288 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



business, if the stenographer becomes president, he gets another stenog- 

 rapher ; so here, if the consulting psychologist goes into executive work, 

 let him get another consulting psychologist ; for, even if the superintend- 

 ent be the best trained for expert work, his duties are of a general 

 administrative sort and he can not afford to devote himself to the de- 

 tails of technical work. And if the psychologist is to be successful in 

 the long run, it is desirable that his ideas shall pass muster in the 

 superintendent's office before they are put into operation in the routine 

 of the institution. The temptation to undertake executive duties and 

 to infringe upon the rights of the executive is a natural stumbling 

 block, for it is human nature to reach out for power especially when 

 there seems to be a crying need for its exercise. The consulting psy- 

 chologist has come about as a result of the differentiation of function 

 and he will find himself permanently only as he recognizes that he is 

 a specialist and limits himself to the work of advice and research 

 within a narrowly limited field, respects the dignity of his calling, and 

 covets no other. 



The consulting ps}rchologist will not dissipate his energies in gen- 

 eral psychology. While a broad training in theoretical and experi- 

 mental psychology is the best asset with which to start the career, his 

 success as an expert will depend largely upon his willingness to steer 

 clear of pure science problems and his determination to devote his 

 ingenuity and best energies to the adaptation and application of facts 

 already known. There is a constant temptation to evade tasks of 

 achieving something practical for the pleasure of browsing in the green 

 pastures of all knowledge. Like Edison he must stick to his beakers 

 and batteries even at the expense of public ridicule. 



The consulting psychologist does not yield unduly to pressure for 

 results. One of his chief duties is to forestall the precipitous rush into 

 extensive application of what may be at best but a specious principle. 

 He will dare to say, " I don't know," even if it should take him years 

 to search for the seemingly trifling fact. "While we but little dream 

 of the possibilities in command of applied psychology, there is in the 

 present atmosphere entirely too sanguine a feeling in regard to what 

 it can do on short notice. Instead of being hazardous at guessing, the 

 consulting psychologist must have courage to demand that he have the 

 privilege of making patient search before he prescribes. Thus he has 

 to pass through the narrows with the danger of dissipating his ener- 

 gies in aimless search for truth for truth's sake, on the one hand, and, 

 on the other, the danger of hasty and ill-advised rush into practise. 



The consulting psychologist is not a reformer. People think that 

 he holds the magic wand and can transform situations suddenly. If 

 inexperienced, he is likely to enter upon a program of reconstruction, 

 for all seems wrong; but, as soon as responsibility is placed upon him 



