 

 presented consists of an Ego to which a presentation is given — a complex presentation 

 given to the Self. This Ego being part of the presentation cannot be the Self, 

 although commonly spoken of as such. Furthermore, this Ego appears to be an 

 empirical thing. That we commonly call it the Self suggests that it may be a 

 simulacrum of the Self. 



This empirical Ego is evidently a changeable thing, and if it is a simulacrum of 

 the Self, the Self must be a changeable thing. Objective evidence favours this view, 

 as a man's character is known to change as he develops, and his Self is an essential 

 part of his character. 



(II) Further light is gained if we consider the nature of the neural activities that 

 are found to correspond with changes in consciousness. The neururgic system is all 

 active, in each moment being a complex pulse of activity. A ' special activity ' in 

 a part is rather an emphasis of activity in that part. It appears as an increment in 

 contrast with the whole mass of undifferentiable parts of the total neururgic pulse, 

 which is changed by each increment. When a presentation occurs it corresponds 

 with a neururgic increment ; a presentation, therefore, may be looked upon as a 

 psychic emphasis within a whole psychic pulse, which pulse appears as an increment 

 in contrast with the whole mass of undifferentiable psychic parts. But the Self 

 is a psychic somewhat to which the presentation accrues as an increment. Hence 

 the Self of any moment would appear to be this whole mass of undifferentiable psychic 

 parts. 



This indicates that the Self, while a continuum, is not a persistent entity. As 

 presentations change, so must the whole psychic mass — presentations plus the Self — 

 change. The Self of each moment is a new Self. The empirical Ego then appears 

 as a simulacrum of the Self. 



(III) In cases of choice we are dealing with the comparison of two diverse empirical 

 Egos, either of which, if it prevailed, would act in a determined manner, and yet be 

 free to act in accord with its essential nature. Right conduct is then dependent 

 upon the nature of the prevailing Ego — in the end upon knowledge. There is no such 

 thing as voluntary unreasonable action ; no such thing as sinning. What we have 

 is recognition that we have sinned or might sin ; have acted or might act as the 

 prevailing empirical Ego would not act. And this is of the essence of ethical advance. 



Dr. T. W. Mitchell. — "Phenomena of Mediumistic Trance. 



Dr. G. H. Miles. — Time and Motion Study as Employed by the Industrial 

 Psychologist. 



The Industrial Psychologist attempts to evaluate the physical and mental demands 

 on the worker at each stage of the operations which he is timing. He also studies the 

 movements made and endeavours to reduce the strain by simplifying these. Thus 

 to the psychologist the effect on the individual is of more significance than the time 

 value of an operation or a pause during that lapse of time. A pause in an operation 

 is, from a pure time-study point of view, a waste of time, and if the human being 



