February 5, 1897.] 



SCIENCE. 



211 



read on Wednesday morning were as fol- 

 lows : 



1. Philosophy in the American Colleges. A. C. 

 Armstrong Jr. , Wesleyan University. 



2. Tests of Current Theory Touching Mind and 

 Body. Dickinson S. Miller, Bryn Mawr 

 College. 



3. The Relation of Mind and Body. C. A. 

 Strong, Columbia University. 



4. Is the ' Transcendental Ego ' an Unmeaning 

 Conception f J. E. Creighton, Cornell 

 University. 



5. The Relation of Pessimi^n to Ultimate Phil- 

 osophy. F. C. S. Schiller, Cornell Uni- 

 versity. 



6. Tlie Standpoint and Method of Ethics. 

 James Seth, Cornell University. 



7. A Generalization of Immediate Inferences. 

 J. G. Hibben, Princeton University. 



8. The Negative in Logic. A. T. Ormond, 

 Princeton University. 



The afternoon session on the 30th was 

 opened by the address of the President, 

 Professor FuUerton, of the University of 

 Pennsylvania, entitled The ' Knower ' in 

 Psychology. It was an examination of the 

 nature of knowledge from the standpoint of 

 the psychologist, and the criticism of the 

 ' self in its knowing function, as it is famil- 

 iar to readers of philosophy and psychology. 

 Professor Fullerton criticised the Neo- 

 Hegelian doctrine of the ' self as a unifying 

 activity in consciousness, and also the view 

 of the self that regards it as a noumenon or 

 metaphysical entity lying behind conscious- 

 ness and accounting for it. The positive 

 views advanced by the speaker were as 

 follows : The idea that there must be a self 

 distinct irom the contents of consciousness 

 to explain consciousness arises out of a 

 mere misconception, and is to be regarded 

 as a survival from an unreflective past. 

 The primary uncritical notion of the self 

 identifies it with the body. In animism 

 we have a duplicate of the body regarded 

 as the self, the knower and doer. In the 



history of philosophy this notion is made 

 more abstract and unintelligible with the 

 progress of reflection, and in successive 

 systems the function of the self as knower 

 becomes more and more unmeaning. But 

 knowledge is a psychosis like any other 

 psychosis, and it is the duty of the psy- 

 chologist to analyze and describe it. He 

 must, moreover, use the same psychological 

 method which he uses in treating of sensa- 

 tions or of any other mental elements, 

 and must not try to find an explanation 

 of knowledge by having recourse to a 

 something which lies beyond the realm of 

 psychology as science. 



Following the President's address there 

 was held a business meeting of the Associa- 

 tion, and a report from the Committee on 

 Physical and Mental Tests, appointed the 

 year before, was presented and accepted. 

 This report is reproduced, as the elabora- 

 tion of such tests is a matter that concerns 

 several sciences. 



PRELIMINARY REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON 

 PHYSICAL AND MENTAL TESTS. 



The Committee on Physical and Mental 

 Tests appointed at the last annual meeting 

 of this Association submits the following 

 report : 



The committee has drawn up a series of 

 physical and mental tests which is regarded 

 as especially appropriate for college stu- 

 dents tested in a psychological laboratory. 

 The same series would also be suitable for 

 the general public and, with some omissions 

 and slight modifications, for school children. 

 The committee has had in view a series of 

 tests requiring not more than one hour for 

 the record of one subject. In selecting the 

 tests and methods the committee regarded 

 as most important those which seemed 

 likely to reveal individual differences and 

 development, but also took into account 

 ease and quickness in making the tests and 

 in interpreting and collating the results. 



