332 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXV. No. 635 



matic, comprehending, as tributary depart- 

 ments of itself, the old disciplines of logic, 

 metaphysic, physic and ethic. 



And here, after our first problem, two 

 other problems burst upon our view. My 

 belief that these two problems form a pro- 

 gram of work well -worthy of the attention 

 of a body as learned and earnest as this 

 audience, is, in fact, what has determined 

 me to choose this subject, and to drag you 

 through so many familiar facts during the 

 hour that has sped. 



The first of the two problems is that of 

 our powers, the second that of our means, 

 of unlocking them or getting at them. 

 We ought somehow to get a topographic 

 survey made of the limits of human power 

 in every conceivable direction, something 

 like an ophthalmologist's chart of the limits 

 of the human field of vision ; and we ought 

 then to construct a methodical inventory 

 of the paths of access, or keys, differing 

 with the diverse types of individual, to the 

 different kinds of power. This would be 

 an absolutely concrete study, to be carried 

 on by using historical and biographical 

 material mainly. The limits of power must 

 be limits that have been realized in actual 

 persons, and the various ways of unlocking 

 the reserves of power must have been ex- 

 emplified in individual lives. Laboratory 

 experimentation can play but a small part. 

 Tour psychologist's Versuchsthier, outside 

 of hypnosis, can never be called on to tax 

 his energies in ways as extreme as those 

 which the emergencies of life will force on 

 him. 



So here is a program of concrete indi- 

 vidual psychology, at which anyone in some 

 measure may work. It is replete with in- 

 teresting facts, and points to practical is- 

 sues superior in importance to anything 

 we know. I urge it therefore upon your 

 consideration. In some shape we have all 

 worked at it in a more or less blind and 



fragmentary way; yet before Papini men- 

 tioned it I had never thought of it, or heard 

 it broached by anyone, in the generalized 

 form of a program such as I now suggest, 

 a program that might with proper care be 

 made to cover the whole field of psychology, 

 and might show us parts of it in a very 

 fresh light. 



It is just the generalizing of the problem 

 that seems to me to make so strong an ap- 

 peal. I hope that in some of you the con- 

 ception may unlock unused reservoirs of 

 investigating power. 



William James 

 Hahvabd Univeesitt 



TBE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR THE 



ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE. 



THE EXPANSION OF PHYSIOLOGY^ 



Looking forward into the far future, we may 



perhaps dimly discern the day when morphology 



and phy&iology will again join hands * * * but 



that day is as yet most distant. 



When Dr. Michael Foster, the eminent 

 physiologist, was writing the lines quoted 

 above, the two grand divisions of biology 

 to which he refers seemed separated as if 

 by a great gulf. In England and America 

 morphology was the reigning favorite and 

 in the higher institutions of learning phy- 

 siology as such hardly existed." Both 

 zoology and botany had come almost every- 

 where to mean morphology, and morpho- 

 logical problems were the popular themes 

 of the day. Even in medical schools, 

 physiology was as yet generally denied an 

 independent existence, being commonly 

 appended to or combined with the chair of 

 anatomy, i. e., one of morphology. 



Dr. Foster was writing in the early 

 eighties, and those who like myself can 

 recall the conditions of biological teaching 

 and research at that time will testify that 

 his words were justified. It is true that a 



^Address of the vice-president and chairman of 

 Section K — Physiology and Experimental Medi- 

 cine, New York meeting, 1906. 



