March 5, 1915] 



SCIENCE 



349 



we have sown? We still look at the prob- 

 lems of living from a narrow historical 

 point of view, describing its phenomena in 

 terms borrowed from post-mortem records. 

 The present tragedy of which we are spec- 

 tators may in a double sense be called an 

 historical drama, as it marks another one 

 of man's failures brought about in the ef- 

 fort to apply his meager knowledge of the 

 individual to regulate present politics by 

 past history. One of the beneficent results 

 of the application of modern biologic meth- 

 ods to the study of the mind has been the 

 development of a sense of optimism based 

 on the belief that the constantly growing 

 interest in the study of living organisms 

 is a foundation for the hope that human 

 activities, as the laws governing their or- 

 ganization are more clearly revealed to us, 

 may become subject to intelligent control. 



Any rational attempt to become a nation 

 more successful in cultivating peaceful 

 arts than in developing a belligerent spirit 

 predicates more thorough preparation than 

 man has made to undertake the study and 

 control of the mental mechanisms which 

 give rise to obsessions, overvalued ideas, 

 anomalous emotional reactions, jingoism 

 and chauvinism. Never before has there 

 been a greater necessity than the present 

 one of extending our knowledge of the 

 laws governing the activities of the mind. 

 Temporary expedients for the preservation 

 of the world's peace may be suggested by 

 tribiinals, senates and parliaments, but hope 

 for the successful and peaceful solution of 

 problems of vital importance to humanity 

 depends primarily upon the success of 

 man's efforts to attain a comprehensive 

 knowledge of his own brain-power, and the 

 methods by which this may be generated 

 and controlled. 



Among the signs of the times are evi- 

 dences of a sentimental desire for peace, 

 but on the other hand there are reasons for 



doubting whether our brain power is suffi- 

 cient to attain and maintain conditions 

 that are unfavorable for war. The enu- 

 meration of some of our national charac- 

 teristics give rise to premonitions that in 

 this crisis we shall with commendable 

 promptitude and efficiency discharge our 

 duties to sufferers abroad ; and at the same 

 time show an extraordinary disregard for 

 the intelligent direction of many affairs at 

 home. As a people we undoubtedly work 

 best when under the strain of emotional ex- 

 citement, and this tendency justifies great 

 deliberateness in considering whether we 

 are equal to the task requiring limitless 

 stores of patience and an intelligence suffi- 

 ciently developed to bring about conditions, 

 esential for the preservation of peace. Im 

 the interests of humanity it is desirable to> 

 distinguish very clearly between the log- 

 ical thought-processes of intelligent, peace- 

 loving people, and the sentiments of those 

 who declaim against the horrors of war. 

 There are certain innate qualities of the 

 American mind which justify more than 

 an occasional jog to our memories in order 

 to recall the fact that intellectual judg- 

 ments are largely determined by the char- 

 acter of the underlying emotional reac- 

 tions; and yet without attempting to or- 

 ganize feeling or sentiment we compla- 

 cently direct attention to our traditional 

 capacity to look at the problems of life 

 from a very practical point of view, and 

 remain oblivious to the danger that exists 

 in the constant repression of the senti- 

 mental side of our natures until some crisis 

 increases the tension to such a degree that 

 equilibrium can only be restored by an ex- 

 plosion. 



We shall not be guilty of carrying our 

 methods of introspection too far if we refer 

 to the serious handicap to the cultivation 

 of those qualities of mind which predis- 

 pose toward the peaceable solution of im- 



