May 20, 1898.] 



SOIENGE. 



713 



ing for the Jefferson Medical College, of Phila- 

 delphia, which will be erected at the corner of 

 Walnut and 10th streets, occupying a space of 

 118 feet by 107 feet. It appears, from the 

 plans, that very complete arrangements have 

 been made for laboratories, lecture rooms and 

 dissecting rooms. 



A DONOE, whose name is withheld, has sub- 

 scribed $25,000 for Barnard College in case the 

 $100,000 needed to liquidate the debt on the Col- 

 lege is subscribed by October 3d. $23,000 had 

 previously been subscribed. 



Professor James Seth, who now holds the 

 chair of moral philosophy at Cornell University, 

 has been elected professor of moral philosophy 

 in the University of Edinburgh, to fill the chair 

 vacant by the death of Professor Calderwood. 



De. Charles H. Judd, Wesleyan University, 

 has been called to a chair of psychology in New 

 York University. 



DISCUSSION AND C0BBE8P0NDENCE. 



remarks on the method of the ' NEW 



psychology' with memory. 

 To the Editor op Science : Dr. Scrip- 

 ture's ' The New Psychology' is an inter- 

 esting and useful r6sum6 of the results of a 

 certain order of investigation whose value and 

 significance seems at present, however, debata- 

 ble. The author wishes, and wishes rightly, 

 to reduce psychology to an exact science, but 

 does not science mean a complete and special 

 investigation of the circumstances affecting any 

 phenomenon? Take thus the phenomenon of 

 memory : Does not a scientific study of it re- 

 quire a thorough and special investigation of 

 all factors psychical that affect it, to show their 

 interrelation, and by isolation to show their 

 relative values? Is not this method required 

 of the biologist who studies the phenomenon of 

 cross-fertilization or of the physicist who studies 

 crystallization, and shall we be less rigid for 

 the psychologist who studies memory ? Now 

 Mr. Scripture starts out with the assumption 

 that a memory is a function of one element, 

 physical time, and interprets wholly by this 

 factor, lumping all other elements under a 

 mere general reference to ' circumstances ' and 

 the 'individual.' It is not to be denied that 



physical time by pendulum beats has some re- 

 lation to memory, but Mr. Scripture certainly 

 fails to make clear that he has isolated this 

 phenomenon, which is, moreover, of minor im- 

 portance. Memory is far more a function of 

 interest than of time, either physical or psy- 

 chological. For instance, in the experiment 

 detailed ( p. 189 ) the matter of seconds and 

 minutes is not the main determinant of decreas- 

 ing memory with the experimenter. On the 

 contrary, interest, his interest in accuracy, in 

 success, etc., is the main factor to be investi- 

 gated, and to study memory without definitely 

 studying interest is like testing speed of loco- 

 motives without reference to motive power. 

 That a locomotive moves at certain reduced 

 velocities after certain lapses of time does not 

 imply that time per se has reduced velocity in 

 given ratio, but that this ratio is dependent on 

 the initial head of steam, lubricity of parts, etc. 

 Now the motive power of memory is interest, 

 and mere lapse of time operates mainly, at 

 least, merely as allowing room for conflicting 

 interest. It is plain that if in the experiment 

 referred to the agent was influenced by life and 

 death motive, or even by some greatly desired 

 prize, the memory power would be indefinitely 

 strengthened. What very intensely interests 

 us we always remember, and often with increas- 

 ing vividness, for memories becoming cumula- 

 lative in effect may reinforce each other so as 

 to more than offset lapse of time. We also 

 note that the aged man recalls the scenes of 

 youth much more acurately and freshly than 

 when he was middle aged. We know also 

 that interest quite reverses the time law in the 

 case of one who after some years absence re- 

 turns to his former dwelling place, when events 

 and places concerned with his life some time 

 before his absence are recalled with accuracy 

 far greater than if he had had continued resi- 

 dence. 



It is certainly very desirable that we should 

 attain to some scientific understanding of the 

 relation of interest to memory, but first we must 

 devise some method of measuring interest. But 

 any real science of memory cannot neglect that 

 by which memory has been originated and de- 

 veloped, namely, interest. 



But the whole standpoint of ' the New Psy- 



