74 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. IX., No. 207 



by present usage ; 3°, the use of the simple form 

 of the past subjunctive derived from the Anglo- 

 Saxon inflectional form and identical with that of 

 the past indicative, instead of the modern analytic 

 form ; 4° ,the use of the dative or indirect object 

 without to or for. But Professor Corson hesitates 

 to condemn even these : he thinks that " they of- 

 ten impart a crispness to the expressions in which 

 they occur" (p. 81). At all events, they render 

 Browning's thoughts less accessible to the general 

 reader than they might otherwise be. Professor 

 Corson's essays on the idea of personality, and of 

 art as an intermediate agency of personality in 

 Browning, on Browning's obscurity and his verse, 

 and his analytic arguments of the poems that are 

 appended, are very suggestive, and will repay not 

 only reading, but study. 



COMPA YBE'S ELEMENT AR Y PSYCHOLOG Y. 



M. COMPAYRfi is SO well known to students of 

 pedagogy, and Professor Payne's translation of his 

 ' History of pedagogy ' has had so favorable a re- 

 ception in this country, that his present book on 

 psychology, and that on ethics, promised in March, 

 will attract considerable attention. 



In the little book now before us, the author, 

 with the skill and lucidity of a true Frenchman, 

 sketches the main topics of elementary psychology. 

 M. Compayre begins by expounding in a few brief 

 paragraphs the character and utility of psychol- 

 ogy, and its relations to ethics, pedagogics, his- 

 tory, grammar, and literature. In speaking of 

 the method of psychology, he mentions the dis- 

 tinction, so generally overlooked, between the sci- 

 entific study of psychology and the elementary 

 teaching of it. M. Compayre remarks that we do 

 not confuse an historian and a teacher of history, 

 and complains that authors of text-books of psy- 

 chology should preserve a similar distinction in 

 their science (p. 11). 



In touching on the relations of psychological to 

 physiological facts, he finds three points of differ- 

 ence between them (pp. 33, 33). First, the two 

 categories of phenomena are not known in the 

 same way. Second, the physiological phenomena 

 are material movements : the psychological phe- 

 nomena are something else than material move- 

 ments. Third, the two sets of phenomena are in 

 a certain sense independent of each other. 



Then, accepting the usual classification of men- 

 tal phenomena into those of knowledge, feeling, 

 and will, M. Compayre enters upon the discussion 

 of each. We can best represent his positions by 

 quoting some brief passages dealing with contro- 

 verted points in psychology : ' ' De plus en plus. 



Notions elementaires de psychologie. Par Gabriel Com- 

 payre. Paris, Delaploue, 1887. 16°. 



le mot Sme est devenu synonyme de prineipe 

 spirituel, qui sent, qui pense et qui veut" 

 (p. 39) ; *' La sensibilite, sous toutes ses 

 formes, pent etre definie la faeulte d'eprou- 

 ver dii plaisir et de la peine, et par conse- 

 quent d^ aimer et de hair " (p. 55) ; " Ces principes 

 constituent ce qu'ou appelle la raison, c'est-S-dire 

 tout ce qui est inne a I'intelligence, par opposi- 

 tion §L V experience, c'est-a-dire ^ tout ce qui est 

 acquis" (p. 74); "La raison, au sens , psycholo- 

 gique, est I'ensemble des notions et des verites 

 qui ne derivent ni de I'experience ni des corabi- 

 naisons de I'experience " (p. 189); " Les verites -de 

 la raison sont innees en ce sens qu'elles preexist- 

 ent a I'experience comme autant de dispositions 

 naturelles ; mais I'experience est necessaire pour 

 les developper et les determiner " (p. 191). 



The value of the work as an elementary 

 text-book is enhanced by the brief resumes given 

 of each chapter, and by a lexicon of proper 

 names and technical terms used in the book. 

 Should the book be translated into English, as we 

 understand is contemplated, it would be a decided 

 addition to our elementary works on psychology. 



PAYNE'S CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE 

 SCIENCE OF EDUCATION. 



Professor Payne's volume of essays might, 

 we suppose, following Max Miiller's precedent, be 

 entitled ' Chips from a Michigan workshop.' They 

 are very plainly the results of the thinking done 

 by the author on the educational problems sug- 

 gested by his daily work. The first question we 

 are tempted to ask is, WiU they do any good ? It 

 must be remembered that a volume of this sort 

 reaches a class of readers who are already more 

 or less imbued with the author's views. It comes 

 to them as a word of cheer and encouragement. 

 But we should like to hear that Professor Payne's 

 essays were reaching the indolent, untrained 

 teacher, who believes that general information — 

 and not too much of that — is the only prepara- 

 tion necessary for the teacher ; and the loquacious 

 and sarcastic sceptic, who has no trouble at all in 

 proving — to his own satisfaction — the theorem 

 that there is and can be no such thing as a science 

 of education. We do not mean to say that Pro- 

 fessor Payne's book would thoroughly arouse and 

 convert such readers, for it is a trifle heavy, and 

 conspicuously lacking in a certain attractiveness 

 in style and arrangement that goes far to make a 

 book successful ; but it certainly would open up 

 unknown regions to them, and stimulate further 

 thought and inquiry. With the question, Is there 



Contributions to the science of education. By William 

 H. Payne, A.M. New York, Harper, 1886. 12°. 



