52 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. LII. No. 1333 



application of objective methods to research 

 work in psychology, were available when the 

 apparatus is designed. 



Under the present methods of preparing for 

 a research problem requiring apparatus, the 

 student in psychology begins to look through 

 the literature to find how the phenomena that 

 he expects to investigate were measured by 

 other investigators. The original method of 

 measurement may have been merely an 

 accident of time, place and the available 

 equipment. If the student is not mechanic- 

 ally expert, imitation is the only alternative. 

 By the trial and error method, improvements 

 do gradually develop but at a great loss of 

 time and at the expense of accuracy and 

 reliability. 



While as a rule the men in physics show a 

 fine cooperative spirit, students do not feel free 

 to take up the time of a professor when such 

 cooperation is not a regular part of the in- 

 structor's duties. The writer is not in sym- 

 pathy with the view that better preparation 

 in applied physical measurements should be 

 given in the elementary course. Even the 

 relatively extended course in " engineering 

 physics" is little enough physics for the 

 student in psychology. The problem of ade- 

 quate training in physical measurements 

 seems, to the writer, to belong to the graduate 

 school, and should be as integral a part of the 

 preparation of the science student as his 

 preparation in foreign languages. The grad- 

 uate faculty should support the department 

 of physics in developing a course in applied 

 physical measurements whose prime function 

 is not that of teaching physical principles 

 but that of preparing students to take ad- 

 vantage of the latest technical developments 

 in pliysics. The more comprehensive the stu- 

 dent's knowledge of the fundamental prin- 

 ciples of physics, the better, but it must be 

 recognized that the adjustment between phys- 

 ical principles and the principles of the other 

 sciences, is always a compromise. 



Perhaps one reason why courses in applied 

 physical measurements have not been devel- 

 oped, although every scientist will admit their 



value, is because the graduate students of any 

 one department do not form a large enough 

 group to justify the expenditure of the nec- 

 essary amount of money for the extensive 

 equipment necessary to adequately carry on 

 such a course. If, however, all the graduate 

 students in the biological and physical sci- 

 ences were gathered together under the direc- 

 tion of a high-class instructor, the time de- 

 voted to applied physical measurements would 

 actually result in a saving of time and secure 

 better cooperation from the department of 

 physics than is usually accorded. Such a 

 course should be in the hands of an instructor 

 who is willing to keep abreast of what is going 

 on in the other sciences. Such a man should 

 be especially well grounded in general scien- 

 tific theory so he can understand the problems 

 of the other sciences. Developmental work in 

 the applications of pliysical measurements to 

 the other sciences should offer as good research 

 opportimities as "piu'e" physics for the man 

 whose interests are in the applied field. It is 

 a mistake to assume that an expert machinist 

 is the man wanted. 



It must be recognized that the students 

 taking applied physical measurements will 

 probably not contribute directly to the ad- 

 vancement of physics. This implicitly may 

 develop the attitude on the part of the pro- 

 fessor in charge that these students are 

 mercenaries who are commercializing physics. 

 If this attitude is general in the department 

 of physics, it is easy to see why no particular 

 attempt is made to get the equipment and the 

 type of instructor necessary to teach this work 

 as satisfactorily as in the courses intended 

 for students specializing in physics. It is the 

 same attitude that is so often found in the 

 instructors who are obliged to teach "scien- 

 tific " German or French. 



Por students specializing in experimental 

 psychology it is coming to be recognized more 

 and more that in the work for the doctorate, 

 training in the allied sciences and methods 

 of physical measurements is quite as im- 

 portant as training in psychology. There is 

 no danger that the student will neglect his 

 psychology, but he may neglect important pre- 



