202 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XVIII. No. 450. 



THE PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESSES. 



The ten presidential addresses delivered 

 before the association, which have been in- 

 cluded as so many units in the general 

 summaries above, are interesting enough 

 for separate note. These reviews and dis- 

 cussions of our psychological nestors may 

 well be regarded— at least be expected to 

 be so — as indicating the high- water mark 

 reached by the psychological tides in the 

 ebb and flow of the years. They are, in 

 truth, made up of congratulations, instruc- 

 tions and warnings to psychology. There 

 have been ten of them; hence their mere 

 numerical evaluation can count for but 

 little. Four men, Presidents Hall, Ladd, 

 CatteU and Jastrow, have reviewed the 

 history, progress, present position and the 

 prospects of psychology; while six, Presi- 

 dents James, Fullerton, Baldwin, Miinster- 

 berg, De-wey and Royee, have specialized 

 in the problems they presented. Four of 

 the latter, oddly enough, have allowed their 

 presidential thoughts to center around cer- 

 tain cognitive problems of the intellect. 

 One address was expressly devoted to the 

 ontological differentiations between 'Psy- 

 chology and History.' And, finally, only 

 one address of the ten attempted in extenso 

 to make good the claim that psychology 

 has manifest and manifold practical appli- 

 cations, which occurred under terms of 

 'Psychology and Social Practice,' the spe- 

 cial form of social practice considered be- 

 ing education. 



It is not a little interesting to see how 

 hard it is for the psychologists von Fach 

 to keep from trespassing on the green fields 

 of epistemology and metaphysics. The 

 borderland between the scientific and the 

 speculative interests has not only been 

 wandered over, but there have been tech- 

 nical discussions of the latter. This ap- 

 pears unquestionably in such themes as 

 'The Knowing of Things Together,' 'The 



Self in its Function of Knower,' 'Recent 

 Logical Inquiries and their Psychological 

 Bearings.' Six presidents dwelt upon the 

 relation between psychology and philos- 

 ophy, some at length, but all approvingly, 

 including one who has stood most stoutly 

 and clearly for the development of exact, 

 quantitative results in the laboratory. 

 Thus the majority have either affii'med in 

 general or illustratively detailed the inter- 

 dependent relation between this new sci- 

 ence and the old love of reason. 



It is disappointing to discover in the 

 scope of these addresses that only three 

 presidents have dealt with the laboratoiy 

 field of problems, the scope and the condi- 

 tions of the psychological experiment and 

 the relations of statistical and experimental 

 studies of mind to the total science of psy- 

 chology. Not even the experimentalist 

 presidents— professionally such, of whom 

 there have been at least three, and at most 

 six— have improved the presidential occa- 

 sion for giving greater momentum and 

 needed clarity to the experimental develop- 

 ment of the science. Where prejudice 

 against the method might have been sup- 

 posed to exist there has been the greater 

 generosity in recognizing it; and where 

 passion for the method should have existed, 

 there has been actual default in the use 

 made of the opportunity. 



One half of the presidents have treated 

 of purely formal, theoretical or speculative 

 interests. Two have supported the genetic 

 n^ethod and attempted to vindicate the 

 bearing of the conception of evolution on 

 the problems, methods and attitudes of 

 psychology. Only one has suggested the 

 psychological values of abnormal and de- 

 cadent experience, while none has dealt 

 with the feelings. 



Six presidents have been content to look 

 backwards, or to feel certain only up to 

 the present ; while not more than four have 

 looked forward and suggested new prob- 



