MENTAL EVOLUTION 



CHAPTER I 



The older psychologists were not acquainted with 

 the as yet undiscovered truths of evolution, and studied 

 mind without their aid. Practically they dealt only 

 with the fully developed thing as manifested in man. 

 From that point of view, by " introspection," by observa- 

 tion of their own conscious states, they sought informa- 

 tion regarding their own minds, and by "legitimate 

 inferences" information regarding the minds of other 

 men, and to a much less extent, information regarding 

 the minds of lower animals. "Introspection" and 

 "legitimate inferences" are still our only sources of 

 information, but the " legitimate inference " that there 

 is kinship between the human and the brute intellect, 

 and that in the brute we may see the beginnings of that 

 which we observe in man, enables us to make a better 

 use of our available information. By observing mind 

 at its beginning, and tracing it during its evolution, we 

 are enabled to an extent undreamed of by former 

 generations to understand of what it is compounded, to 

 analyze it. 



To Mr. Herbert Spencer beyond aU others is due the 



credit of having applied the doctrine of evolution to the 



study of psychology, with the result that this science, 



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