256 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. IX., No. 215 



most highly educated of the women. One hundi-ed 

 and seventy-five families give an average of 3.2 

 children to each. Of the few really large families, 

 the evidence shows the mothers to have been in 

 most cases well educated, and in a few cases ex- 

 ceptionally so. Dr. Hall's own experience has 

 been, that young women in college are unusually 

 healthy, and become increasingly so as the course 

 progresses. She quotes President Bascom, of the 

 University of Wisconsin, as saying, "The young 

 women do not seem to deteriorate with us in 

 health, but quite the opposite. ... It has long 

 seemed to me plain that a young vroman who 

 withdraws herself from society and gives herself 

 judiciously to a college course is far better circum- 

 stanced in reference to health than the great ma- 

 jority of her sex." 



GENERAL PSYCHOLOGY, ITS DEFINITION, 



LIMITS, AND METHOD.^ 



I. 



It is necessary at the commencement of this 

 treatise, not to define, — for that is almost im- 

 possible, — but to explain, the meaning of the 

 term ' general psychology.' In fact, until now 

 the term has been very rarely used ; and in all 

 scientific literature there is no work, so far as our 

 knowledge extends, that bears this title. 



Psychology, as ordioarily understood, is the 

 science of intelligence : thus all depends upon the 

 extension given to the word ' intelligence.' Taken 

 etymological ly only, intelligence signifies the com- 

 prehension of things, or the knowledge of the 

 causes of action ; but taken thus, the term is too 

 narrow, for it follows that there is no intelligence 

 save in connection with a self-conscious being. 

 An unconscious intelligence would be, viewed 

 etymologically, a meaningless phrase, since to 

 comprehend a thing would imply, by definition, 

 the consciousness of the comprehension. But the 

 instances of unconscious intelligence, absurd 

 though the expression is, are certainly many and 

 convincing. Take, for example, the ordinary oc- 

 currence of the solution of a problem during 

 sleep, though he who solves the problem is in 

 total ignorance of it. . Can it be denied that an 

 intellectual process is here involved? We must, 

 then, admit that there are intellectual phenomena 

 which are unconscious or nearly so ; and there- 

 fore psychology cannot be limited to the study of 

 self-conscious intelligences. The chief difficulty 

 here is in the language, since no other term ex- 

 cept the inaccurate one, ' intelligence,' can be ap- 



1 Translated for this iournal from the author's forthoom- 

 ng work, entitled ' Essai de psychologie gen§rale. ' 



plied to this unconscious mental activity. The ex- 

 pression 'psychical activity' is indeed better, though 

 somewhat pedantic. Perhaps it would be more 

 fitting to use the word ' ideation,' leaving to the 

 term 'intelligence' its precise, clear, and evident 

 meaning ; namely, the conscious comprehension 

 of things. I, for my part, prefer to give the term 

 ' psychology' an application wider even than un- 

 conscious ideation and conscious intelligence : for 

 there are numerous beings which perform com- 

 plicated acts that are called instinctive, in which 

 no intelligence, whether conscious or unconscious, 

 is involved. Can it be said that psychology takes 

 no notice of instinct ? Surely its exclusion would 

 be permitted by no one. Instinct is a psycliic force, 

 intelligent as to the end in view, if not as to the 

 means employed. This is sufficient to give it a 

 place in general psychology. 



Even if the act performed is not understood by 

 the agent, it is nevertheless perfectly adapted to its 

 end. Thus a vague and latent intelligence, of 

 which we cannot deny the existence, is mani- 

 fested. Moreover, we can trace all the gradations, 

 in a clearly defined hierarchy, from blind instinct 

 to wholly conscious intelligence. There are, then, 

 diverse psychic forces, — instinct or latent intelli- 

 gence ; ideation or unconscious intelligence ; and, 

 finally, intelligence properly so called, that is, 

 conscious intelligence. 



But what are the sources of instinct ? Whence 

 does it arise ? We do not fear to go on to such 

 consequences as general psychology may point 

 out. Just as the zoologists and embryologists 

 assign to beings, however diverse, the humble 

 origin of a primary cell, so we may trace all 

 psychic forces, instinctive and intelligent, to their 

 humble origin in an elementary reflex action. 

 Instinct is not always so complicated, as it is 

 usual to suppose, when the term is employed 

 without qualification. Unquestionably the instinct 

 of the mother who bends lovingly over the cradle 

 of her child, that of the bee that builds its hex- 

 agonal cell, and that of the insect which poisons 

 the body of its victim behind the second cephalic 

 ring, constitute complex intellectual operations, of 

 which the psychological character is undeniable. 

 But how often is instinct more simple and rudi- 

 mentary ? 



Let us take an instance which is of historic in- 

 terest ; for it was by this example that Descartes 

 first gave us, with remarkable precision, the theory 

 of reflex action. Here is a heated object : if the 

 hand touch it, it is immediately withdrawn. Is 

 this instinct, is it reflex action, or is it an act of 

 intelligence ? Here is an act which at the same 

 time combines the characteristics of all three 

 classes of phenomena. It is an act of intelligence, 



