Tebkuaey 16, 1906.] 



SCIENCE. 



mi 



in their isolation is one of the least important 

 of the functions of a text-book. What are 

 the great all-embracing laws which bind these 

 facts together into the orderly unity of an in- 

 dividual life and of the universe of conscious 

 facts; what is the solution of the old dis- 

 puted problems concerning determinism and 

 indeterrainism, parallelism and interaction; 

 what are the ultimate elements out of which 

 every moment and kind of consciousness is 

 constructed, and in what sense do they exist; 

 which ones of the established and of the as- 

 sumed facts need emphasis in order to con- 

 vince the elementary student of the truth of 

 these unifying principles, and to make his 

 knowledge of laws and of facts of real value 

 to him by enabling him to better understand 

 his daily life — these are questions of funda- 

 mental importance to the very existence of 

 psychology as a true science, and are yet the 

 very ones in regard to whose solution there 

 does not seem' to be practical agreement 

 among psychologists. That the teachers of 

 the science feel this is evidenced both by the 

 number of them who publish text-books of 

 their own, and by the eagerness with which, 

 if we may trust the announcements of pub- 

 lishing firms, a new text-book is adopted 

 widely in the hope that it may prove more 

 satisfactory than the last. 



These matters of ultimate theory and of 

 emphasis are apparently of decisive impor- 

 tance in determining the selection of a text- 

 book ; and the ideal text-book in these re- 

 spects seems not yet to have appeared. To the 

 present reviewer Professor Thorndike's book 

 seems to approach it in more important re- 

 spects than any other. The reviewer regrets 

 the absence of any or sufficient discussion of 

 many principles and facts that seem to him of 

 essential importance. But it would be only 

 on grounds of preferred emphasis that he 

 would criticize the book, and as this is purely 

 a matter of individual opinion, criticism may 

 well be dispensed with, and the more striking 

 merits of the book alone pointed out. 



The book is designed, as its author says, 

 ' to serve as a text -book for students who 

 have had no previous training in psychology, 

 who will not in nine eases out of ten take 



any considerable amount of advanced work 

 in psychology, and who need psychological 

 knowledge and insight to fit them to study, not 

 the special theories of philosophy, but the gen- 

 eral facts of human nature.' Professor 

 Thorndike is a born teacher, as well as an able 

 investigator, and he has accomplished his task 

 well. His treatment of the subject is given 

 under three main headings. In Part I, he 

 deals with descriptive or structural psychol- 

 ogy and in it ' the rich variety of human 

 thought and feeling is shown to be divisible 

 into three natural groups : first, feelings of 

 direct experience; second, reproductions of 

 direct experience; and third, feelings meaning 

 or referring to direct experience.' This is, 

 perhaps, in its analytical thoroughness, the 

 least satisfactory portion of the book. In 

 Part II. he discusses ' the tremendously com- 

 plex physical basis of mental life, the nervous 

 system,' with the aid of numerous photo- 

 graphs and drawings, in accordance with the 

 most recent views, and with the aim of fur- 

 nishing the student with a conception of it 

 which shall be truly explanatory with refer- 

 ence to mental facts. Part III. is concerned 

 with dynamic or functional psychology, and 

 presents admirably the laws which account 

 for the psychologically important bodily ac- 

 tivities, and for the occurrence and sequence 

 of mental states. In his selection and man- 

 ner of statement of the facts he is through- 

 out apt, clear and connected. In addition to 

 the simplicity and clearness of his account, 

 one is struck forcibly and favorably by the 

 wealth of helpful illustrations, of practical 

 applications and of useful and well-chosen 

 exercises. Any teacher of psychology who, in- 

 stead of preparing a text-book for himself, 

 prefers to use that of some one else, supple- 

 mented by his own lectures, may feel con- 

 fident that no other is better suited to his 

 purpose than this. It not only ensures to the 

 student a clear grasp of the science as a theo- 

 retical whole, but is well calculated to make 

 it vital and real to him, and helpful in the 

 understanding and conduct of his own prac- 

 tical life. 



Edmund B. Delabarre. 

 Bbown Univeesitt. 



