SCIENCE 
Frmay, DecemBer 13, 1918 
CONTENTS 
Problems, Methods and Results in Behavior: 
Proressore §. O. MAST .........0 ccc nce ee 579 
George Jennings Hinde: Marsgorie O’Con- 
NELL 588 
Inquiry of the American Geographical Society 
for the Information of the Peace Commis- 
ROME re 0 iw Seinisraremys seme ifs nielpras RMMEL dice 590 
Scientific Events :— 
The Salters’ Institute of Industrial Chemis- 
try; The Influenza Epidemic; The Return of 
Chemists to the Industries; The American 
Psychological Association; The Yellow 
Fever Expedition of the Rockefeller Foun- 
2” Ss oleah ene a a 592 
Scientific Notes and News ...........-.++++ 596 
University and Educational News .......... 598 
Discussion and Correspondence :— 
A League of Nations: Proressor W. M. 
Davis. Experimental Osmosis with a Living 
Membrane: ProressoR EpwArD KREMERS. 598 
Quotations :— 
France’s Share in Biology and Medical Sci- 
ence. 600 
Scientific Books :— 
Adami on Medical Contributions to the 
Study of Evolution: J. P. MoM. .......... 601 
Special Articles :— 
Stylonichia impaled upon a Fungal Fila- 
ment: D. H. WENBIOH .....--.seeeeesees 
MSS. intended for publication and books, ete.,intended for 
review should be sent to The Editor of Science, Garrison-on- 
Hudson, N. Y. 
PROBLEMS, METHODS AND RESULTS 
IN BEHAVIOR! 
INTRODUCTION 
In every field of endeavor it is from time to 
time advantageous to pause long enough in the 
ordinary pursuits of the day to take our bear- 
ing, trace the course traveled and adjust plans 
for the future. I have attempted to do this 
in the field of behavior and I shall present in 
brief the result of this attempt. 
What I have to offer is in no sense a fin- 
ished product. It should be looked upon 
rather as the opening of a discussion, a brief 
exposition of certain ideas which I hope will 
be criticized from various points of view. 
HISTORICAL REVIEW 
Before the renaissance no practical problems 
in behavior were recognized. All activities in 
organisms, plants as well as animals, were held 
to be under the control of souls, agents not 
amenable to law and not subject to experi- 
mental analysis. 
Descartes early in the seventeenth century 
came to the conclusion, partly from the results 
obtained in observations, partly on the basis 
of philosophic speculation, “that the bodies of 
animals and men act wholly like machines and 
move in accordance with purely mechanical 
laws.” Under the inspiration of this idea, 
Borelli and others undertook to reduce cer- 
tain reactions to purely physical and chemical 
or mechanical principles. Somewhat later 
Ray, Dodart, Du Hamel and others attempted 
to account for the movements in plants on the 
same basis. Thus the science of behavior had 
its origin, and, strange as it may seem, the 
fundamental problem before it in its youngest 
days was to reduce reactions to mechanical 
principles. 
The investigators interested in this en- 
1 An address delivered at the Marine Biological 
Laboratory, Woods Hole, Mass., July 15, 1918. 
