242 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. LIV. No. 1394 



GEORGE TRUMBULL LADD 



George Trumbull Ladd, for forty years pro- 

 fessor of moral philosophy and metaphysics 

 at Tale TJniversity, died on August 8, at the 

 age of eighty-one years. 



In the eighties and nineties, Ladd was a 

 towering figure, through his academic leader- 

 ship, in the introduction of the new psychol- 

 ogy. This was the period in which physi- 

 ological, experimental, genetic and abnormal 

 psychology gained recognition in the college 

 curriculum of this country, and Ladd did 

 much to bring this recognition. Tet, he was 

 not primarily a psychologist and did no ex- 

 perimental work in any of the fields which he 

 so ably introduced. He came into psychology 

 through philosophy, and had come into 

 philosophy through theology. History will 

 probably recognize him as an organizer rather 

 than an inspirer, or an original contributor 

 in specific problems. 



While always regarded as more or less dry, 

 his books and lectures were characterized by 

 remarkable clearness, accuracy, thoroughness, 

 broadmindedness and chasteness of style and 

 a pleasing absence of the irrelevant. His 

 definitions were those of a logician; his 

 scientific perspective was that of a philoso- 

 pher; his power of appeal was that of the 

 forceful teacher. The fidelity and construc- 

 tive analysis with which he interpreted the 

 findings of research men in physiology, 

 physics, medicine and genetics gave dignity 

 and permanence to his work. The encyclope- 

 dic character of his work shows him at his 

 best in his power to organize for himself and 

 put in teachable form these new and diverse 

 approaches to the study of the human mind. 

 His " Elements of Physiological Psychology " 

 and " Psychology Descriptive and Explana- 

 tory " will live as classics from that period. 



His conservatism was another feature which 

 gave his work in that period prestige and 

 success. Wundt, Eibot, Galton, James, Hall, 

 Cattell, Baldwin, Scripture, and others, each 

 came out with a different brand of psychology 

 which was bound to draw out some temporary 

 antagonism; but Ladd welcomed all these 

 and quieted the turbulent waters by certify- 

 ing and formulating as a philosopher, as a 



preacher and as a teacher what was " whole- 

 some " and giving it a setting in academic 

 psychology. As an original thinker, Ladd's 

 power lay not in the scientist's observation 

 and discovery within a narrow field, but rather 

 in the power of a great thinker to interpret 

 and organize new and relevant facts. 



His utterances on mental evolution, on 

 mental measurement, on disorders of person- 

 ality, on " psychology without a soul," make 

 most interesting reading from the present 

 point of view. The new points of view are 

 all in his work, but their presentation is so 

 sagaciously qualified as to make the present 

 reader question whether he had actually 

 recognized the real significance of these new 

 concepts in psychology. Yet, it was this 

 mode of conservative thought and guarded 

 statement that gave stability to his teaching 

 and made it for many years the orthodox 

 point of view in the new psychology. He 

 made the transition not only from philosophy 

 to psychology but also from theology to 

 psychology and from common sense view of 

 daily life to scientific psychology without any 

 break or antagonism. 



Ladd's influence in psychology was cut 

 short by an unfortunate breaking up of the 

 department in the late nineties, which led 

 to his premature retirement and deprived him 

 of the contact with the younger working con- 

 stituency and the opportunity of projecting 

 himself through such a constituency. His 

 interest then turned to interpretative psychol- 

 ogy through his various books on psychology 

 as applied to philosophy, ethics, aesthetics, 

 social life, and religion. His appeal was here 

 to the general reader, and in this field his 

 utterances are characterized by the same traits 

 that we found in the earlier academic period. 

 0. E. Seashore 



The National Research Codtsicil, 

 Washington, D. C, 

 August 20, 1921 



SCIENTIFIC EVENTS 



THE BRITISH IMPERIAL BUREAU OF MY- 

 COLOGY 



In 1918 the British Imperial War Con- 

 ference had brought to its notice the loss to 



