22 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. V., No. 101. 



in its direct connection with social progress, 

 brings with it an urgent plea for recognition 

 as conveying into the study of the past a good 

 deal of that critical spirit and close observa- 

 tion which have made the laboratory and the 

 closet twin arenas. In its reaction from the 

 broad generalization, and the rotund expres- 

 sion which was so easily generated out of the 

 now antiquated method, there is some danger, 

 it is true, of the magnifying of minuteness be- 

 3*ond its inherent deserts ; but it seems quite 

 clear that the hither following upon the thither 

 swing of the pendulum will bring a rest within 

 a happy mean. The experiment is going on 

 successfully, and every one interested in the 

 orderly arranging of historical results will 

 watch its farther progress with interest. 



There are sceptics among scientific men as 

 well as among other professional men ; and we 

 have no desire 'to plead extenuating circum- 

 stances in favor of those so-called scientific 

 men who claimed that steam-navigation would 

 be a failure, or that ocean-telegraphy would 

 be impossible. The believer in the truth of 

 alleged psychical phenomena must encounter 

 scepticism, and the newly formed psychical so- 

 ciety must expect to receive many suggestions 

 of doubtful expedienc}' from both the learned 

 and the unlearned. What no man knows, even 

 the uneducated and untrained can pretend to 

 know. The time ma}' come when it will be 

 not unusual to stud}' ' veridical phantasms ' 

 by polarized light, and to observe their be- 

 havior in a magnetic field. What the result 

 will be to physical science, it is difficult at 

 present to perceive. It is not difficult, how- 

 ever, to conceive of a great influence upon 

 imaginative literature. Why should not a dev- 

 otee of psychical research add another scene 

 to Hamlet, in which is displaj'ed a psychical 

 laboratory, with rows of bottles labelled ' re- 

 agents for ghostly odors,' ' tests for fragments 

 of bogies,' and ' supersensual platform scales ' ? 

 In the midst is Hamlet testing the kingly ghost. 

 A favorable analysis would go far to explain 

 the strength of Hamlet's convictions, which 



have so long been a deep study to psycholo- 

 gists. 



Considering the renewed interest in archeo- 

 logical investigation, is it not surprising that 

 there should not be an archeological psychi- 

 cal society, — a society, which, in place of 

 exhuming relics of other civilizations, should 

 endeavor to get closer to the primitive state 

 of man by trying psychological investigations 

 upon Eskimo, natives of central Africa, or 

 the denizens of King Prester John's domin- 

 ions? The complicated civilization of to-day 

 is fast destroying these more or less original 

 types. If the physicians of the time of Che- 

 dorlaomer had taken careful measures of the 

 physical dimensions of the giants of those 

 days, and had made experiments upon their 

 appetites and their sense of color (which, of 

 course, must have been enormous) , we should 

 have had accurate data in physiology and psy- 

 chology, which could compare favorably with 

 that we have in archeology. 



An accurate study of a pure African's ner- 

 vous organization, of his instincts, his sense 

 of color, his lrypnotic conditions, his reasoning 

 powers in general, must be taken now, or 

 the world will soon lose forever the oppor- 

 tunity. The steam-engine and the telephone 

 will soon change the sable athletic rover of the 

 underwoods to that higher state of civilization 

 which, it is true, obliterates all those fine in- 

 stincts we also had once in common with our 

 animal ancestors, yet gives us in return nervous 

 prostration, and the ability, it may be, to smell 

 ghosts. Here is a great field of investigation, 

 for the neglect of which our descendants will 

 bitterly reproach us. If we are in search of a 

 name, we might term the subject to which we 

 desire to call the attention of the Psychical 

 society, 'Darwinian psychology. ' Is it not 

 reasonable to suppose, that, by careful and 

 systematic observations on 3*011 ng Eskimo 

 and young Africans, we can gain a knowl- 

 edge of still more primitive men, who, alas ! 

 are now only ' veridical phantasms ' ? 



