384 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol, XXVII. No. 688 



certain varieties of rats make under many- 

 conditions little or no use of their eyes. 

 For such animals these senses are almost 

 as much of a luxury as the vermiform ap- 

 pendix is for man. The naive observer of 

 these animals, unfamiliar with these 

 peculiar facts about the non-use of these 

 sense-organs, must inevitably go astray in 

 interpreting their reactions. 



We can not hope for a thoroughly satis- 

 factory theory of auditory consciousness 

 until we learn more adequately the an- 

 atomical and physiological facts about the 

 cochlea. Of late the widely accepted 

 Helmholtzian theory of sympathetic reson- 

 ance by the basilar membrane fibers, has 

 received some almost fatal wounds and 

 none of the substitutes as yet proposed is 

 wholly convincing. I might unfold a 

 similar tale of defective present-day knowl- 

 edge in the case of each of the senses, and 

 the psychologist stands ready and eager to 

 appropriate with gratitude whatever can be 

 given him here. Are there without doubt 

 special end-organs for the temperature sen- 

 sations, and for the several forms of con- 

 tact? What is the implication as to our 

 bodily sensations of Head's recent experi- 

 ments on sensory nerve regeneration and 

 the return of sensitivity after nerve sec- 

 tion? Are there specialized end-organs 

 for the four elementary tastes whose psy- 

 chological and physiological distinctness 

 seem so certain? Is there no differentia- 

 tion in the olfactory end-organ compar- 

 able with the bewildering profusion of 

 olfactory sense qualities? The answer to- 

 these and to dozens of other similar ques- 

 tions must be obtained before psychology 

 can be satisfied with the finality of its 

 analyses and explanations of sensory con- 

 sciousness. 



From comparative anatomy and physi- 

 ology, as well as from embryology, we look 

 for much helpful light on the circum- 

 stances surrounding the appearance and 



growth of intelligence. Time fails me, 

 however, to attempt to specify details. 



Modern psychology gladly acknowledges 

 a great debt of gratitude to the alienist and 

 the pathologist. The study of insanity 

 and nervous diseases, chaotic as are the 

 present conditions in those branches of 

 medicine, has been of indisputable moment 

 to psychologists. Moreover, we recognize 

 that the studies of the neurologists and the 

 pathologists are mutually indispensable to 

 one another and that answers to many of 

 our questions already formulated must 

 come from both these scientists in order to 

 be complete. The study of alternating 

 personalities, of hypnotic phenomena, of 

 somnambulism, and the positive insanities, 

 to mention only these, has let in a flood of 

 light upon the complexities of organiza- 

 tion in the mental machinery which could 

 not otherwise have been attained. The 

 questions which the psychologist still has 

 to put to these colleagues of his are so 

 numerous as wholly to baffle summary. 

 They can only be illustrated. 



Is the disintegration of the self found 

 in the so-called alternating personalities 

 simply an exaggeration of normal condi- 

 tions, or is it wholly pathological in the 

 sense in which scarlet fever is? Already 

 intimations of the iinal answer to this 

 question are looming large. What is the 

 origin and inner character of the so-called 

 " phobias," so characteristic of our day? 

 This man is a neurotic hypochondriac; that 

 man a neurotic recluse. Have these dis- 

 eases their fotindation in specific lesions of 

 one or another kind; are they expressions 

 of hypertrophy of normal physiological 

 functions, or are they purely psychic? 

 What is the physiological basis of sug- 

 gestion often employed in treating such 

 conditions? Perhaps, if a satisfactory 

 reply could be obtained to this last ques- 

 tion, our medical friends would be less 

 generally willing to hand over to Christian 



