May 7, 1897.] 



SGIENGE. 



719 



importance has its chair of psychology, and 

 many colleges are provided with psycho- 

 physical laboratories. In America alone 

 there are two periodicals devoted to this sub- 

 ject ; and at last pedagogical institutions 

 are attempting to found the training for 

 teachers on the laws of the mind, i. e., on 

 psychology. In fact no recent educational 

 movement has been more widespread in 

 its influence or more rapid in its develop- 

 ment than the modern psychology. 



The scope and methods of the science 

 have also changed. While none the less 

 introspective, it has become more objective. 

 The allied science of physiology owes 

 something to psj^chologists, notably in the 

 direction of a more complete and accurate 

 study of the senses and keen criticism of 

 positions assumed by physiologists in re- 

 gard to the central nervous system. 



The psychologists have borrowed freely 

 from the realm of mental and nervous 

 disease; all of which marks a new depart- 

 ure from which not only psychology, but 

 physiology and practical and scientific medi- 

 cine, must benefit. 



It is usually a hopeful sign when methods 

 of exact estimation begin to be applied to 

 any science. There has been much diversity 

 of opinion as to the extent to which this 

 can be or has been successfully done in 

 psychology. In the opinion of one of 

 the most accomplished workers in this de- 

 partment of the science who occupied the 

 presidential chair at the last meeting of the 

 American Psychological Association, there 

 can be no doubt about the value of such 

 methods and their application. He says : 

 " I venture to maintain that the introduc- 

 tion of experiment and measurement into 

 psychology has added, directly and indi- 

 rectly new subject-matter and methods, 

 has set a higher standard of accuracy and 

 objectivity, has made some part of the sub- 

 ject an applied science with useful appli- 

 cations, and has enlarged the field and im- 



proved the methods of teaching psychol- 

 ogy." 



But what shall we say of the status and 

 prospects of comparative psychology ? The 

 works of Romanes were well known prior 

 to the beginning of the last decade. They 

 may be considered as marking about the 

 first serious attempts to treat the subject of 

 comparative psychology in a truly scientific 

 spirit and in a form accessible to the intelli- 

 gent portion of the general public. 



Much later appeared the books of Profes- 

 sor Lloyd Morgan — works which possess 

 the charm of unusual clearness. If 

 Romanes was open to the charge of claim- 

 ing too much for animals, Morgan is cer- 

 tainly cautious enough to please the most 

 conservative, unless it be those who deny 

 true intelligence to animals entirely. 



It is a hopeful sign of the times in psy- 

 chology that a professor of philosophy. Dr. 

 Carl Groos, of Giessen, has found material 

 for a book of considerable size on the play 

 of animals, a subject which has been treated 

 by him with interest, learning and critical 

 acumen. 



Animal intelligence is more and more at- 

 tracting the attention of the professed psy- 

 chologist and biologist, and that both real- 

 ize the difficulties of the subject, while its 

 importance is acknowledged, is of good 

 omen. Comparative psychology is now be- 

 yond the stage of neglect and contempt, 

 though there are those who seem to think 

 that before we can judge of the mental 

 processes of animals much greater progress 

 must first be made in the study of the hu- 

 man mind ; in other words, they would 

 take their standards, their criteria from 

 human psychology. That we must in the 

 end find the clue to interpretation from our- 

 selves there is no doubt. But is it not the 

 fact that every complicated subject has 

 been advanced by studies on a lower plane 

 and by the process of comparison ? Anat- 

 omy and mammalian embryology would 



