iSTUDlES IN STUDIES IN PSYCHOLOGY By GEORGE W. NEET Professor of Education University of Valparaiso Valparaiso, Indiana THE M. E. BOGARTE BOOK COMPANY Publishers 1914 SN ^^'V COPYRIGHTED 1914 GEORGE W. NEET JULr2 «9I4 ©CI.A374640 ^7 PREFACE These studies in psychology are intended primarily for use in the author's own classes. As the title implies they are in no sense complete. Every teacher of psychology has doubtless felt the need of having some of the essential truths of psychology presented in a teachable form. It is the hope of supplying this need in the writer's own classes that prompts to the present little volume. A second thought is to give students a general idea of the organization of psychology, and a comprehension of its organizing principle to the end that an intensive study of any particular aspect of the subject may be seen in its proper relation to the science as a whole. An attempt has been made to analyze knowing into its stages of development in order to reveal the function of analysis and synthesis in the organization of the various truths which make up the subject of psychology. G. W. N. Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2011 with funding from The Library of Congress http://www.archive.org/details/studiesinpsycholOOneet CONTENTS Chapter Page I. Nature, Subject-Matter and Method of Psychology 11 II. Units of Investigation . ^ 24 III. The Nervous System 38' IV. Activity 50 V. Mind and Body 59^ VI. Mental Attributes and Consciousness 73 VII. Attention 86^ VIII. Apperception, Self-Activity, Iterativeness, Rhythm 102 IX. Mental Activities 112; X. The Sensation 127 XI. The Senses 137 XII. Sense-Perception 156^ XIII. Memory 185 XIV. Imagination 225 XV. Conception 250 XVI. Definition 267 XVII. Judgment 279^ XVIII. Reasoning 292 XIX. Systematization 303 XX. Intuition, Instinct, Animal Intelligence 312 Index 324. CHAPTER I. Nature, Subject-Matter and Method of Psychology. The Meaning of Science. — Every one who has lived very long among people has some knowledge of plant life, of animal life and of the mind. This knowledge he has picked up here and there by experience; by his own experience and by hearsay from others. An examination of this knowledge shows that it exists in bits, scraps and fragments; that it consists of truth mixed with error; that is, it is not very accurate; and that it is not very extensive, and so not complete. Such knowledge, un- systematic, mixed with error, and incomplete is called common, or ordinary, knowledge. Knowledge which is systematic and accurate may be developed from common knowledge by experiment, observation and thinking; that is, scientific knowledge may be developed from com- mon knowledge by experiment, observation and thinking. Such knowledge is science, and the following is the formal definition of it: Science is systematic and accurate knowledge which results from common knowledge. It appears that science is a product of the mind. It results from the mind's 12 Studies in Psychology activity. It is a mental thing and has no existence out- side of the mind. It is a mistake to think, for instance, that botany as a science has existed as long as plant life has existed. Botany has existed only since humanity has learned the truths of plant life, has made them into a system, ac- curate and more or less complete. Plant life is thus many, many years older than botany. Science is not only the product of one mind but, as we know it, it is the product of many minds, a sort of accumulated product of the mind of humanity. The Presupposition of Science. — Science is based upon the presupposition that the human mind acts uni- formly; that is, that under the same conditions, one per- son's mind acts in general as other persons' minds act; also, that one person's mind acts at one time in general as it acts at other times under the same conditions. If such were not the case we would seem to live in a world of chaos in which no order of any kind could be found. Illustration. — ^When ten persons look at snow it ap- pears white to each one; also, if one person looks at snow ten different times, it looks white to him each time. That is to say, the mind acts uniformly to this stimulus, and only this enables us to establish the truth that snow is white. If to one it appeared white ; to a second, green ; to a third one red, and so on, or to one at one time, white ; a second time, green, a third time red, and so on, the truth that snow is white could never be established. And this would be because the mind did not act uniformly. Mental Phenomena. — If one will turn his mind in- Studies in Psychology 13 ward and notice what his own mind does, about the first thing which he will discover is that his mind changes. Now he finds his mind thinking, for instance about gram- mar, and at another time he finds his mind thinking about history; now, about religion, at another time, about politics ; now about music, at another time, about poetry. At one time he finds his mind happy ; at another time he finds his mind sad. The only way one can think of his mind's heing in these different conditions at different times is that his mind changes. One knows his mind changes, if he can know anything and there is nothing which one can know better than that his mind changes. Indeed, if one studies carefully enough, he will discover that there is nothing else which one can know quite so well as that his mind changes. These changes of the mind psychologists call mental phenom- eria. A change is a phenomenon, and a mental change is a mental phenomenon. Other terms frequently used interchangeably with phenomenon are activity and ex- perience. "We thus reach the following statement: A mental phenomenon is a mental change, or activ- ity, of any kind. The term, phenomenon, has a first and a second meaning. The first meaning is the meaning explained above. The second meaning is the popular meaning. The popular meaning is that a phenomenon is something marvelous, startling and unusual. Physical Phenomena. — Any physical thing is a thing which occupies space, such as wood, a book, a horse, or one's body. Or a more fundamental way of 14 Studies in Psychology thinking of it is, a physical thing is anything which makes possible sensations of resistance; as, a stone, wa- ter, ice, iron, etc. If one observes physical things he soon discovers that they change. He can know that physical things change as well as he can know anjrthing except that his mind changes. That his mind changes he knows best of all things. It is the one thing which can not be disproved to him. That which enables one to know that physical things change is that they are known to be in different positions and conditions at different times, and the only explanation for this is that they change. The human body occupies space, so is a physical thing. It is observed in different conditions and posi- tions at different times, so is known to change. These changes of the body are physical changes, or physical phenomena. A truth of a good deal of importance in psychology about mental phenomena is that all mental phenomena are accompanied by physical phenomena. Sometimes the physical phenomena seem to precede the mental phe- nomena, and sometimes the mental seem to precede the physical, and sometimes they seem to be simultaneous. But, in any case, so far as is known, there is never a mental phenomenon but there is in some way connected with it a physical phenomenon. They are said to be parallel, or they are said to correspond ; that is they are corresponding mental and physical phenomena. No one whose opinion would carry any influence among scientists would claim to know ultimately what Studies in Psychology 15 the mind is, nor can any one study the mind directly. But no one knows ultimately what electricity is; no one knows what light is ultimately, nor what gravitation is. We do know, though, how they act or change; that is, we know their phenomena and such knowledge is very valuable to us. We need not be discouraged that we cannot know or study the mind directly, for we can study and know its phenomena and that is as much as we can study and know of anything. The science which deals with the phenomena of the mind and the parallel, or corresponding phenomena of some part or parts of the body is psychology. Every science deals predominantly with general truths or laws; that is, truths which are true of many cases. Psychology deals essentially with the laws of mental and physical phenomena, truths which are true of many minds. This when put in the form of a defini- tion is as follows: Psychology is the science which treats of the laws of mental phenomena together with their corresponding physical phenomena. Psychology is sometimes defined as the science of the mind. While this definition is in a general way true, it is not very helpful. It does not show specifically what the subject is, and rather implies that the mind may be studied directly, which is not the case. The two objec- tions to the definition are (1) it is too general, and (2) it is misleading. The word, psychology, is derived from the two Greek words, psyche, meaning mind, or soul, and logos, 16 Studies in Psychology meaning thought or knowledge. Thus literally psychol- ogy is knowledge of soul or mind. The terms, mind, soul and spirit are used inter- changeably by psychologists. Popularly there may be some distinctions in the meanings of these terms and theologians may sometimes make distinctions in their meaning, but such distinctions are not observed in psy- chology. Subject-Matter of Psychology. — In the mastery of any branch of science various points of truth must be studied and learned. These truths are usually called facts. Also in mastering any science the connections, or relations, among the facts in the science must be studied and learned. That is to say, in the mastery of any sci- ence or branch of science the facts and their relations must be learned. These facts and relations constitute the subject-matter of any science or subject. And thus the following statements of subject-matter are reached: A suhject-matter of any subject is the facts and re- lations to he learned in that subject. A subject-matter is the material of study in any subject. In the subject-matter of psychology there are in general two points to be found, as follows: 1. Mental phenomena. 2. Corresponding physical phenomena. In physiology, physical phenomena are studied as well as in psychology. But physiology is not psychol- ogy. Not so many physical phenomena are studied in psychology as in physiology. For instance, circulation, Studies in Psychology 17 respiration, and digestion are studied carefully in phys- iology, but they are hardly studied at all in psychology. And again the physical phenomena are studied in psychology in different connections from what they are studied in, in physiology. In psychology the physical phenomena are studied in connection with mental phe- nomena, in so far as they affect and in turn are affected by the mental phenomena. In physiology physical phe- nomena are studied in relation to organic structure in the economy of the life of the individual and species. In short in psychology we study physical phenom- ena in order to understand psychology; in physiology, in order to understand physiology. The Methods of Psychology. — The question in this connection is. In what manner may the mind study psy- chology? That is to say, how may the mind learn, clas- sify and explain the facts of psychology? There are in general the four following methods of studying psychology worthy of consideration: 1. The Introspective method. 2. The Experimental method. 3. The Comparative method. 4. The Objective method. The Introspective Method. — The introspective meth- od is the most fundamental method of psychology and is the process of studying psychology by means of in- trospection. The term, introspection, comes from intro, meaning within and spicere, meaning to look. The ion in the word signifies the act of. Introspection thus is literally the act of looking within. 18 Studies in Psychology We learn the physical phenomena around us in the world through our senses ; through sight, hearing, touch, taste, etc. We thus learn that objects move, lightning, thunder, the fragrance of the rose and the aroma of the fruit. But we can not learn the phenomena of the mind in this way. These must be learned by having the mind to look into itself. We can turn our minds in upon themselves and have them learn their own phenomena. We can study our wishes, our hopes, our motives, our thoughts and our feelings. The process of thus looking within with the mind's eye is introspection. And thus the following formal statement for it is reached : Introspection is the process by which the mind directly learns its own phenomena. Introspection is also called internal perception. Difficulties of Introspection. — There are two difficul- ties for the beginner in psychology in studying by the introspective method. 1. It is hard for those who have been used to studying objects learned through the senses to turn their minds to intangible, spiritual things and study them. 2. If one turns his mind upon a mental phenome- non, a thought or a feeling, to study it, it soon disappears and he has only the memory of it to study. The things in our minds which we know through introspection are objects just as truly as the things we touch, see, hear, etc. But so accustomed do we become to thinking of only the things which we can know through our senses as objects that it is difficult at first Studies in Psychology 19 for us to see that mental phenomena are objects, also. So since it is difficult to think of mental phenomena at all, it is of course much more difficult to observe, learn, classify and explain them accurately. It is one thing to have the idea of a tree or the feel- ing of sorrow, but an entirely different thing to study it. Soon after the mind is turned in to study its ideas or feelings they disappear and only the memory of them remains to be examined. They, therefore, get away al- most before one gets a good look at them. But though the introspective method does have its two difficulties, it is entirely necessary to the study of psychology. Without introspection no one could ever be made to understand mental phenomena. No one can understand anger or pain unless he himself has been angry or in pain and he can know his own anger or pain only through introspection. Psychology therefore must be studied by the intro- spective method. The Experimental Method. — We can experiment with plants directly in the study of botany ; with animals directly in the study of zoology; with chemicals in the study of chemistry or with matter directly in the study of physics, but not with mental phenomena directly in the study of psychology. Yet there is such a thing as the experimental method of studying psychology. We can experiment with the mind indirectly by experiment- ing with the body, the connection between them being so close, that producing certain bodily conditions induces certain mental conditions; also, producing certain men- 20 Studies in Psychology tal conditions induces certain bodily conditions. These connections of the mind with the body, that is, the mind^s connections with the nervous system, eyes, ears, muscles, etc. can be experimented with, and thus mental phenomena changed and studied. "While experiment is only a means of increasing the accuracy of observation and introspection, it has through its wide application made possible important advances in nearly every field of psychology. To its great benefit psychology has become an experimental science. ' ' The study of the mind in connection with the body and the outside world by the experimental method gives rise to Physiological Psychology and Psychophysics. The study of mental phenomena wholly by the in- trospective method gives rise to Introspective Psychol- ogy; that is, psychology so far as it can be learned through introspection. The Comparative Method. — Psychology deals with any kind of mental phenomena, but it predominantly deals with the normal adult human mind. Help however comes to the student of psychology from comparing the phenomena of the normal adult human mind with phe- nomena of other minds. The phenomena of the normal adult mind may be compared with the phenomena of the minds of the following: 1. Lower animals. 2. Children in various stages of development. 3. Persons with defective or disordered minds. The study of psychology through such comparing is Studies in Psychology 21 by the comparative method, and gives rise to Compara- tive Psychology, which is divided into (1) Animal Psy- chology; (2) Child Psychology, and (3) Abnormal Psy- chology. "Those phases of psychology which touch particu- larly upon the phenomena of development, whether ra- cial or individual, are spoken of as genetic psychology. ' * The Objective Method. — The mind by its activities produces results in the outside world. These are called objective results. The student can study these objective results of the mind and learn much about it in a way similar to his learning much about electricity by study- ing the results it produces. These objective results are fixed, certain and definite signs to us of the way the mind works. Some of these results are said to be : 1. Language and science. 2. Institutions of civilization. 3. Artistic creations. 4. Philosophy and religion. Studying mental phenomena by means of these ob- jective manifestations is by the objective method. Necessity of Introspection. — It matters not by what method we study mental phenomena we are able to un- derstand them only by referring them to our own mental experiences and this we can do only by introspection. The student of psychology can make no progress what- ever in its study without introspection. No one who had never experienced a sensation could be made to under- stand what a sensation is. The man who had always 22 Studies in Psychology been blind thought scarlet must resemble the sound of a trumpet. The introspective method of psychology is thus the most fundamental method, and introspective psychology is the most fundamental kind of psychology. The Nature of the Mind. — The persistent question always asked the student of psychology either by himself or by some one else and never very satisfactorily an- swered is What is the mind? It is popular to say that this question can not be answered, discuss why it can not be answered and let it go at that. However, this question is no more unanswerable than the questions. What is electricity ? or What is matter ? And there is no help in the popular evasion from trying to answer it. The writer has studied every reason which he has had opportunity to study in support of the contention that the mind can not be defined, and not one seems good. To the author it seems that a definition for the mind may be formed which will not violate any law of logical definition ; at any rate, not more than the gener- ally accepted definition of a triangle or of a noun vio- lates the laws of logical definition. Every student who thinks soon learns that the most persistent thing in the world in which he lives is force or energy; that is, that which will do work. Force does all the work done in the world of any kind whatever. Force working in various ways which the mind can in any way know we call various things. Force manifests itself in one way and it is called electricity; in another way and it is called heat ; in another way and it is called Studies in Psychology 25 gravitation; in another way and it is called a tree; in another way and it is called a mullen stalk ; in another way and it is called a horse; in another way and it is called a star, and in another way and it is called mind. But the form in which the force which we call the mind manifests itself is consciousness. Something is known of consciousness by every one who studies psychology. This knowledge is obtained by comparing consciousness with unconsciousness as manifested in self and in others. From the above expressed thought the following definition of mind is reached : The mind is that force which manifests itself in the phenomena of consciousness. It is not supposed this definition will be fully ap- preciated by the student who is a beginner in psychology nor by those who are through prejudice antagonistic to thinking of mind as force. But it gives some definiteness to the idea of what mind is, and it is believed that fur- ther study of psychology will contribute to the apprecia- tion of the view, and to the realization of the help in the definition. Read the following: 1. Angell's Psychology, pp. 1 to 7. 2. Pillsbury's Essentials of Psychology, pp. 1 to 10. 3. Dewey's Psychology, pp. 6 to 13. CHAPTER 11. The Units of Investigation. Meaning of Unit of Investigation. — The subject of psychology is a science, and has resulted from the fact that the human mind is dissatisfied with common, or ordinary, knowledge and abhors vagueness. In its ef- fort to develop science from ordinary knowledge it be- gins by stripping away from the subject of study all ir- relevant, accidental and occasional facts, seeking the elemental, simple and persistent. In this process it reaches the most elementary, simplest and persistent form of the subject-matter, and this is the unit of inves- tigation. The following is the formal statement for it : The unit of investigation in any science is the sim- plest, most elementary, and most persistent form of its subject-matter. That is to say, it is the simplest, most elementary, and most persistent whole thing with which the science deals. Each science has its unit of investigation. The chemist knows that his science is primarily concerned with the element: namely, oxygen, hydrogen, carbon, calcium, sodium, chlorine, nitrogen, etc. He studies their number, qualities, atomic weights, combinations and products. The element thus is the unit of investiga- tion in chemistry. The botanist has found that his unit of investigation Studies in Psychology 25- is the organic vegetable cell. He studies its structure,, development, combinations and products. The zoologist has found that his unit of investigation- is the organic animal cell. He studies its structure, de- velopment, combinations and products. The science of psychology differs somewhat from- other sciences with regard to its unit of investigation. Other sciences have but one unit, psychology has two. This is because of the distinct divisions in the subject- matter of psychology: first, the mental phenomena, and secondly, the corresponding physical phenomena. The unit of investigation in the study of mental phenomena is the sensation. The unit of investigation in the study of physical phenomena is the nerve cell. How the Unit May Be Studied. — The psychologist may study his unit of investigation in psychology in four ways. His first task is to observe it so that he may know what it is ; that is, that he may know its nature ; that he may identify it so that he may be able to think about it in some definite way. His second task is to find out how it behaves itself ; how it acts; what its processes are when subjected to a variety of stimuli under various conditions. His third task is to find out what new products or combinations are brought into being as a result of the activities or processes of the unit of investigation. The psychologist 's fourth task is to discover, formu- late, state and learn the laws and principles governing the activities of both the sensation and nerve cell. 26 Studies in Psychology The Nerve Cell. — The nerve cell is a small body of nucleated grayish white matter, nervous matter, includ- ing any thread-like extensions reaching from it. Both central body and the thread-like extensions are parts of the nerve cell ; that is, when there are extensions. Some undeveloped cells have no extensions. The extensions .are of the same kind of material as the central body and are continuous with it. It is sometimes thought that just the central body is the nerve cell, and that the ex- tensions from it are not parts of the cell. But this is wrong. It takes both the central body and the extensions to make the nerve cell. Nerve cells consisting thus of the central body and the extensions are called neurones by students of the nervous system. Forms of Neurones. — ^Neurones are of various forms. The central body may be spherical, cylindrical, pyramidal, or caudate, and all are more or less irregular. All neurones of course have the thread-like extensions. There are mere germ cells which have no extensions from them. They are, so to speak, undeveloped, or baby, cells. They are called neuroblasts. Material of Nerve Cells. — ^Nerve cells are composed of a granular, viscid substance usually called proto- plasm. Protoplasm is a living substance. Vitality is one of its necessary characteristics. There is no such thing as dead protoplasm. Its exact chemical composi- tion is unknown, though it is known to be complex to a high degree. Its main characteristics are vitality, ab- sorption, secretion, and excretion. That is to say, it is Studies in Psychology 27 living, it takes outside substances into itself, it gives out useful juices, and throws off waste products. Nerve Fibers. — Nerve fibers are parts of nerve cells, the extensions, or prolongations, leading off from the central bodies. They are too small to be seen with the naked eye, but vary much in both diameter and length. Some are as large as one twelve hundredth of an inch in diameter, and some are no larger than one one hundred thousandth of an inch in diameter. They vary in size between these two extremes. They have a branching structure and vary in length from a part of an inch to several feet. There are in general two kinds of nerve fibers : those which carry impulses toward nerve centers and those which carry impulses away from nerve centers. Those of the first kind are called afferent nerve fibers and those of the second kind efferent nerve fibers. The derivation of these words helps in remember- ing their meaning. Afferent is from ad meaning tOj and ferre, to carry. Afferent nerve fibers are thus carrying to nerve fibers. Efferent is from ex meaning from, and ferre, to carry. Efferent nerve fibers are thus carrying from nerve fibers. Sensory and motor are terms which mean nearly the same as afferent and efferent when applied to nerve fibers, but not quite the same. Sensory and motor are not quite as broad terms as afferent and efferent. Nerve fibers which carry impulses to nerve centers which do not result in consciousness are af- 28 Studies in Psychology ferent nerve fibers, but not sensory. To be sensory the fibers must carry impulses which result in consciousness. The fibers carrying impulses from the iris of the eye to the brain are afferent, but not sensory. Nerve fibers carrying impulses from their nerve centers which do not result in muscular action are effer- ent, but not motor. Such are the fibers carrying im- pulses from centers to the liver, resulting in the secre- tion of the bile. The function of nerve fibers is to carry impulses to unify the action of the nervous system. By means of the nerve fibers thus the touch corpuscles in the toes are in communication with the nerve centers in the highest part of the brain. Number of Nerve Cells. — The number of nerve cells in the human body is so great that one can form no ade- quate idea of them. It is estimated that there are as many as ten thousand millions in the brain and spinal cord. At any rate it is certain that every one has many millions which remain unused and so never develop. ' ' Our picture of the nervous system is of a mass of ten thousand millions or so of these minute organisms en- closed within a bony case, the skull and spinal column." It is well known that cells increase in number by cell division. Nerve cells increase in number in this way early in the life of the human being, but this in- crease ceases before birth. There is no increase in the number of nerve cells in the human body after birth. Not one of us has a nerve cell more than he had when Studies in Psychology 29 he was born. Some of us may have fewer, but none has more. Connections among Nerve Cells. — Contrary to pop- ular belief, no two nerve cells in the human body have a continuous nervous connection. Each nerve cell is a distinct and separate thing. There is no extension from any nerve cell which is continuous with any extension from any other nerve cell. Each neurone is thus ana- tomically independent. No connection of continuity exists between the neurones. How then are nerve cells connected? Very much in the same way as the branches of two trees growing side by side are connected, or in the same way as the roots of an elm tree are connected with the roots of an oak growing adjacent. This connection is a connection of contact. Neurones thus have connections of contact, but not connections of continuity. Classes of Neurones. — The classes of neurones are (1) sensory; (2) motor, (3) associating. **The sensory are receiving neurones; the motor send impressions out to the muscles, while the associating neurones serve to bring sensory and motor neurones into connection. As the sensory neurones always lead toward the center, they are sometimes called centripetal or afferent, and for a similar reason the motor neurones are the centrifugal or efferent elements." The associating neurones are in a way located between the sensory and motor neurones furnishing pathways for impulses between them. Axones and Dendrons. — It has previously been seen 30 Studies in Psychology that developed nerve cells consist partly of extensions, or prolongations, from the central body. ''These are of two kinds, (1) the axone, a fiber hav- ing the quality of conductivity and becoming what we have called the axis cylinder of a simple nerve, or nerve fiber; (2) the dendron, which divides into finer branches or rootlets, called dendrites. Their functions are some- what uncertain, including possibly that of nutrition in the service of the cell body, but probably that of con- ductivity also.'' ^'Axones. — The axones have a branching structure and vary greatly in length, from a fraction of an inch up to two or three feet, according to location and use. They often branch greatly, throwing off side branches called laterals, which branch again in turn. They usual- ly terminate in little tufts resembling the fingers of a hand, or the rootlets of a plant, and known as the arbori- zation of the axone. The arborization of one axone may, in appearance, clasp or encompass the cell body of an- other neurone, or the arborization of one axone may in- terlace with the dendrites of another, and thus effect communication with it by a process thought to be simi- lar to that of electrical induction." "The neurone consists of a cell body and two sorts of prolongations or processes, the axone or axis cylinder, and the dendrites. The axone is a long hairlike exten- sion that may reach more than half the length of the body. Most nerves in the periphery of the body are groups of axones. The axone ordinarily terminates in a mass of tree-like branches called the end-brush. The Studies in Psychology 31 dendrites are similar to the end-brush. They are made up of a number of branches of the cell protoplasm and are usually relatively short. The end-brush of one cell is ordinarily in contact with, or very near, the dendrites of other cells. The two together are sometimes called the arborization of the cells. The points of contact are also designated the synapses." The Sensation. — -It will be remembered that the sen- sation is the unit of investigation in psychology from the mental phenomena side of the science. When the end organ of any sensory nerve fiber is stimulated, it arouses a disturbance there; this disturb- ance extends along the nerve fibers until it reaches the brain and causes a disturbance there which in some way arouses a state of consciousness, if the disturbance is great enough. This state of consciousness is what psy- chologists call the sensation. The awareness of cold, heat, pressure, color, and noise are states of conscious- ness which are sensations. Steps Leading to. — The steps leading to the sensa- tion are partly physical and partly mental, and are as follows : 1. External stimulus. 2. Excitation of outer nerve ending. 3. Transmission of the impulse. 4. Disturbance in the brain. 5. Corresponding disturbance in the mind. 6. The resulting state of consciousness, the sensa- tion. Illustration. — If one should place his hand on a hot 32 Studies in Psychology stove, the motion in the particles of the stove — the stim- ulus — would cause a disturbance in the ends of the nerves in the hand which would extend along the nerve fibers and arouse a disturbance in the brain. Then there would be a corresponding disturbance in the mind from which would result the pain, the state of consciousness — the sensation. Or again, if a gun were fired, the motion in the air would disturb the ends of the nerve fibers in the ears, which disturbance would extend along the nerve fibers and disturb the brain. Then there would be the corres- ponding disturbance in the mind from which would re- sult the sound, the state of consciousness, the sensation. External Stimulus. — In the two illustrations given above that which disturbs the outer end of the nerve fibers is motion. In the first instance it is motion in the particles of the stove and in the second instance it is motion in the air. A careful analysis of various kinds of stimuli will reveal the truth that stimulus is always some kind of motion. The following from Mr. Dewey helps here: ''But numerous as seem the various ways in which external bodies may affect us it is found that these various modes are reducible to one — motion. Whether a body is far or near, the only way in which it affects the organism is through motion. The motion may be of the whole mass, as when something hits us ; it may be in the inner parti- cles of the thing, as when we taste or smell it ; it may be a movement originated by the body and propagated to us through the vibrations of a medium, as when we see Studies in" Psychology 33 or hear. But some form of motion there must be. An absolutely motionless body would not give rise to any affection of the body such as ultimately results in sen- sation. ' ' But there may be much motion in the world about us that is not stimulus to us. That motion may be stim- ulus it must come in contact with some part of the ner- vous system. A statement for stimulus may be as fol- lows : Stimulus is any motion which comes into contact with any part of the nervous system. While stimulus is most frequently external to the body, it is not necessarily so. But it is always as used in this connection external to the mind. Excitation of Outer Nerve Ending. — Most of the sensory nerves have specialized outer, or peripheral nerve endings. The retina of the eye; the touch cor- puscles, the taste buds, etc. are the specialized ends of nerve fibers. Motion coming in contact with these arouses them to a state of motion, disturbance, or vibra- tion. It is this disturbance which is known as the excita- tion of the peripheral nerve ending. This disturbance gives the impulse a strong initia- tive and sends it forward with greater force than it would otherwise have. Transmission of the Impulse. — The disturbance in the peripheral nerve ending extends along the nerve fiber to the nerve center, the brain, and this is known as the transmission of the impulse. But what is the thing which is known as an impulse ? 34 Studies in Psychology Mr. Dewey says it is an excess of energy or a surplus of force. A surplus of force always produces motion. So the impulse always produces motion. The nerve fiber may be thought of as made up of very small particles in contact with each other. Stimulus disturbs the end particles which disturb those in contact with them, those disturbing the next and so on. The motion of each par- ticle is produced by the excess of energy transferred to it by motion. In a similar way a nerve center may possess an excess of energy, or force, and motion results. All motion in the world is the result of impulse, or of an excess of energy, or force. The ultimate source of all impulses in so far as our system is concerned is the sun. As the impulse passes along the nerve fiber a chem- ical change occurs in addition to the physical change. It seems to be the spreading of the process of oxidation. Mr. Pillsbury says : * * Our picture of the propagation of an excitation through a neurone is that it corresponds to the spread of chemical processes through its substance in very much the same way that a spark runs along a train of gunpowder." Bate of Transmission. — It used to be thought that the impulse was an electrical current passing along the nerve fiber as if the fiber were a wire. But now since the rate of nervous impulse has been measured, it is known to be much too slow for an electrical current. The nervous impulse travels about 110 ft. per second, while an electrical current travels about 186,000 miles per sec- ond. The rate of nervous impulse varies, but 110 ft. Studies in Psychology 35 per second is perhaps an approximate average. One hun- dred and ten feet per second is seventy-five miles per hour. So nervous impulses travel along a nerve fiber as fast as a train with a speed of seventy-five miles per hour. * * A sensory nerve conducts a message at the average rate of 111 feet per second. If a man had an arm 111 feet long, one second would elapse from the time his finger was pricked before he felt the pain. ' ' ''If a man had an arm sufficiently long to plunge into the sun's vaporous metal, 140 years would roU by before he felt any pain. In other words he would die before he knew his hand was burned. A motor nerve also transmits a command from the brain to the muscle at the rate of 111 feet per second. Suppose an orange tree ninety-three millions of miles in height; and the hand on an arm of that length already lying on a bough one foot from a desired orange. The mind issues a com- mand to grasp the fruit. This order would reach the hand in 140 years, and not until then would the hand grasp the fruit." Disturhance in Brain. — The impulse reaches the brain and arouses a disturbance there. This disturbance may be small or great depending upon the degree of nervous tension at the time, and the force of the impulse. Sometimes it is almost like dropping a spark into a box of tinder or into a quantity of gunpowder. Corresponding Mental Disturbance. — Just how the disturbance in the brain occasions a mental disturbance no one knows. But that a corresponding mental disturb- 36 Studies in Psychology ance occurs is well known. Introspection shows this and it is also inferred from the observation of others. One knows that a loud noise or a bright light has in close connection with it a mental disturbance. And he knows this in his own life as well as he can know anything whatever. Psychologists say that the exact nature of the connection between the brain disturbance a*nd the corresponding mental disturbance is unaccountable, un- thinkable, and incomprehensible. The State of Consciousness y the Sensation. — The sensation itself is a purely mental thing, not part mental and part physical, and not physical, but always wholly mental. It is consciousness resulting from a mental dis- turbance corresponding to a disturbance in the brain. It is the state of consciousness resulting from a mental activity. It is a state, or condition, of consciousness. It is fundamental in mental life. A pain from pricking one's finger is a sensation. The odor from smelling a rose is a sensation. The flavor from fruit, the aroma from coffee are sensations. ** Sensations are in the mind and not in the various parts of the body. One says that he has a pain in his toe, and so it surely seems to the unsophisticated person ; but that is purely a matter of association. The nerve ends are in the toe, but the pain is in the mind only. We must carefully refrain from speaking of sensa- tions as traveling or being 'carried' from the periphery to the brain. Sensations can not travel. Nerve currents pass from the periphery to the center, but sensations, never. We need, therefore, to distinguish between sensa- Studies in Psychology 37 tions, which are psychical, and nerve-impressions, which are physical. They may be thought of as having their point of contact in the cerebrum.'' Definition of Sensation. — The following definition of the sensation is a conclusion from the previous study : The sensation is a state of consciousness resulting from a mental disturbance corresponding to a brain dis- turbance caused by some external stimulus. Importance of the 8ensatio7i. — The sensation is the most elementary and most fundamental conscious mental fact. It is the starting point in all mental development. Without it the mind could never start in getting knowl- edge. Without it there would be no feeling, and the will and its development would have no existence. It is the first conscious step across from the physical to the psychical. "Sensation is the meeting-place, the point of coin- cidence of self and nature. It is in the sensation that nature touches the soul in such a way that it becomes itself psychical, and the soul touches nature so as to become itself natural. A sensation is, indeed, the transi- tion of physical into the psychical." Read the following: 1. Pillsbury's Essentials of Psychology, pp. 16 to 30. 2. Angells' Psychology, pp. 14 to 24. 3. Dewey's Psychology, pp. 27 to 46. CHAPTER III. The Nervous System. Composition of. — The nervous system is an aggrega- tion of neurones, or nerve cells. As previously seen these cells are anatomically independent. They are connected by contact though that they may work in unity. This fact that they work in unity, organize their work, is all that enables us correctly to call it the nervous system. '*We may represent the nervous system most clearly as itself a colony of some eleven thousand million amoe- ba-like organisms crowded together for the most part within the bony wall of the skull and spinal column with prolongations extending to all parts of the organ- ism. The unit of the nervous system is the neurone. Each is connected with numerous other units, and also at innumerable points stands in close functional relations to the other cells of the body. To understand the action of the nervous system we must learn to know (1) the character of the single unit and (2) the connections the units make with each other and with other parts of the body." Action of Nervous System. — Since each element of the nervous system is connected with many other ele- ments by contact, they transmit impulses from one to another. The point of contact between any two neurones Studies in Psychology 39 by means of their fibers is called the synapse (plural, synapses). The direction the impulse takes is thought to depend upon the resistance of the nerve endings at the synapses, the impulse following the line of least resist- ance. ** Since there are evidently many possible lines of transmission, the question naturally arises, what decides which of the many paths shall be followed ? The answer is found in a recent theory that the course of the impulse is decided at the point of connection between neurone and neurone, the synapse. The end-brush of the receiv- ing neurone is in contact with the dendrites of several motor neurones. Each of these points of contact, or synapses, has a different resistance. * * * * The lines of discharge depend primarily upon the openness of the synapses. In these lowest reflexes the ease of transmission depends upon the character of the synapses as they are determined in the individual at birth, and thus the responses are prepared in advance of any ex- perience by the nature of the nervous system. When the sensory excitation is weak, only the best developed connections are opened. As the impulse becomes strong- er, more and more difficult synapses will be crossed, and the motor discharge will become more and more diffuse. ' ' Centers and Ganglia. — The body of a neurone from which the fibers are prolongations is a nerve center. Sev- eral of these bodies in contact or apparently so may also be called a nerve center. Thus there are many centers in the spinal cord and the brain may be regarded as a great nerve center. 40 Studies in Psychology Knots or masses of nervous matter are called ner- vous ganglia. So again the brain is a great nervous ganglion. Functions. — The functions of the nervous system are in general three, as follows : 1. To transmit impulses. 2. To control impulses. 3. To serve as a storehouse of energy. Transmission of Impulses. — The human body is called upon in life to unify the action of its various parts. In doing this these parts must communicate one with another. Also, in thinking, one brain area must act in association with other brain areas and so must communicate with each other. The transmission of im- pulses makes this communication possible. It is thus an exceedingly important function of the nervous system to transmit impulses. Controlling Impulses. — Impulses do all the work of the body and mind, too. But of themselves they are purely mechanical and uncontrolled. They, unless con- trolled, produce motion along the lines of least resistance. Now, it is an important function of the nervous system to harness the impulses, so to speak and have them to do some useful work for the body or the mind; that is, to control them. The nervous system does this in all reflex and automatic activity. The nervous system helps to control the impulses in other kinds of activity, too, in any sort of activity of the body or mind whatever. This it is seen is of the highest use to both body and mind. Store-house of Energy. — It is proper to ask where Studies in Psychology 41 the energy or force is which manifests itself in the phe- nomena of consciousness. And the answer is that it is stored in that part of the nervous system known as the brain. When one thinks that all of the energy for every thought, idea, emotion, sensation, desire, hope, aspira- tion, determination or perception is stored in the brain he begins to see the importance of this function. A great amount of energy is stored in the nervous system. It is kept mostly in the nerve centers till occasion calls for its discharge. The muscles are power- less to do work without the discharge of energy to them along the nerve fibers. The more energy there is stored in the nerve centers the greater the nervous tension is, and the more impulses there are. Without the storing up of energy in excess in the nervous system there would be no such thing as self-activity of mind or body. Divisions of the Nervous System. — For the purpose of help in study, the nervous system may be thought of in two divisions : 1. The central nervous system. 2. The peripheral nervous system. The Peripheral Nervous System. — The peripheral nervous system consists of all nerve cells, nerves, nerve fibers and nervous ganglia lying outside and around, to some extent, the spinal cord and brain. The nervous mechanism of the eye, of the ear, of the nose, of the mouth, of the skin, and of the heart, lungs and digestive organs constitute in part the peripheral nervous system. The term, peripheral, is from two Greek words, meaning 42 Studies in Psychology carried around. Thus the peripheral nervous system is, in a sense, carried around the central system. The peripheral nervous system is of less interest to the student of psychology than the central nervous system, because the mind is less closely connected with it. The Central Nervous System. — The central nervous system consists of the brain and spinal cord. In the development of the nervous system there is a time when it consists wholly of the spinal cord, and the spinal cord is simply a tube. From this tube of nervous material all the rest of the nervous system is developed, the peri- pheral system and the brain. "In the early stages of the embryo the central ner- vous system is but a groove in the outer layer of the mass. This groove gradually becomes deeper, and the tops of the sides approach until they grow together to form a tube. The different parts of the entire nervous system grow from the different parts of the wall of the tube. The original hollow persists to the adult stage and is modified by the changes in the shape of the wall. ' * The Spinal Cord. — The spinal cord is a column of soft nervous matter extending from the brain downward in the cavity formed by the bones in the spinal column for about 18 inches in man, where it tapers off into a filament. The diameter of the spinal cord varies at different lengths, but averages on the whole about one- half an inch, or more exactly about as large as one^s little finger just in front of the middle knuckle. Run- ning the length of the spinal cord in front is a deep furrow, or cleft, called the anterior fissure, and along Studies in Psychology 43 the back of the cord is another deep cleft called the posterior fissure. The anterior fissure is wider than the posterior fissure, but not quite so deep. These two fissures extend into the cord so far that they almost meet, and thus nearly cut the cord into right and left halves. Material of the Cord. — If the spinal cord be cut across and one look at the exposed cross section, a gray- ish appearing substance on the inside will be seen sur- rounded by a whitish looking substance. In each half the gray matter is somewhat in the form of a crescent with rounded horns, the convex side of the crescent be- ing towards the center and the horns pointing to the front and back. The white matter of the cord is made up almost wholly of nerve fibers, and appears white from the color of sheathes around the nerve fibers proper, which are of the same material as that of the cell body. The gray matter is made up mainly of the central bodies of neurones, but there are some fibers intermingled with them. The Spinal Nerves. — ^From the spinal cord are giv- en off nerves in pairs at intervals along its length. These nerves are called the spinal nerves, and there are thirty- one pairs of them. The nerves of each pair spring from the same level, one from the right half and one from the left half of the cord. Each nerve springs from two roots, one from the anterior side and one from the pos- terior side of its half of the cord. The anterior and posterior roots unite to form one nerve, and then pass from the spinal cavity through openings between the 44 Studies in Psychology bones of the spinal column. Afferent nerve fibers form the posterior roots and efferent fibers form the anterior roots, but both are bound up in one nerve. The fibers are distributed to the muscles and skin of the trunk. Functions of the Spinal Cord. — The spinal cord has two general functions, as follows: 1. The nerve fibers in the cord form the connection between the brain and the peripheral nervous system. Thus sensory impulses are sent to the brain from the sense organs, and motor impulses are sent from the brain to the muscles, and this is its first function. 2. It furnishes a location for nerve centers which control impulses without imposing the task on the brain and mind, and this is its second function. The Brain. — For our purposes here all of that part of the central nervous system contained in the cranial cavity will be considered the brain. It is the largest nerve center in the body. Divisions. — In a general way the divisions of the brain are three in number: 1. Medulla Oblongata. 2. Cerebellum. 3. Cerebrum. In addition to these the Pons Varolii is by some con- sidered a fourth division, but from a psychology point of view it may be considered a part of the medulla ob- longata. The Medulla Oblongata. — The medulla oblongata is continuous with the spinal cord and projects upward into the cranial cavity from it. It is located somewhat Studies in Psychology 45 below and almost in front of the cerebellum and nearly centrally below the cerebrum. In structure it is com- plex, composed of both white and gray matter arranged much as in the spinal cord, but the proportion of gray matter in it is greater than in the cord. It has no con- volutions on its surface. The medulla has at any rate three important func- tions, as follows: 1. It forms a pathway for all impulses to the hem- ispheres of the cerebrum from the spinal cord, and from the hemispheres of the cerebrum to the spinal cord. 2. It gives rise to six pairs of the most important nerves in the human body. 3. It contains the nerve centers which control respiration, the beating of the heart, the size of small arteries, swallowing, the secretion of the saliva and other processes. The Cerebellum. — The cerebelhnn lies directly be- hind the medulla oblongata and slightly above it, and directly below the rear portion of the cerebrum. It con- sists of two masses, a right and left, much larger than the medulla. It has no convolutions on its surface, but its surface is closely folded into parallel ridges. It is made up of white and gray matter, the gray matter on the outside. Functions. — The functions of the cerebellum are more or less obscure, but so far as known, its main func- tion is the control of the muscles in certain kinds of re- flex action. When one is learning to walk or skate or ride a bicycle, he must direct his actions with his mind. 46 Studies in Psychology But there comes a time if he keeps practicing, when he no longer must direct these actions with his mind. The actions, some say, have become reflex. But they were not at first reflex. Such actions are called, by some, ac- quired reflexes. Now, the cerebellum is believed to con- tain the nerve centers for the acquired reflexes employed in walking, running, skating, etc. ; that is, in locomotion. "So little is known about the operations of the cortex of the cerebellum, that it will not be profitable to discuss it. Suffice it to say that the cerebellum has a very rich connection, by means of both sensory and motor neurones, with the cerebrum and the lower brain centers. ' ' The Cerebrum. — The cerebrum occupies the top, front, and upper rear part of the cranial cavity. In fact it seems to occupy almost the whole of the cranial cavity. In size it is from four-fifths to seven-eighths of the entire brain. Its weight varies in different persons and in the same person at different times in life. Though it is difficult to determine an average brain weight, it per- haps is not far from 53 ounces in adult life. Daniel Webster's brain weighed 53.5 ounces, and Agassiz's, Na- poleon's, and Lord Byron's brain about 53 ounces each. A man by the name of Rustan, an ignorant and un- known workman, had a brain weighing 78.3 ounces. Gambetta, a French statesman, "a man of indisputably high genius and ability" had a brain weighing 40.9 ounces. Of the weight of these brains it is to be remem- bered that the cerebrum was about seven-eighths. In infancy and childhood the weight of the cere- Studies in Psychology 47 brum is not so great, and in old age it is not quite so great as in adult life. The brains of persons born and reared in cold cli- mates are on the average larger than those born and reared in the warmer climates. Structure of the Cerebrum. — The cerebrum is di- vided from back to front by a deep fissure almost into two halves, called hemispheres, one being called the right hemisphere, the other the left. This fissure is a continuation apparently of the fissures of the spinal cord, that on the top of the cerebrum being a continua- tion of the posterior fissure, and that on the under side of the cerebrum being a continuation of the anterior fissure of the spinal cord. This fissure, the median fis- sure, so nearly cuts the cerebrum in two that only a small portion of nervous matter, called the corpus callo- sum is left to connect the two hemispheres. The hemis- pheres of the cerebrum correspond to each other as the halves of an apple cut in two correspond. Each hemisphere is divided along its outer side by a second large fissure, which is called the fissure of Syl- vius. ''This fissure is parallel to a line drawn from the end of the nose to the external opening of the ear, and about two inches above it, its middle point being over the ear." ' Another way of locating it is that it lies almost directly under a line from the center of the eye socket to a point two inches above the external opening of the ear, this point being over the middle of the fissure in length. 48 Studies in Psychology Each hemisphere is also divided by another great fissure, which is called the fissure of Rolando. ' ' It arises near the middle and a half inch above the fissure of Sylvius, and extends upward and backward about four inches to the median line separating the two hemis- pheres. ' ' Lohes of the Cerebrum. — Each hemisphere of the cerebrum is divided on its outer surface into four pretty clearly defined lobes : the frontal, parietal, occipital, and temporal. The frontal lobes lie in front of the fissure of Ro- lando and above the fissure of Sylvius in each hemis- phere. They occupy the whole front part of the cranial cavity. The parietal lobes lie above the fissure of Sylvius and behind the fissure of Rolando. They occupy the whole top portion of the cranial cavity behind the fissure of Rolando. The occipital lobes lie in the back portion of the cranial cavity below the parietal lobes and above the back portion of the temporal lobes on the sides. The temporal lobes lie below and behind the fissure of Sylvius along the sides of the cranial cavity. Convolutions. — Each lobe of the cerebrum is divided into several convolutions by little winding ditches called sulci (singular, sulcus). The areas between the sulci are convolutions, and not the ditches as sometimes under- stood. Matter of Cerehrum. — The cerebrum is composed of both white and gray nervous matter. The gray matter Studies in Psychology 49 is on the outside forming a thin covering over the white matter and extending down into the sulci and fissures. This covering of gray matter is the cotiex. It is of dif- ferent thickness in different persons, but is perhaps on an average about one-tenth of an inch thick. In some brains it is one-eighth of an inch thick and in some not more than half so thick. Daniel Webster had a cortex one-sixteenth of an inch thick. Within, the cerebrum is almost wholly a great mass of white matter consisting of nerve fibers. There are though to some extent ganglia of gray matter scattered among the fibers. The cortex is made up almost wholly of the central bodies of nerve cells. Functions of Cerebrum. — The functions of the cere- brum are no doubt various, but three important ones stand out : 1. It controls all physical and mental action which usually is said to be under the control of our minds. 2. It contains the centers of all action that can rightly be called mental. 3. It is the storehouse for all energy which mani- fests itself in conscious phenomena. The centers of consciousness, attention, association, perception, judgment, reasoning, love, hate, and the will are in the cortex of the cerebral hemispheres. Read : 1. Angell's Psychology, pp. 10 to 38. 2. Halleck's Psychology, pp. 9 to 29. 3. Pillsbury's Psychology, pp. 16 to 45. CHAPTER IV. Activity. Nature of Activity. — The mind sees objects in one position at one time and in another position at another time. Thus we see a man in Chicago to-day and some time later we see him in New York ; we see a bird on the ground now, later we see it in the tree ; we see a horse in the field in one place, then in another place. Now we see a train beyond the bridge, then this side the bridge. We say the objects have moved, changed, or acted. Do we see objects move or do we see them merely in different positions at different times ? If the object does not seem to come to rest at different places, we think we see it move, but if we see it one place now, and later see it in another place we say we see it has moved. But we are just as certain of the motion in one case as in the other. The reason it seems to be moving is that the difference in positions is so small and the periods of time between the different positions so small that the eye and mind can not make separate responses to the different positions, but makes a continuous response. So strictly speaking we do not see motion nor do we see the objects move. What we actually see is the object in different positions at different times, and we can account for this only by believing it moves. Again we see an object in one condition at one time and in a different condition at another time. Thus we Studies in Psychology 51 find the road muddy to-day, dusty another day ; covered with snow a short time ago, bare now. We find our friends sorrowful now, happy at another time ; in a good humor now, angry at another time. We find the stove hot now, cold at another time ; new now, old at another time. We find ourselves feeling well now, ill at another time; vivacious now, weary at another time. And we say for this reason that all these things change, act or move. We can account for their being in different con- ditions at different times in no other way. It can thus be seen that to the mind change, activity, or motion is but the presupposition of its thinking ob- jects in different positions or conditions at different times. Inference from the above study gives the following definition for activity: Activity, to the mind, is the presupposition of its thinking objects in different positions or conditions at different times. Classes of Activity. — In our studies at present we are concerned with the activity only of the human mind and human body. In considering such activity we do not have to observe very long to see that there are activi- ties of both the mind and body which go on without our intentionally directing them ; also, that there are activi- ties of both the mind and the body that we do intention- ally direct. These differences among our activities give basis for the following classes : 1. Involuntary activity. 2. Voluntary activity. 52 Studies in Psychology Involuntary Activity. — Observation shows us that some of the activity of the body goes on without our in- tentionally directing it; as, coughing, sneezing, heart- beating, etc.; also, that mental activity occurs of the same kind; as, the wandering of our minds from object to object when we sit down to rest, or at other times. Mental activity thus, as well as physical, is involuntary. From the above study the following definition of invol- untary activity is reached: Involuntary activity is that hind of activity which the mind does not intentionally direct. . Voluntary Activity. — Again observation of our ac- tivities reveals to us that such activities as writing, throwing, picking up objects, playing tennis and sew- ing are physical activities which are intentionally direct- ed. Also that such activities as solving problems in alge- bra, analyzing sentences in grammar, studying an ex- periment in science, or interpreting a piece of literature are mental activities which are intentionally directed. Thus again both physical and mental activities are vol- untary. From the above study we have the following definition : Voluntary activity is that kind of activity which the mind intentionally directs. Classes of Involuntary Activity. — Study shows that there is involuntary activity which is aroused by some external stimulus coming in contact with some peripher- al nerve ending, such as jumping because of a noise; also, that there is involuntary activity that seems to originate in some nerve center, such as breathing. These Studies in Psychology 53 differences give basis for the following classes of in- voluntary activity: 1. Reflex activity. 2. Impulsive activity. Reflex Activity. — If the foot of a sleeper is tickled he will frequently withdraw his foot without any inten- tion of doing so. If a decapitated frog has acid placed upon its leg or flank, it will use one or both feet to brush it away. * ' If the soles of the feet of a man whose spinal cord is injured any where above the sacral region be tickled, it often happens that his legs wiU be suddenly drawn up, though the man can not feel the tickling and can not of his own will draw up his legs. ' ' Again a loud noise or sudden motion toward the eyes makes one jump unintentionally. It should be noticed in all such action first that the action is muscular, or it may be glandular, as the secre- tion of the tears or the saliva, and, since muscles and glands act only in response to nervous action, also ner- vous ; that is, neuro-muscular or neuro-glandular action ; secondly, that there is always an external stimulus; and thirdly, that the action is uncontrolled hy the mind. Such action as the action studied above is reflex ac- tion, and the following is a formal statement for it : Reflex action is neuro-muscular or neuro-glandular action caused hy some external stimulus and uncon- trolled hy the mind. Or a second way of putting it is as follows, since it is action not intentionally directed : 54 Studies in Psychology Reflex action is involuntary neuro-muscular or neuro-glandular action caused hy some external stimulus. The Process of Reflex Action. — The process of re- flex action is as follows : a disturbance is caused in some nerve center by an external stimulus; without being transmitted to the higher nerve centers of intentional control, or before the higher nerve centers of intentional control have time to act, an impulse is sent out and pro- duces activity. The nerve centers turn back, reflex, so to speak, the impulse ; hence the name reflex activity. The nerve centers which control reflex action are mostly found in the spinal cord, but some are in the brain. Classes of Reflex Action. — In the case of the man who draws his feet up when they are tickled, there is no consciousness of the stimulus nor of the action; but in the case of the one who jumps because of the loud noise, there is consciousness of both the stimulus and the ac- tion. These differences give basis for the following classes of reflex action: 1. Unconscious reflex action. 2. Conscious reflex action. Illustration. — When the dim rays of light come into the pupil of the eye, they act as a stimulus which causes the muscles of the iris to so act as to enlarge the pupil. Also, when too bright rays come into the pupil of the eye they cause the muscles of the iris to so act that the pupil is made smaller. The presence of the food in the stomach acts as a stimulus which causes the stomach to blush; and the food in the intestines acts as a stimulus which causes the Studies in Psychology 55 liver to secrete the bile. All these are cases of un- conscious reflex action. Illustration. — A little thought shows that in cough- ing and sneezing we are frequently conscious of the stimulus and the action. So coughing and sneezing are frequently good examples of conscious reflex action. We are frequently painfully conscious of both the stimulus and the action and try in vain to prevent the action, or remove the stimulus. Also when we jump because of a loud noise w^e are conscious of the stimulus and also of the action. Such are good examples of conscious reflex action. Further Classes of Reflex Action. — By observing re- flex action from another point of view we see that such instances as coughing, sneezing, and the movements of digestion are reflexes with which we are born. But if one strikes his foot against something and starts to fall, his hands will be thrown out to break the force of the fall, and many movements, in walking, skating, riding a bicycle, which many authors call reflexes, if reflexes, are not those with which we are born. These differences in these activities give basis for the following: 1. Original reflex action. 2. Acquired reflex action. Original Reflex Action. — It is evident that one is born with many reflexes. In addition to those mentioned above are winking, the secretion of the saliva, the se- cretion of tears, and the adjusting of the eyes to see ob- jects near and far. Acquired Reflex Action. — In cases of walking, skat- 56 Studies in Psychology ing, etc., it is not very clear that they are reflex action. They are acquired without any doubt, but they seem to be actions that were at one time voluntary, but which have become more or less automatic. A definite external stimulus seems to be lacking. However, they are con- sidered by some authorities as reflex actions, and if there be such action, they are examples of it. Functions of Beflex Action. — The functions of re- flex action are at any rate three, as follows : 1. To carry on the routine work of the body. 2. To carry on the functions of the body when one is unconscious or when consciousness is otherwise engaged. 3. To protect the body in cases which require quicker action than voluntary action. Impulsive Action. — It is necessary for us to remem- ber that an impulse is an excess of energy, or a surplus of force. Children often when they are asleep throw their hands, legs, and feet about, also their whole bodies. Such actions are caused by the tension in the nerve cen- ters due to the excess of energy stored there. This ten- sion probably is due to the efl'ect of the blood on the nerve centers. At any rate there is no doubt that the tension exists and when it becomes too great an impulse starts from the nerve center and produces action. Such action is impulsive action. Persons who have very much impulsive action are called nervous persons. The fol- lowing statement for impulsive action is reached from the above study : Impulsive action is that kind of involuntary action Studies in Psychology 57 caused merely hy an impulse arising from the tension in the nerve center. Kinds of Impulsive Action. — Some cases of impul- sive action are purposeless ; that is, they are not put forth to do any useful work. Of such impulsive action, the child's throwing itself about in its sleep, and pro- truding and chewing its tongue, when learning to write, are examples. Again in such impulsive action as breathing and heartbeating the action is purposive ; that is, is put forth to do some useful work. These differences give basis for dividing impulsive action into: 1. Purposeless impulsive action. 2. Purposive impulsive action, or automatic action. Automatic action is impulsive action which serves the hody some useful purpose. Kinds of Voluntary Action. — Voluntary action is of two kinds : 1. Unreflective. 2. Reflective, or deliberative. First, one frequently acts without reflection. Thus some one strikes a person and he strikes back at once. The bell rings and one starts to the class. One sees somebody fall and stops to help him up. One claps his hands when he has listened to a piece of music. Such actions are unreflective. Secondly, one contemplates taking a journey, or buying a farm, or going into some kind of business and 58 Studies in Psychology often thinks a long time on such action. All such actions ^re reflective or deliberate. Read : 1. Angell's Psychology, pp. 48-49; 283-293. CHAPTER V. Mind and Body. Connection of Mind and Body. — Everyone agrees that there is a close connection between the mind and the body. But perhaps at present not more of this connec- tion is known than the mere beginning, the a, b, c, of it, so to speak. All know that prolonged physical work will produce mental fatigue, and that prolonged mental work will produce physical fatigue. Bodily injuries produce pain, but in case of mental excitement frequent- ly there is no pain until the excitement is over. Good news or bad news may remove hunger, and persons have been scared to death, or have been frightened into ill- ness. Embarrassment makes the mouth dry and anger may make it bitter. All these and many other facts indicate a general intimate connection between mind and body. Effect of Suggestion. — If it is suggested to one that a certain bodily condition exists, or will exist, this sug- gestion has much influence in producing such physical condition. Headaches, toothaches, and other physical afflictions have been removed by suggestion. "A house surgeon in a French hospital experiment- ed with one hundred patients, giving them sugared wa- ter. And then, with a great show of fear, he pretended that he had made a mistake and had given them an 60 Studies in Psychology emetic instead of the proper medicine. Dr. Tuke says: 'The result may easily be anticipated by those who can estimate the influence of the imagination. No fewer than eighty — four-fifths — were unmistakably sick'.'* Most remarkable changes of the body, even to the blistering of the skin, the change in the blood supply to parts of the body, the disturbance of digestion and even death may result from suggestion, if various good author- ities are to be believed. Suggestion here means leading the person to believe that the bodily condition either exists or will exist. The influence of the mind over the body is known to be very powerful. Opinion of the Greeks. — Just what part of the body the mind is most closely connected with has for more than two thousand years been a subject of study. The Greeks studied this question and reached various con- clusions. Plato believed that the brain is the seat of the mind, but Aristotle, the greatest Greek philosopher, re- jected this idea. He and other Greeks placed the mind in various parts of the body. Brain Injury and Consciousness. — The connection between consciousness and the brain is closer than be- tween consciousness and any other part of the body. A blow on the head produces unconsciousness by producing concussion of the brain. A blow on almost any other part of the body produces only pain. A blow upon the heart might produce unconsciousness, but that is because it would disturb the blood supply to the brain. Since Studies in Psychology 61 consciousness is a mental thing, a state of mind, this in- dicates connection between the brain and the mind. Nerves and Consciousness. — It is because of the con- nection by nerve fibers between any part of the body that may be stimulated and the brain that the mind knows of any touch or injury. Let the nerve fibers be cut so that they can not transmit impulses to the brain, and the mind neither knows of the injury nor feels any pain from any wounded part of the body. This is be- cause the brain is disconnected from the injured part. But knowing and feeling are activities of the mind. So brain work is necessary to mental work and this again is evidence that the brain is the organ of the mind. The Blood, the Brain and the Mind. — Any disturb- ance of the blood supply to the brain always produces a corresponding disturbance in the mind. There is a case on record of a man who had an unusually fine mem- ory. He had a spell of sickness which left him with enfeebled heart action for more than a year. During this time his memory was almost gone. "When he recov- ered his normal heart action, his splendid memory re- turned. The cause of the poor memory was the poor blood supply to the brain. Again it is common observation that bad air makes attention and learning difficult and many times impossi- ble. This is because of the mental condition induced by blood improperly aerated acting on the brain. Mental action causes an increase in the temperature of the brain. Dr. Lombard, a noted investigator says: ' ' Every cause that attracts the attention — a noise, or the 62 Studies in Psychology sight of some person or other object — produces elevation of temperature. An elevation of temperature also occurs under the influence of an emotion, or during an inter- esting reading aloud." "While a woman was being subjected to a test of this sort, from no apparent cause her temperature sud- denly arose. The explanation was that she had at that moment caught sight of a skull in the room." "From experiments on animals, we learn that the active use of their senses causes a rise in cerebral temper- ature. A German investigator found that when he presented something not good to eat to the nostrils of a dog, the momentary sniff was accompanied by a slight rise in temperature. When a package containing a piece of meat was offered, the temperature was higher, be- cause of more lively emotional interest. ' ' An italian investigator by the name of Mosso de- vised a table balanced so nicely that a man might lie on it without disturbing its equilibrium. By introducing some interesting subject that quickened the action of the mind, he found that thus the balance was almost immediately destroyed. ' ' A sudden noise, an interesting thought, anything that increased the activity of con- sciousness, would cause the head end of the table to sink down as quickly as if a weight had been placed upon it." This phenomenon is thought to mean that there is either a greater amount of blood in the brain or that a greater amount of blood flows through the brain, 'when mental activity is increased. Localization of Functions. — The brain has its work Studies in Psychology 63 systematized to a greater or less degree. There are specific areas for specific functions. Not all parts take part in any work the brain has to do. Brain functions and brain areas are differentiated, or there is a division of labor in the brain. The Motor Zone. — This is an area of the brain ly- ing on the front side of the fissure of Rolando, accord- ing to most recent investigations, in the frontal lobes. It is that part of the brain concerned in sending out commands to move various parts of the body. "So definitely has this area been mapped out, that it is possible to find, for the purpose of a surgical opera- tion, so small a center as that which moves the vocal cords, directs a thumb, or winks an eye." Sensory Brain Areas. — These areas are those which receive impulses from the sense-organs. The known ones are located as follows: 1. The centers of sight in the occipital lobes of the cerebrum. 2. The centers of hearing in the upper part of the temporal lobes of the cerebrum, just below the fissure of Sylvius. 3. The centers of taste and smell on the inner sur- face of the temporal lobes at the front just below the front portion of the fissure of Sylvius. 4. The centers of touch in the parietal lobes. The Center of Speech, or Broca. — This center is the source of much interest. It is situated in the lower part of the frontal lobes just in front of the fissure of Ro- lando, and just above the front portion of the fissure of 64 Studies in Psychology Sylvius. It is a center not much larger than a pea. There is one in each hemisphere, but under ordinary conditions only one functions. Recent investigators say that if a person be right-handed, the center of Broea is invariably found in the left frontal lobe, but if the per- son be left-handed the center is invariably found in the right frontal lobe ; also, that an attempt to change a left- handed child to a right-handed one frequently interferes with speech, sometimes producing bad cases of stammer- ing. This center seems to control the muscles of the vocal cords, tongue, etc. used in speaking. The following quo- tation sums up pretty well recent thought on this ques- tion : ' ' We know to a certainty that the muscles of the right side of the body are controlled by brain elements in the left side of the cranium, while the muscles of the left side of the body are controlled by brain elements in the right side of the cranium. So accurately have post mortems and surgical operations following attacks of paralysis disclosed the seat of the trouble causing the paralysis, that by studying the organs paralyzed we can tell with almost absolute certainty just where in the brain the blood clot may be found in any given case. If a man gets a blow directly on the top of the head of sufficient force, his legs will be, for the time being at least, paralyzed, so that if a man is stricken with paralysis of the legs we know that the blood clot will be found in the top region of the brain. By the same test we know if an arm is paralj^zed the blood clot Studies in Psychology 65 lies farther down toward the region of the ear. Still farther down we find the areas that successively control the mouth, the lips, throat and tongue. If the paralysis is on the right side of the body we know that the blood clot is in the left brain, whatever the region may be. Conversely if the paralysis is on the left side of the body the blood clot will be found in the right brain. From the foregoing facts it seems that the motor forces of the body originate in either or both sides of the brain. But not so the intellectual faculties. Just below the region of the brain that controls the tongue we find what is known as Broca's convolution, which is not much larger than a pea. It has been demonstrated that this little body is the sole center of articulate speech. It seems to control directly the muscles of the tongue, mouth, throat and lips. Hence an injury to that little organ renders speech more or less impossible. Now there is a close relation existing between speech and gesture, and as that part of the brain which controls the arms and hands lies next to that part of the brain that con- trols speech, there seems to be good reason for the use of gesture as an aid to speech." "Now note this fact, that in the right-handed the speech center is always in the left brain, and not in both, while in the left-handed it is always in the right brain. It is true there is a Broca's convolution in both the right and left brain, but only one is used. However, if the convolution on one side is damaged in youth it is possible for the individual slowly to learn to talk. But if the damage occurs in middle life, or after that, speech ^ 66 Studies in Psychology is rarely regained, even though the individual seemingly recovers in other respects." Association Centers. — The areas in the cerebrum which lie between the different sensory centers and be- tween the different motor centers and between the sen- sory centers and the motor centers are the association centers. They are made up of the association neurones. Phrenology. — The psychologist is often asked for opinions concerning phrenology. So we will let the following eminent authors speak on the subject: Dr. William T. Harris says: "In later times differ- ent phases of the mind came to be assigned to different parts of the body. The spleen was supposed to be the seat of hilarity and good spirits; wisdom dwelt in the heart; anger in the gall; love in the liver; vanity in the lungs. " "Gall, in 1789, gave the first impulse to the wide- spread movement under the name of phrenology. He was joined by Spurzheim, in 1804, who carried the system to England and the United States, gaining many disciples in both countries while Gall made many influ- ential converts in Paris. Gall mapped out on the skull the locations of mental peculiarities, which he named from their excessive manifestations, organs of murder, theft, cunning, pride, vanity; on the other hand, Spurzheim attempted to systematize the organs into groups, and to name them from their normal manifestations." "But, aside from this a priori system of psychology based on crude introspection, a serious objection to phrenology is to be found in the fact that the so-called Studies in Psychology 67 'organs' are protuberances of the skull, and do not cor- respond to the natural divisions of the brain. The 'or- gans' of perception, twelve in all, crowded together be- hind the eyes are formed by the protrusion of the outer wall of the skull, while the inner table, keeping close to the brain, leaves a 'sinus,' or chasm, between it and the outer. Moreover, the convolutions, which are distinctly marked by well established fissures or furrows (sulci), in no case agree with the 'organs' as mapped out. Some organs are located over fissures; some unite portions of different convolutions. The organ of amativeness be- longs to the cerebellum, while that of alimentiveness (an- other 'propensity') belongs to the cerebrum. Bony pro- cesses on the skull for the insertion of muscles are (as in the case of ' combativeness ' ) mistaken for brain pro- tuberances. No account is made of the convolutions in the 'island of Reil', or of those which are found in the median longitudinal fissure which separates the two hemispheres of the brain." Dr. Joseph Simms says: "Phrenologists assert that each organ of a mental faculty occupies a certain posi- tion perciptible on the outside of the brain, with a definite area which they have mapped out. They also hold that each of these organs extends to the center of the base of the brain, tapering to it somewhat like a cone, having its base turned toward the outer world. They make no account of the fissures, the intervening sulci and anf ractuosities that cut many of these supposed cones, some at right and some at oblique angles. Then the large, long cavities or ventricles intercept and would 68 Studies in Psychology hinder many of them from reaching the central, basilar part of the brain. The anatomical structure of the brain thus appears fatal to this theory of the organs. ' ' "The late Dr. 0. W. Holmes, a learned man and experienced physician and professor of anatomy in Harvard University for thirty-five years, says: 'The walls of the head are double, with a great chamber of air between them, over the smallest and most crowded organs. Can you tell me how much money there is in a safe, which also has thick walls, by kneading the knobs with your fingers ? So, when a man fumbles about my forehead, and talks about the organs of individuality, size, etc., I trust him as much as I should if he felt over the outside of my strong box, and told me that there was a five-dollar or a ten-dollar bill under this or that rivet. Perhaps there is, only he doesn^t know anything about it. We will add that, even if he knows the inward dimensions of the strong box, he could not thence de- termine the amount of cash deposited in it\'' These quotations sum up pretty well what scientists think of phrenology. No one who has studied science long enough to make his opinion worth anything be- lieves what it teaches. Effect of Brain Injury on Mind. — This is shown to some extent in the case of a man named Gage who was tamping a charge of blasting powder in a rock with a pointed iron bar three feet and seven inches long and one and one-quarter inches in diameter, and weighing thirteen and one-half pounds, when the charge suddenly exploded. ' * The iron bar, propelled with its pointed end Studies in Psychology 69 first, entered at the left angle of the patient's jaw, and passed clear through the top of his head, near the sagi- tal suture in the frontal region, and was picked up at some distance covered with blood and brains. The pa- tient was for a moment stunned, but within an hour after the accident he was able to walk up a long flight of stairs and give the surgeon an intelligible account of the injury he had sustained. His life naturally was for a long time despaired of; but he ultimately recovered and lived twelve and a half years afterward. ' ' "His contractors, who regarded him as the most efficient and capable foreman in their employ before his injury, considered the change in his mind so marked that they could not give him his place again. The equi- librium or balance, so to speak, between his intellectual and animal propensities seems to have been destroyed. He is fitful, irreverent, indulging at times in the gross- est profanity, which was not previously his custom, man- ifesting but little deference to his fellows, impatient of restraint or advice when it conflicted with his desires, at times pertinaciously obstinate, yet capricious and vacillating, devising many plans of future operation, which are no sooner arranged than they are abandoned in turn for others more feasible. A child in his intel- lectual capacity and manifestations, he has the animal passions of a strong man. Previously to his injury, though untrained in schools, he possessed a well balanced mind, and was looked upon by the people who knew him as a shrewd, smart business man, very energetic and persistent in executing all his plans of operation. 70 Studies in Psychology In this regard, his mind was radically changed, so de- cidedly that his friends and acquaintances said he was no longer Gage." Aphasia. — Aphasia is the loss of the power of speech, the vocal organs remaining uninjured and the intelligence unimpared. It results from injury to the brain. If the nerve cells in the center of Broca in the frontal lobes of the cerebrum are diseased or injured so they can not function aphasia results from the lack of ability to control the organs of speech. Or again if the nerve cells in certain places in the temporal lobes are injured or diseased aphasia results from the loss of memory of spoken words. One could not speak his own name or that of any friend or object whatever, nor could he understand what is spoken to him by anyone whatever. Brain Size and Intelligence. — Contrary to popular opinion there is no direct proportion between the size of the brain and the intelligence of the person. Brains ranging anywhere from forty to seventy ounces may be- long to persons of remarkable intellectual power and dis- tinguished ability or to idiots and imbeciles. Dr. Joseph Simms, an eminent scientist and scholar, studied this subject for more than thirty years in North America, continental Europe, Great Britain, Asia, Afri- ca, and Australia, and is thus capable of speaking with authority concerning it. He says: ''Esquirol's asser- tion that no size or form of head or brain is incident to idiocy or superior talent is borne out by my observa- tion." Studies in Psychology 71 "Taking, now, the sixty heaviest brains of persons not noted for intellectual greatness, we find the average to be 63.2 ounces. Comparing this with the average of sixty famous men, 51.3 ounces, we find a difference in favor of imbeciles, idiots, criminals and men of ordinarv mind of 11.9 ounces." These and many other studies show that one could never classify men into classes of different degrees of intelligence upon the basis of brain size. Convolutions and Intellectual Capacity. — ''Large and complicated convolutions of the brain with deep sulci have been regarded by some persons as inseparable from superior powers of mind. The supposition is er- roneous and groundless. * * * * Squirrels manifest foresight and economy in storing nuts for the winter's use; yet they have no brain convolutions. The cetacea, especially whales, have much larger brains than men, with more numerous and more complex convolutions and deeper sulci; yet their intelligence bears no comparison with that of the human race." ''Idiots often possess as large brains as men dis- tinguished for their intellectual power, and their brains have as deep sulci, and convolutions as fine, as large and as complex. Our table of the common and weak-minded contains a mention of an idiot whose brain weighed fifty- three ounces, or exactly as much as Napoleons, and had fine convolutions and a large frontal lobe, but who could never learn to speak." "The elephant carries a far larger brain than man, finely formed, broad and high in front, with much more 72 Studies in Psychology numerous and complex convolutions and deeper anfrac- tuosities, and yet no intelligent person would for a moment claim that its mind excels or even equals that of man." Growth and Development of Brain. — Growth of the brain means increase in weight or in bulk. At birth the brain of the average baby is near three-fourths of a pound in weight or about one-eighth the weight of its body. Its brain grows very rapidly during the first four years and then slowly increases until about fifteen or sixteen when it reaches its full weight. A brain whose maximum is 1,440 grams would weigh at seven years of age 1,350 grams and at four years of age 1,325 grams approximately. After the age of fifteen or sixteen the weight of the brain remains nearly the same till about fifty, from which time on till death it loses in weight, as estimated by some authorities, at the rate of one ounce in ten years. Brain development means a perfection in the struc- ture of the brain. This consists in the change in the shape and size and prolongations of the cells in the brain. While brain growth goes forward so rapidly brain development goes on very slowly. And when brain development begins and continues rapidly brain growth becomes slower and slower and after a time ceases en- tirely. Read : 1. Pillsbury's Essentials of Psychology, pp. 36-42. 2. Angell's Psychology, pp. 27-38. 3. Halleck's Psychology, pp. 16-29. CHAPTER VI. ]\Iental Attributes and Consciousness. Meaning of Attribute. — An attempt to study any- thing for the purpose of understanding it always con- sists in seeking out the attributes of that thing, and an object is known just to the degree that its attributes are discovered and learned. All knowledge thus in a general way grows out of the process of discovering and learning the attributes of objects. If one knows all the attributes of an object, he knows all there is to be known about that object. And if he knows all the attributes of any object, he knows a great deal about every object, since any object has connections with all other objects. Thus to know all the attributes there are to know would mean infinite knowledge, the knowledge of everything. The terms, characteristic, and mark, are terms used interchangeably with the term, attribute. Strictly speaking an attribute is indefinable, but the following statement characterizes it : An attribute is any characteristic of an object which helps the mind in knowing the object. Illustration. — A certain house is large, red, new, rectangular, has four verandas, two chimneys, sur- rounded by a big lawn, has two bay windows, and is situated on a slope. Each of the italicized words ex- presses an attribute of the house; that is, it expresses 74 Studies in Psychology some mark of the house which helps the mind in know- ing it. Classes of Attributes. — If we observe the attributes of objects very long we soon see that each object pos- sesses some attributes that enable the mind to know it from every thing else. Thus in the sentence, This knife in my hand is a present from mother, the italicized words express attributes which enable the mind to know the knife from all other things. Again the tower on the east division of the old college building has some attributes which enable the mind to know it from all other things on earth. The same is true of every other object. And again we can observe that every object in a class has some attributes that belong to every other object in the class. Thus one triangle has just three angles, and so has every other one just three angles. One man has a vertebral column and so has every other man. One dog is a quadruped and so is every other dog. One winter is colder than summer in the temperate zones and so is every other one. Thus from this viewpoint there are two classes of attributes : 1. Particular. 2. Common. And the following are definitions for them: A particular attribute is an attribute which helps the mind to know its object from everything else. In the sentence, Niagara Falls is a grand spectacle, ''Niagara'' expresses attributes which help the mind in knowing the falls from all other things. Thus "Niagara" expresses Studies in Psychology 75 a particular attribute. When we talk about a particular object, the term, particular^ means just those attributes which enable the mind to know the object from all other things. Individual is a word which means the same as particular. Thus an individual object and a particular object mean the same. Each object is a par- ticular object, since each object has some attributes which enable the mind to know it from everything else. A common attribute is an attribute ivhich belongs alike to each object of a class of objects. Thus sweetness is a common attribute of sugar ; sourness, of acid ; grow- ing feathers, of birds; and having four feet, of horses. Classes of Common Att^^ibutes. — Again we observe that some common attributes belong to every object of the class but do not extend beyond that class; that is, do not belong to any other object besides those of the class. Thus groiving feathers is an attribute that belongs to every bird of the class birds, but does not belong to any other object except birds; that is, does not extend beyond the class. There are also some common attributes that belong to every object of a class but also belong to other objects ; that is, extend beyond the class. Thus having two feet is a common attribute of birds, but it is an attribute also of man and monkeys. These differences among common attributes give basis for two classes : 1. Class common attrihutes. 2. Universal common attributes. The following; are definitions for them: 76 Studies in Psychology A class common attribute is a common attribute which does not extend beyond the objects of a class, Three-angledness is a class common attribute of tri- angles ; growing flowei^, a class common attribute of one kind of plants. A universal common attribute is a common attribute tvhich extends beyond the objects of a single class. Hav- ing wings is a universal common attribute of birds. It belongs to all birds, but also belongs to other things besides birds, to butterflies, for instance. It is quite common for students to make the error of thinking that a universal attribute is one that belongs to everything in the universe. But this is just what it does not mean. There is good reason for thinking that no such attribute exists. The universal attribute is an attribute that connects a class out with other things in the universe. Thus having wings connects the class, birds, with butterflies, bees, bugs, and other things. An Attribute of Mind. — A man can do various kinds of work. He can run, skate, cut wood, build houses, etc., but in order to do these various things he must possess various attributes. He must have weight, strength, etc. Thus weight and strength are attributes of one's body. Without these one could not run, jump, skate, and so on. In an analogous way the mind has attributes. Without these it could not do its work. The following is the formal statement for an attribute of mind : An attribute of mind is a fundamental character- istic of mind without which mind could not do its worli. Studies in Psychology 77 Universal Common Attributes of Mind. — The fol- lowing is a list of the attributes of mind most valuable to study: 1. Consciousness. 2. Attention. 3. Apperception. 4. Self-activity. 5. Iterativeness. 6. Rhythm. These attributes are as fundamental and necessary to the mind as weight or strength is to the body. They belong to all human minds but they also belong to some of the lower animals. A horse is conscious, can give attention, and is self-active. Thus these six attributes are universal common attributes of the human mind. Consciousness. — This is the most fundamental attribute of mind. Without consciousness the mind as we think of it could not be studied or known. One can at the start get a general idea of conscious- ness by comparing his condition of mind when he is very sound asleep with his condition of mind when he is awake. "When he is awake consciousness is showing its influence upon the mind, but when he is sound asleep consciousness is not influencing the mind at all; con- sciousness is in abeyance. If one knows, he knows that he knows or knows that he thinks he knows that he knows ; that is, he knows his own mental condition. Again if one is asked a question, and he says he does not know the answer to it, it is because he knows the condition of his own mind. If 78 Studies in Psychology one is insulted, he feels hurt or angry and he knows that he feels hurt or angry ; that is, he knows his own mental condition. If one is thinking about Niagara Falls, he knows that his mind is active ; that is, he knows his own mental activities. If one is solving a problem in arithmetic, he knows that his mind is active on arith- metic; that is, he knows his own mental activity. The mind thus knows itself. What enables the mind thus to know itself ; that is, its own conditions and activities? Consciousness. The mind is able to do this because of the attribute of con- sciousness. Thus we reach the following statement for consciousness : Consciousness is that attribute of mind hy virtue of which the mind knows itself; its own conditions and activities. Thus by virtue of consciousness the mind is differ- ent from anything else known to us. Mind is the only thing that can know itself. Through consciousness the mind knows its own sorrows, pleasures, pains, hopes, aspirations, successes, disappointments, loves, hates, ideals and motives, and it knows it knows these, and knows itself as the knower. Classes of Consciousness. — If one observes his own consciousness by means of introspection he will see that at some times he seems to be conscious of w^hat is in his own mind. Thus we ask one what he is thinking about and he says he is thinking of his own thinking; that is, of what is, so to speak, passing through his mind. Thus Studies in Psychology 79 one thinks of his own motives or intentions. Or he thinks of his own sorrow or depression. At another time one seems to be conscious of some- thing not in his mind. Thus one seems to be conscious of a friend, a house, a tree, a flower, a dewdrop or an ocean. These differences in consciousness give basis for two classes of consciousness. First, that kind by which we seem to be conscious of some object outside the mind. Secondly, that kind of consciousness by which we seem to be conscious of something in the mind. 1. Objective consciousness. 2. Subjective consciousness. The following are the formal statements for them: Objective consciousness is that kind of conscious- ness by which the mind seems to be aware of something outside the mind. Siibjective consciousness is that hind of conscious- ness by which the mind seems to be aware of something within the mind. Objects of Consciousness. — Observation shows us that we may be conscious of, in general, two kinds of things : first, physical things ; secondly, mental things. Nature of an Object. — The true idea of an object is frequently not to be found in the minds of those who should have it. In fact many persons have but a re- stricted idea of an object. It is quite common to find persons who think only those things which occupy space and have weight are objects. To such persons such things as trees, rocks, houses, horses, etc. seem to be objects, but such things as character, honor, beauty, 80 Studies in Psychology virtue, wisdom, etc. do not seem to be objects. The view that only those things which possess weight and occupy space are objects is narrow and erroneous. The derivation of the word, object, furnishes a key to the right idea of what an object is. The word is from oh, against, and ject, thrown. Thus an object is any- thing which is thrown against the mind as a challenge to its activities. That is to say, anything the mind thinks about is an object. The following is the formal defini- tion for an object: An ohject is anything about which the mind can think. Classes of Objects. — Observation shows us that the mind sometimes thinks of such objects as flowers, trees, men, horses, books, and mountains; that is, about ob- jects which occupy space. And again the mind thinks about such objects as honor, virtue, character, purity, whiteness, sweetness, love, hate, sorrow, misfortune and happiness; that is, about objects which do not occupy space. This differ- ence in objects about which the mind thinks furnishes basis for two classes of objects: 1. Material. 2. Im- material. The following are the formal definitions for them: A material object is an object which occupies space. An immaterial object is an object which does not oc- cupy space. The things which the mind is conscious of are thus both physical and mental. That is to say, the mind is Studies in Psychology 81 conscious at some times of material objects and at other times of immaterial objects. Fields of Consciousness. — If one examines his mind carefully by introspection he will find that at almost any time when he is awake there are many things more or less in one's mind. For instance, one sits in the library reading a book. The content of what he is read- ing is in his mind, so are various sounds, other persons in the library, the trees which appear through the window, book cases, the touch of his clothing, and so on, perhaps. It is true that most of these are only dimly in the mind, but in the mind all the same. Thus what one has in mind at any one time constitutes a kind of con- scious field. Again we observe that most of what we have had in our minds in the past and what we say we know we do not have in mind at any one time. Indeed we have very little of what we know in our consciousness at one time. So there is a great field of what we have known which constitutes a sort of subconscious field. These differ- ences in our minds give grounds for the two classes of conscious fields. 1. The conscious field. 2. The subconscious field. The Conscious Field. — The conscious field consists of all that one has in consciousness at any one time, either dimly or clearly. One's conscious life is a suc- cession of these fields. They always have various things in them ; that is, they are complex. * ' They contain sen- sations of our bodies and of the objects around us, 82 Studies in Psychology memories of past experiences and thoughts of distant things, feelings of satisfaction and dissatisfaction, desires and aversions, and other emotional conditions, together with determinations of the will, in every variety of permutation and combination." The conscious field always has something in it which is clearly in consciousness. This is called the center, or focus of the conscious field. All of those things in the conscious field which are but dimly in consciousness constitute what is called the margin of the conscious field. The Subconscious Field. — The subconscious field is made up of all that the mind has ever had in con- sciousness but which it does not have in consciousness at any time. "At any one moment we are not conscious of a thousandth part of what we know. It is well that such is the case, for when we are studying an object under a microscope, trying to memorize poetry, demon- strating a geometrical proposition, or learning a Latin verb, we should not want all we knew of history and physics, or images of the persons, trees, dogs, birds, or horses, that we remembered, to rush into our minds at the same time. If they did so, our mental confusion would be indescribable." Differences in States of Consciousness. — By obser- vation through introspection it may be seen that our conscious states differ in the following respects: 1. They differ in intensity. At one time, one is slightly in pain; at another, in excrutiating pain. At one time, one is a little sad; at another crushed with Studies in Psychology 83 sorrow. At one time, one is studying slightly; at an- other, very hard. 2. They differ in quality. At one time, our con- sciousness is painful; at another time, pleasurable. At one time, our consciousness is one of surprise ; at another time, one of being bored. These differ in quality. 3. They differ in the extent of the conscious field. Sometimes there are but few things in the conscious field compared with what there are in it at other times. If one were intently studying the petals of a primrose in his hand his conscious field would be narrow as compared Avith his conscious field when he is looking at a landscape in the distance. 4. They differ in the speed with which objects cross the conscious field. At one time, ideas succeed each other very slowly in consciousness ; at another time, they jostle each other in a mad rush, and go across the con- scious field at a galloping pace. Functions of Consciousness. — Consciousness has several functions, the chief ones of which are as follows : 1. It enables the mind to know one mental exper- ience from another. This function is of the highest importance to the mind. If the mind could not tell one mental experience from another it could not know a pebble from a pumpkin; a dewdrop from an ocean; a man from a mushroom; a mouse from a muUen stalk; a hat from a hammer, nor a cabbage from a carrot. In short, one could never get started in getting knowledge. 2. It enables the mind to know the value of its experiences to itself. Without this function of con- 84 Studies in Psychology sciousness the mind would never know what of its exper- iences to avoid and what to repeat. It could not tell which are good for it and which are bad for it. It could not tell whether good intentions or bad intentions are to be cultivated. 3. It enables the mind to direct its activities so as to do mental work. Without consciousness the mind's activities would scatter over all creation as they do in dreams. No one thing could be held in mind long enough to be thought out. Mental activity would waste itself in aimless wandering, if consciousness did not cling to some purpose. 4. It enables one properly to estimate himself. Since consciousness enables one to know the condition of his own mind, it enables him to estimate himself. It enables one to know how much he knows, how much his knowledge is limited, the purity of his motives, the quality of his intentions and the strength of his will power; in short, to know himself. Education of Consciousness. — One's consciousness is educated when it reveals accurately to him his mental conditions. The difference between the man whose con- sciousness is educated and the one whose consciousness is not educated lies in the fact that one whose conscious- ness is educated knows pretty accurately his own worth, while the one whose consciousness is not educated usually either overestimates or underestimates himself. Consciousness becomes educated by study and research, just as one grows in any kind of education. Studies in Psychology 85 Read : 1. Halleck's Psychology, pp. 44-52. 2. Pillsbury's Essentials of Psychology, pp. 46-59. 3. Angels 's Psychology, pp. 47-63. CHAPTER VII. Attention. Nature of Attention. — The most persistent thing of which the human soul is conscious is change. Changes in the mind's environment and changes in the mind itself are the things studied in every study of the mind. Anyone of these changes definite enough to be separated from other changes is an experience. Thus an exper- ience is a change of some sort, and a mental experience is a mental change of some sort. Mental life is a suc- cession of these changes or experiences, and so is physical life. Most of our mental experiences go forward without the mind's being clearly conscious of them. The mind though has the power of bringing any experience clearly into consciousness and of focusing its energy upon it after it is in consciousness. This the mind is able to do because of the attribute of attention. Thus the mind is able to do the two following things because of attention: 1. The bringing of some experience clearly into consciousness. 2. The focusing of its energy upon it. A little introspective study shows that at most times there are many things in one's mind. As one sits in his study he sees books, furniture, pens, pencils,. Studies in Psychology 87 papers, the scenery outside his window, and many other things ; he, perhaps, hears children shouting at play, the singing of birds, the cackling of chickens, the rushing of the train, the clatter of wagons on the road, the ticking of the clock, and so on. In short, a large number of things are more or less in his consciousness. Most of these things, or better the experiences aroused by these things, are only dimly in consciousness. But because of the attribute of attention the mind is able to exalt any one of these dimly conscious experiences into clear consciousness. And this is the first thing the mind is able to do because of attention. It is a differentiating function of the mind. It is the process of separating one experience from a more or less integrated mass form- ing a substratum in consciousness. The second thing which the mind can do because of attention is that of narrowing down the field of con- sciousness. It is what is usually called concentration. It is somewhat analogous to focusing the rays of the sun by means of a lens, which consists in narrowing down the focal field by converging the rays toward a point. From the above study the following definition of attention is reached: Attention is that attribute of the mind hy virtue of which the mind brings some experience clearly into con- sciousness and focuses its energy upon it. Illustration. — One is sitting in his room engaged in reading the morning paper. The clock is sitting upon the mantel shelf ticking away as loudly as usual, but he does not hear it clearly, though there is a sort of dim 88 Studies in Psychology consciousness of its ticking. Suppose some one says "Hows clearly the clock ticks!" Immediately he hears it clearly. That is to say, the mind brings clearly into consciousness the experience aroused by the ticking of the clock and focuses its energy upon it. Condition of Attention. — There are certain condi- tions which must exist in order to have attention of any kind, good, bad or indifferent. These may be grouped as follows : 1. The condition of the self stimulated. 2. The nature of the stimulus stimulating. In order to give good attention one must have a normal healthy nervous system and a normal mind in a healthy natural condition. No one suffering from disease, fatigue, worry, inferior or unhealthy nervous organization can rightly be expected to give vigorous and prolonged attention. It is a physical and mental impossibility. This may be summed up in the state- ment that one condition necessary to vigorous, prolonged attention is a healthy vigorous tone of the self, both mental and physical. From the student ^s point of view there are at any rate four things fatal to habits of vigorous, concentrated prolonged attention. They are as follows: 1. Food insufficient in quality or quantity. 2. Insufficient physical exercise. 3. Insufficient pure, fresh air. 4. Insufficient quantity of sleep. Food insufficient in quantity and quality affects the vigor and tone of the whole being physically. And the Studies in Psychology 89* relation between physical and mental is so close that the power of attention suffers in a corresponding degree. It is a law of life that a healthy state of any organ or system of organs is maintained only by a healthful amount of exercise. Lack of exercise brings on languor^ ennui and blase' . These conditions, due to the depen- dence of one's mental life upon the physical, make strongly against attention. Bad air is the bane not only of health in the school- room, but of comfort, vivacity and all that goes to make school life a pleasure and a success. Every adult should have 3,000 cubic feet of fresh air per hour, or fifty cubic feet per minute as the minimum for the best attention. Of course, people can live on a smaller quantity of fresh air. It is not the intention to say they can not. But it is the intention to say that vigorous, prolonged, concentrated attention can not be maintained to its maximum under any other conditions. Lack of sleep is a common and prolific source of poor attention in school work. No one who is sleepy can give very good attention to anything. It does not, how- ever, seem generally to be understood that every one should have as the minimum seven hours of sleep in every twenty-four preferably in a majority of cases from 11 :00 p. m. to 6 :00 a. m. It is worthy of emphasis that this is the minimum. It is also true that in the cases of most persons more than seven hours in twenty- four are demanded. Again it is not the inten- tion to say that one can not live on fewer than seven hours of sleep in every twenty-four, but it is the inten- 90 Studies in Psychology tion to say that he can not feel vigorous, happy, sweet- tempered ; in short, be his best self, continuously on less than seven hours of sleep in every twenty-four. It is certainly a well established truth that good attention demands seven or more hours of sleep in every twenty- four. The kind of stimulus has much to do with the attention. The reason why some things in themselves seem to attract and hold the attention is due to the stimulus they furnish. A blinding flash of lightning or a terrific crash of thunder will attract one's attention under almost any set of circumstances. A runaway horse dashing down the street will do the same thing. A story is told of a clergyman who, talking in loud, monotous tones, was astonished to see many of his con- gregation sleeping. He spoke a sentence or two in a hollow whisper and several of them awoke with a start. Thus change in the stimulus attracts attention. It is the quality of the stimulus which the teacher manipu- lates in holding the attention of his students. Classes of Attention on Basis of Direction. — At times one seems to be attending to things outside of his mind, and at other times he finds himself attending to things in his mind. Said in another way, sometimes one's attention is directed inward and sometimes out- ward. Thus on this basis there are two classes of atten- tion, and they are called: 1. External. 2. Internal. Studies in Psychology 91 External attention is that hind of attention the stimulus of which is outside the mind. Internal attention is that kind of attention the stimulus of which is in the mind. Illustration. — If one is sitting at his window and watching intently the frolics of the jaybirds among the trees upon his lawn, his attention is external. But if he is thinking of his own motives, hopes, aspirations, likes, dislikes, and so on, his attention is the internal kind. Classes of Attention on Basis of Effort. — By intro- spective study of our own attention we discover that at some times we give attention without any seeming effort, while at other times conscious effort is required to give attention. In the first case the attractiveness of the stimulus is so great that the mind is held to it without any apparent effort, while in the second case the stim- ulus fails to hold the mind. In either kind of attention there is involved some effort, but in the one kind the effort is not a conscious one, while in the other there is peculiarly a conscious effort. This difference in atten- tion gives basis for dividing attention into two classes : 1. Non-voluntary. 2. Voluntary. The following are formal definitions for them: Non-voluntary attention is that kind of attention in which no conscious effort is involved. Volimtary attention is that kind of attention in which a conscious effort is involved. It is popularly thought that voluntary attention is a much higher kind than the non-voluntary and that it 92 Studies in Psychology is the kind possessed by men and women of great ability, by geniuses. In fact one frequently hears it said that the only difference between the genius and the ordinary man is in the power of voluntary attention. A little introspective thought, though, shows that voluntary attention is not of long continuous duration with any one. AVhen the mind strays away from the object of attention, by an effort it is hauled back and forced upon it. But if the mind stays there very long, it will be found that what was voluntary attention has changed into the non-voluntary kind and the mind is held by the attractiveness of the stimulus. Unless there is such attractiveness about the object of attention, the mind can not stay there and no attention of any kind will exist for it. The effort of attention will prove to be spasmodic attempts at short intervals to hold the mind upon some object of consideration. Thus voluntary attention is a momentary aft'air and is itself very quickly exhausted in the effort. The attention of the genius is almost wholly of the non-voluntary kind. He attends with concentration to any object under consideration for a long time because it awakens so many new and interesting connections and suggests all sorts of pleasant associations, thus opening up various and multiform avenues of" thought. To the ordinary man not so richly endowed the con- nections are fewer, and since there is nothing to hold the mind, it soon wanders, and it is said to lack concentra- tion. Thus the ordinary mind has much more opportu- nity to exercise voluntary attention than the mind of the Studies in Psychology 93 genius. It is mucli more of a necessity for the ordinary mind to exercise voluntary attention than it is for the mind of the genius. Basis of Attention. — The basis of attention is interest. And by this is meant the mind gives attention to that in which it is interested and does not give atten- tion to that in which it has no interest. This is true, but what is interest? To the mind dissatisfied with vagueness, it is hardly sufficient merely to say or think that interest is the basis of attention. The meaning of interest must be made more definite. An examination of various cases of interest shows that when one is interested in a thing he has a feeling for that thing. Thus one's interest in a thrilling story is his feeling for that story; and a child's interest in sweetmeats is his feeling for sweetmeats. Thus interest is a feeling. But in interest there is always the addi- tional thought that the object or action in which the mind is interested is the cause of the feeling, and the mind so regards it. Thus the following definition of interest is reached : Interest is any feeling for an object or action which the mind regards the cause of the feeling. One's interest in art is his feeling for art, the mind regarding the art as the cause of the feeling. And a man's interest in his family is his feeling for his family accompanied by the idea that the family is the cause of the feeling. Classes of Interest. — An examination of one's inter- 94 Studies in Psychology ests shows that he is interested in some things because of themselves and in some other things not because of them- selves, but because they are a means to some other thing. Thus much of the routine of daily labor is done because not of interest in it as an end, but because of interest in it as a means to something beyond, the money received for it or some other kind of remuneration. One's inter- est in an absorbing piece of music or a thrilling narra- tion points to nothing beyond itself. It is exhausted in the act. This difference in our interests is basis for classifying them into : 1. Direct. 2. Indirect. The following are definitions for these two classes of interest: Direct interest is that hind of interest ivhich the mind has for something as an end. Indirect interest is that kind of interest which the mind has in something as a mere means to an end be- yond. Direct interest is the interest with which one works when he loves his work. It is the interest which fur- nishes the basis for most of life's happiness. It is the only kind of interest which is an effective guarantee of good work. Work in which there is a direct interest is invariably better done, and there is much pleasure in doing it. Work done with only an indirect interest is drudgery and the tendency always is to slight it. The art of correct living is largely included in learn- ing to do one's work with a direct interest in the neces- Studies in Psychology 95 sities and vicissitudes of daily life. All work however humble or hard may thus have pleasure in it. From the teacher's point of view the aim should always be to secure direct interest from the children in their work. And the teacher who is able to do this largely finds his opportunities for helping his children broad, and his satisfaction in his own endeavor deep. No teacher, though, can secure direct interest from all his pupils at all times. The varying conditions of life, the influences of heredity, the previous environment and disposition of children with their limitations of knowledge make it many times an impossibility. From which it turns out that some aspects of school work will always be drudgery to some children, much the same as some aspects of life's work will always be drudgery to many people. In such cases the work must be done with an indirect interest. People are often unaware that they are criticising themselves when they say that they can not get inter- ested in this or that. The natural healthy attitude of the mind is interest in all things. And to be unable to get interested in a thing is a sure indication of an un- healthy attitude of mind or of a mind with such a small store of knowledge that the new thing has few or no con- nections, or associations, or it may be an indication of both, as it frequently is. One who says he can not get interested in a thing is thus saying that he is so ignorant, that he does not know enough about it to be interested or that he is not healthy in mind. Thus one who is not able to get interested in a subject should look within for 96 Studies in Psychology the difficulty and not outward. He will also do well to keep still about it, unless it is the desire to show an ab- normal, unhealthy condition of his soul or an undevel- oped ignorant state of the self. From the above it is seen that people's interests are quite usually too shallow and too narrow. That is to say, most persons are not deeply enough interested in enough things. Most persons have a sort of fleeting shal- low interest in many things, but an intensive interest in a very few things. Thus their lives are touched very lightly by most things, and they live only a very small part of life's possibilities. Their lives can not be full and rich and strong. Only deep life interests in many things can make the current surge full and strong. The Law of Interest. — The question, Why is one interested in a thing at all? suggests itself. If one studies his own interests for a short time, he will find that he has interest in that which gives or promises pleasure or pain. If one is interested in studying or reading Tennyson 's Bugle Song, it is likely to be be- cause it gives him pleasure. The pleasure one has in a thing may be sensuous or intellectual, real or imagined. The child is interested in an apple or a stick of candy because of the sensuous pleasure it furnishes him. The advanced student is interested in his algebra problem because of the intellectual pleasure it furnishes him. The boy is not interested in a strapping he is exper- iencing because of the pleasure it furnishes, but because of pain. The traveler lost in the forest is not interested in the howling wolves because of the pleasure the howl- Studies in Psychology 97 ing of the wolves furnishes, but because of the pain, but he is just as truly interested. Thus not only agreeable things but disagreeable things as well awaken interest. There is more than one way for a thing to be made interesting. From the above study the following law of interest may be stated : The mind is interested in tvhatever gives or promises pleasure or pain. Laws of Attention. — -The following are statements for some of the most important laws of attention : 1. The mind can not attend to uninteresting things. 2. Attention to an unvarying stimulus can not long remain vigorous. 3. Attention centered on an unvarying stimulus tends to produce a hypnotic or comatose condition. 4. When the mind's power of attention is fatigued it may be rested by directing it into new channels or by giving one's self up to non- voluntary attention. Things entirely without interest never so much as find their way into consciousness and the mind can get no hold at all upon them to give them the attention. But many things which awaken a sort of fleeting interest never call forth a real effort of attention because of the shallow interest. The only way to secure effective atten- tion is to work for deep interest. We find time always in life's frantic struggle to attend to those things for which our interests are so strong that they have become passions. 98 Studies in Psychology It is a common observation as well as a common experience that monotony kills attention. That is to say lack of variety, sameness in stimulus or sensation always has a deadening influence on attention. A public speak- er who uses a monotonous tone fails to hold attention. A story repeated in an unvarying way ceases to hold attention. The mental capacity for action in any unvarying direction is small, and soon becomes exhausted. As soon as it is exhausted the attention in that direction must of course cease. Many experiments have been conducted to show that attention to an unchanging stimulus will stupefy one and throw him into a sort of unnatural sleep or into a sort of comatose state, a semi-conscious condition. It gives some rest when the mind becomes tired of attending to one line of work, say history, to direct it into new channels, such as arithmetic, or just to let the mind follow its own associations in a state of relaxa- tion. Such rest, though, is only a matter of redistribut- ing the mental energy and nervous energy. Real rest with an increase of nervous and mental power comes only from cessation of attention in sleep. Sleep is the great restorative for all sorts of mental and physical fatigue. Importance of Attention. — "There is a constant struggle on the part of sensations to survive in con- sciousness. That sensation which we allow to take the most forcible hold on the attention usually wins the day. If we sit by an open window in the country on a sum- Studies in Psychology 99 mer day, we may have many stimuli knocking at the gates of attention. ' ' Unless we select out some one thing and center the attention upon it, nothing but mental chaos results. If we give ourselves up to every passing stimulus we belong more to our environment than we do to ourselves. For the sake of the mental habit, one can not afford to do less than pay such attention to any public speaker, teacher, or preacher as that which would enable him to give the chief points in synopsis of the address, if called upon to do so. Practice in doing this very thing, giv- ing a synopsis of the address, is a most stimulating and helpful exercise in acquiring good habits of attention. Concentration. — Concentration, the power to focus the mind 's energy upon a small field of consciousness for periods of considerable duration, is frequently thought to be an absolutely necessary characteristic of marked ability. It is even thought that, if one does not possess this presumably happy power to a considerable degree, he can not amount to much as a thinker. A degree of power of concentration is a very desirable characteristic to possess, but there is a possibility of its being carried too far. Extreme concentration is absent-mindedness. It is the condition in which one forgets ever3i;hing except the subject of immediate thought : forgets to eat ; forgets to answer his letters ; forgets to keep his appointments ; forgets to speak to his friends; forgets what he goes to market for ; in short, forgets a thousand things which the highest success in life demands he should remember. 100 Studies in Psychology Then too much concentration, as well as too little, is at times both mentally and physically inconvenient. And it is not necessarily true that one must possess the power of concentration to a high degree in order to be a success in the world. Professor William James puts this truth well in the following : ' ' This concentrated type of attention is an elementary faculty; it is one of the things that might be ascertained and measured by exer- cises in the laboratory. But, having ascertained it in a number of persons, we could never rank them in a scale of actual and practical mental efficiency based on its degrees. The total mental efficiency of a man is the resultant of the working together of all his faculties. He is too complex a being for any one of them to have the casting vote. If any one of them do have the casting vote, it is more likely to be the strength of his desire and passion, the strength of the interest he takes in what is proposed. Concentration, memory, reasoning power, inventiveness, excellence of the senses — all are sudsid- iary to this. No matter how scatter-brained the type of a man's successive fields of consciousness may be, if he really care for his subject, he will return to it incessantly from his incessant wanderings, and first and last do more with it, and get more results from it, than another person whose attention may be more continuous during a given interval, but whose passion for the subject is of a more languid and less permanent sort. Some of the most efficient workers I know are of the ultra-scatter-brained type. *****! seriously think that no one of us need be too much distressed at his own short comings Studies in Psychology 101 in this regard. Our mind may enjoy but little comfort, may be restless and feel confused; but it may be ex- tremely efficient all the same.'' Read: 1. Angell's Psychology, pp. 64-90. 2. Pillsbury's Essentials of Psychology, pp. 104- 129. 3. James' Talks to Teachers on Psychology, pp. 91-115. 4. Dewey's Psychology, pp. 132-148. CHAPTER VIII. Apperception^ Self- Activity, Iterativeness, Rhythm. Nature of Apperception. — This is another attribute of the mind without which knowing would be an impos- sibility and without which feeling and willing would remain undeveloped. All learning is the mind's process of getting mean- ing. But to say this does not help much without one's having a perfectly definite idea of what meaning is. At first thought it seems that objects around one in the world have meaning, but a closer study shows that this is not the case. The mind in studying a thing appears to get meaning from it, it is true, but when it can not in any way connect a thing with its past experiences it gets no meaning from it. If the thing has small con- nection with the mind's experiences, the mind gets smaU meaning from it. If the thing has many connections with the mind's experiences, the mind gets much mean- ing. Thus in learning a thing the mind gets meaning from it just to the extent it has past experiences and can connect these with the present experiences. Now if the mind has had ever so many experiences but not like the ones the thing it is trying to learn arouses, it will get no meaning. Thus the mind connects the past and present experiences by seeing the likeness between them; but to Studies in Psychology 103 see likeness, there have at the least to be two things, and to be two things there must be differences. So the mind connects its experiences by seeing the likenesses and differences between them. And from the above truths the inference is that meaning is the likeness and difference between our ex- periences and is in the mind. But what makes one thing put us in mind of another? What enables the mind to connect its exper- iences, the present with the past? Apperception. Apperception is the attribute of mind which enables the mind to do this, that is, connect the present with the past experiences. But this is not all that apperception enables the mind to do. Apperception enables the mind to change itself permanently with each experience. Every exper- ience the mind has leaves the mind a little different from what it was before it had the experience. The mind may forget the most it has learned, but it never entirely loses the effect of the activity it put forth in learning it. The mind never is again after an experience just what it was before the experience. The effect of the experience becomes organized into the self. What Apperception Enables the Mind to Do. — From the above study it appears that the mind is able to do two things because of apperception. They are as follows : 1. It enables the mind to bring past experiences to bear upon the present experience in getting its mea/ning. 104 Studies in Psychology 2. It enables the mind to organize the effect of the present experience into itself. The mind learns only by bringing the past exper- ience to bear upon the present. It is to be noticed that it does this consciously some times but most usually un- consciously. Thus when one sees a flower and says that it is a beautiful rose, he is not usually conscious that he is bringing his past experience to bear upon the present, but he is so doing nevertheless. In some cases one is perfectly conscious he is bringing the past experience to bear upon the present one, but usually he is not. The organizing the effect of the experience into the self may appropriately be called ntental assinailation. The effect of the experience becomes a part of the tissue of the mind, so to speak, as the food becomes a part of the tissue of the body through physical assimilation. Definition of Apperceptio7i. — The following is the formal definition of apperception, obtained from the previous study: Apperception is that attribute of mind by virtue of which the mind brings its past experiences to bear upon the present experience in getting its meanijig, and by virtue of which the effect of the present experience is organized into the mind. Illustrations. — If one who knows nothing of geology were walking down a valley and should find a rock almost round, but having a plane surface as if it were worn off by holding it on a grindstone, he would prob- ably get much the same meaning as he would by looking at any other rock. But if a geologist should find it, he Studies in Psychology 105 would connect his past experience with that aroused by the rock and say it called to his mind an ice age, when tremendous ice fields covered all the northern part of Indiana. To one man it means much; to the other one, very little. Each brought his past experiences to bear upon the present, but one had little similar experience while the other had much. A child called a jardiniere of ferns "a pot of green feathers. ' ' The child had had experience with pots, with green things, and with feathers which it brought to bear upon the experience aroused by the jardiniere of ferns with which it had not had experience. A small boy called a locomotive "a big bow-wow."" He had had experiences with ' ' bow-wows, ' ' dogs, which he brought to bear upon the experience aroused by the locomotive with which he had not had experience. The south sea islanders called Captain Cook's goats ''horned hogs." They had had experiences with hogs and horns, which they brought to bear upon the exper- iences aroused by the goats with vv^hich they had not had experience. In each of the above cases the present experience was connected with the past in trying to get meaning. This the mind could do because of apperception. The Laws of Apperception.— There are two im- portant laws of apperception as follows: 1. When the mind sees that elements in an experi- ence are similar to those of a previous experience, it gives the new experience the same meaning as the old. 106 Studies in Psychology 2. The mind in learning naturally goes to the un- known from the nearest related known. Illustrations. — The first law is illustrated by the fol- lowing : A little girl just learning to talk learned what a pumpkin was from playing with a large round one just inside the garden gate. Then she called the moon, a marble, the sun, a ball and everything spherical in shape a pumpkin for a long time. The second law is illustrated by the following: A little boy called the chicken's wings its arms. Wings y the unknown, was gone to from arms, the nearest related known. Mastery of a Subject. — From the study of apper-* ception, it is easily seen that the mastery of any subject consists of three things, as follows : 1. The understanding of the subject. 2. Fixing it in mind. 3. Stating it in good language. The mind is able to understand any subject on ac- count of the first thing the mind does because of apper- ception. It is able to fix in itself anything because of the second thing the mind does on account of apper- ception. Stating a thing in good language helps, also, to fix anything in mind. 8 elf -activity. — In a sense probably everything in the universe possesses self-activity. Physicists tell us that the little particles of the stone, wood, soil and every- thing else are in a constant state of motion, or activity. This, however is not just the sense in which the term is Studies in Psychology 107 used in psychology. In the study here the term will be used in its psychological sense entirely. Nature of Self-activity. — Some idea of self-activity may be had by comparing objects which possess it with those which do not. A sewing machine acts in sewing, but always from a power without itself. A threshing machine acts, but the cause of its activity is not within itself. All machines act in a manner similar to the threshing machine and sewing machine ; that is, from a cause not within themselves. A plant acts in growing by taking food from the soil and air and making it over into plant tissue ; that is, by making it a part of itself. A horse acts from a cause within himself in taking food and changing it into horse flesh; and, also, by moving from place to place, he acts. The horse moves from place to place, takes his environment, breaks down its individ- uality and makes it a part of himself. The human body acts in moving from place to place, changing itself to fit its environment to suit its needs. The action of the plant, the horse, the human body, and also the mind are caused from within while the action of the machine is caused from without. The plant, the horse, the human body, and the human mind possess self-activity^ but the machine does not. The mind is thus self-active, since it possesses the attribute by which it causes itself to act. Definition of 8 elf -activity. — From the above study the following definition of self-activity is reached: Self -activity of the mind is that attribute by virtue of which the mind causes itself to act. 108 Studies in Psychology Law of Self-activity. — Without self-activity things never truly grow. Self-activity is at the basis of all growth. Everything which grows grows by means of self-activity. The mind grows by self-activity. The mind grows most when it is most self-active providing the activity is not carried to the extremity of exhaustion. Any activity may be carried so far that it ceases to be healthy and may result in breakdown or paralysis. Thus the law of self -activity may be stated as follows : The mind grows hy its own self-activity and grows most when exercised to the maximum healthful activity. Nature of Iterativeness. — This is another attribute of the mind as fundamental as consciousness or atten- tion. In brief iterativeriess means the tendency of the mind to repeat its phenomena. When the muscles of the arms and fingers perform the movements in making any character in writing for the first time or in playing the piano, the activity is done with difficulty and very unskillfuUy. Repeated attempts give more skill and success. Each act makes the per- formance a little easier to accomplish. Each act affected the muscles and the mind, and this effect remained with them in the form of a tendency. That is to say when an attempt was repeated the mind and muscles tended to act so as to make the action a little easier rather than to act in some other way. Thus each act of mind or muscle leaves a tendency. But what is a tendency ? We say the growing point of the stem of a plant has a tendency to grow upward, and the growing point of the root has a tendency to Studies in Psychology 109 grow downward. We fold a paper, and then say it has duck has a tendency to play in the water. What alJ a tendency to fold in the same place again. We say a these things are in the last analysis which we are ac- customed to call tendencies is a mystery. We can not define a tendency, but we can characterize it as follows : A tendency is a disposition to perform some activity. Definition of Iterativeness. — The mind possesses the characteristic by which it has a tendency to repeat its activities. The following is the formal definition of iterativeness : Iterativeness of the mind is that attribute hy virtue of which the mind tends to act again as it has acted. Function of Iterativeness. — It is difficult to estimate the value of iterativeness in one's mental life. Its value is so great that it can not be overestimated perhaps. The following are some of its functions : 1. It enables the mind and body to form habits. 2. It enables one to attain skill in activity. 3. It enables one to acquire arts, as walking, run- ning, skating, talking, writing, and so on. 4. It enables one to remember. Without iterative- ness there could be no memory. The Nature of Rhythm. — When the word, rhythm, is mentioned, most persons probably think of poetry and music. Poetry and music possess rhythm, it is true, but rhythm is not restricted to them. It belongs to almost everything in the world. Everything from a dewdrop to an ocean, from a snowflake to a glacier, from a pebble to 110 Studies IN Psychology a continent, possesses rhythm. Every leaf, every flower, and every blade of grass possesses rhythm. An examination of things possessiong rhythm al- ways shows that there is some characteristic, a departure from it and a return to it, and that things not possessing rhji^hm fail in this characteristic. Thus in a broad sense rhythm is as follows: Rhythm is the thing itself, the departure from that thing and the return to it. It does not matter what the thi^ig is, just so there is the de- parture from it and the return to it. The following is rhythmical : "The day is cold and dark and dreary; It rains and the wind is never weary." In this there is the sound symbolized by eary in the word, "dreary." This is the thing, and "It rains, and the wind is never w " is the departure from it. The return is the sound of eary in the word "weary." In the maple leaf rhythm is manifested by a portion on the right half always having a corresponding like portion on the left half, the parts between the like parts being different. One of the like parts is the thing, that between them is the departure from it, and the other like part is the return to it. The human mind possesses this tendency to act, to depart from the action, and to return to it. This is the mind's attribute of rhythm. Since the mind is rhythmical it likes rhythm in any- thing and dislikes that which is not rhythmical. The world is full of rhythm and the human mind longs for it. DefiniUon of BJiythm. — From the above study the Studies in Psychology 111 following formal definition of rhythm as an attribute of mind is reached : Rhythm of the mind is that attribute hy virtue of which the mind has an activity, departs from it and tends to return to it at regularly recurring periods. Function of Rhythm. — ^Without rhythm the activ- ities of the mind as well as all other of life's activities would lack order, system, regularity and harmony. Thus the following is the function of rhythm: 1. By rhythm the mind introduces order, regular- ity, system, and harmony into lifers manifold and com- plex activities. CHAPTER IX. Mental Activities. Nature of Mental Activity. — By observation of one 's own mind he can see that at one time he is thinking of probably arithmetic, and at another time of gram- mar ; at one time he is sad, and at another time happy ; at one time angry, and at another time in good humor; at one time striving to direct his activities, at another time resting. That is to say, one sees his mind different at different times. And for this reason he knows that his mind changes, that he sees it in different conditions at different times. Now mental activity is the presupposition of the mind's being in different conditions at different times. Classes of Mental Activities. — By looking into our minds to study their activities we are able to see that at some times our minds are almost wholly occupied in thinking ; again they are depressed with sorrow or elated with joy ; and at other times the mind seems to be doing nothing much but striving to direct its activities and the activities of the body. These distinctions among the mind's activities give basis for dividing them into three groups : 1. Knowing. 2. Feeling. 3. Willing. Studies in Psychology 113 Order of These Activities. — The order of these activities may be seen from almost any common illustra- tion. For instance we read of the storm which devas- tated Galveston a few years ago, and understood that the people were left in desolation — knowing; we sympa- thized with them and were sorry for them — feeling; we directed our activities to send them money, food, and clothing — willing. Thus in any complete act of the mind the order of development is knowingy feeling, and willing. Nature of Knowing. — In general all knowing is the mind^s process of getting meaning. But that this state- ment may not be misleading the term, meaning, must be thoroughly understood. Most persons, at first thought, would probably say that meaning is something which objects in the external world have. That is to say, meaning seems to be in the books, in trees, in rivers, in flowers, and so on. But strictly speaking this is an error. Careful thinking shows that things very unlike what the mind has ever experienced seem to have very little meaning for it. And this truth carried on out shows that, if it were possible to find anything entirely different from anything the mind has ever experienced, the mind would get absolutely no meaning from it. Again, two persons look at the word, ohliviscor, and while one gets no meaning from it, to the other, it means, I forget. So no two persons get precisely the same meaning from an object or event which they see. An object or event stimulates to an activity of the mind, and, if the mind has had past mental activities of a sim- 114 Studies in Psychology ilar character to connect the present activity with, it is said the mind gets meaning. Thus meaning is a thing which is in the mind. That is to say, meaning is rela- tion; and further, it is the relation between present men- tal experiences and past mental experiences. But to trace this thought out further is to study experience and relation. Experience will be found by accurate thought to mean any change, or activity, and any mental experience is any mental change, or activity. Relation is the connection between the mind's experiences. It is the likeness and difference between the mind's experiences. Definition of Knowing. — From the above study the following definitions of knowing are got: Knowing is the mind's process of getting meaning. Meaning is the relation between the mind's experiences. Experiences are changes, or activities. Relation is the likeness and difference between the mind's experiences. Knowing is the mind's process of grasping the rela- tion between its present and past experiences. Discriminating and Unifying. — Discriminating is seeing differences and unifying is seeing likenesses. The mind in knowing sees differences and likenesses between its experiences and thus discriminates and unifies. Thus knowing is both discriminating and miifying. The mind always discriminates first in knowing and unifies secondly. One thing necessary in knowing a maple tree is to see the difference between the mental activity it arouses and the mental activity aroused by the oak tree ; Studies in Psychology 115 and a second thing necessary is to see the likeness between the activity aroused by the maple tree and the activity aroused by maple trees in the past. The mind is not always reflectively conscious that it is seeing the likeness and difference between its exper- iences, but it sees them just the same. Thus we arrive at a third definition of knowing: Knowing is the mind's process of, first, seeing the differ- ences, and, secondly, the likenesses between its exper- iences. All Knowing Indirect. — There is no way for the mind to get meaning directly from an object. The past experience must always come in as a means in knowing. This truth leads to the statement that all knowing is indirect. That is to say, in knowing, the experience aroused by any object is always referred to the past experience, and this act of reference to the past exper- ience makes the knowing indirect. Function of Knowing. — The question here is. Why does the mind want to know? What good is there in knowing? Careful reflection on this point leads us to believe that the mind needs to know that it may direct itself and the body to act as they should. There would be no need for knowing if there was no acting to be done. If one always knew the best thing to do next he would have no further need for knowledge. He would be as wise as he needs be. Thus knowledge ultimately has its end in activity. Wisdom and Virtue. — ^Wisdom thus consists in knowing what is best to do next. If one possesses knowl- 116 Studies in Psychology edge which never in any way guides in knowing what is best to do next, it is not a part of one's wisdom. It violates the origin and function of knowledge. It is useless. Thus the difference between wisdom and knowledge appear. One is wise only to the extent to which he knows what is best to do next. Thus wisdom consists in knowing what is best to do next under any set of circumstances, and virtue consists in doing it. Nature of Feeling. — In general feeling is the agree- able or disagreeable aspect of our experiences. Every experience the mind has changes it both temporarily and permanently. The mind never is after an exper- ience quite what it was before the experience. Some of these experiences change the mind for the better and some change it for the worse, but all change it perma- nently in some way. This change of the self by an ex- perience is called the value of an experience. The value of an experience may be stated as follows : The value of an experience is the effect of the exper- ience on the self. Experiences have two values to the self: 1. Positive. 2. Negative. If the experience is in harmany with the growth toward well-being, the experience has a positive value; that is, if it furthers development toward well-being, it has a positive value to the self. If the experience is not in harmony with growth toward well-being, it has a 7ieg- ative value. That is to say, if the experience hinders the Studies in Psychology 117 development toward well-being it has a negative value to the self. Now the mind has the ability of becoming aware, to a greater or less extent, of the value of experiences to itself. That is to say, the mind is aware or thinks it is aware, at least, when it has an experience, whether the experience furthers or hinders its growth in well-being. It is no doubt true that experiences are unfavorable to the growth in well-being, even when the mind regards them as favorable. And it holds equally true that an experience may be favorable to growth in well-being, yet the mind regard it as unfavorable. When the self has an experience, and becomes aware, or supposes it is aware, of the value of this experience to the self, the condition, or state, of mind which results is feeling. Genesis of Feeling. — By genesis of feeling is meant the series of mental changes which result in feeling in specific instances. Thus one is not in sorrow, but later finds himself sad. Now, the question is. What series of changes of the self led to the feeling of sadness? This series is the genesis of feeling. A careful study of the genesis of feeling reveals the following steps in it : 1. An experience. 2. Value of experience. 3. Awareness of value of experience. 4. Resultant state of mind — feeling. Illustratio7i. — A fire is pleasant on a cold day. The pleasure is a feeling. The fire stimulates one to an 118 Studies in Psychology experience. This experience furthers one's well-being — the value of the experience. The mind either consciously or unconsciously recognizes this value — the awareness of the value of the experience. The resultant pleasure — the state of mind, the feeling. Definition of Feeling. — The following definition for feeling grows out of the genesis of feeling: Feeling is the state of mind which results from the mind's becoming aware of the value of an experience to the self. An analysis of this definition reveals the following points in it : 1. A state of mind. 2. An experience. 3. The value of an experience. 4. Becoming aware. 5. The self. By state of mind is meant the disturbed or agitated condition of consciousness. It is a deeper thing than what is usually called a mental activity. In the activity of a muscle, the whole muscle acts together, but the individual molecules in the muscle act, too. The ac- tivities of the mind are comparable to the activities of the muscle as a whole, while the state of mind is compar- able to the molecular action. It is an activity, but an unobtrusive, subtle activity of the self. Feeling is always a state, or condition, of the mind, and is always an accompaniment of activity or exper- ience. An experience, as before seen, is any change, or Studies in Psychology 119 activity, whatever. It is what the feeling accompanies^ and what feeling indirectly results from. The value of an experience is tJie effect of the exper- ience on the life of the person. This effect is in part temporary and in part permanent. One thing about it is certain, one's experiences organize his life, build his character, for a higher or lower destiny. Becoming aware is the recognition by the mind either consciously or unconsciously of the value of an experience to the self. The thing become aware of is thus the value of the experience. It is not meant that the mind always reflectively and consciously thinks out the value of the experience to the self, but that it uncon- sciously, or implicitly, responds so as to indicate that this is what it has done. The self in the widest sense is both the body and the mind. Thus there is a physical self and a mental self. The physical self is the self-active, self-adjusting organ- ism called the body. The mental self is the original power of the mind to know, feel, and will plus the effect of its experiences on it. Forms of Feeling. — All feeling is divided into the following large forms, not classes : 1. Love, or like. 2. Hate, or dislike. 3. Indifference. Love, or Like. — When the mind has an experience which it regards as having a positive value to the self the feeling which arises is love, or like. The formal defi- nition is as follows : Love is the feeling which arises 120 Studies in Psychology when the mind has an expet^ience ivhich it regards as having a positive value to the self. It has sometimes been taught that we can love only persons, and that we liJte all other things. Such teach- ing is purely arbitrary and unwarranted. It is entirely correct to say we love flowers, poetry, paintings, music, truth, beauty, and goodness. One finds the term, love, so used in good English. "Any object whatever may become an object of love or hatred, though it is usual to restrict these terms to higher objects." — Dewey. Hate, or Dislike. — If the mind has an experience which it regards as having a negative value to the self, the feeling which arises is hate, or dislike. The formal definition is as follows : Hate is the feeling which arises when the mind has an experience which it regards as having a negative value to the self. Indifference. — There is perhaps no such thing as entire indifference with respect to anything, but there are various degrees of it. The term, indifference, names a mental state and it should be studied and described in psychology. If the mind regards the experience as having little or no value to the self, the state of mind which arises is indifference. The following is the formal definition: Indifference is that state of mind which arises when the mind has an experience which it regards as having little or no value to the self. The Function of Feeling. — It is difficult to appre- ciate the value of feeling in the life of the individual. Studies in Psychology 121 Its functions can not well be overestimated. The three following points indicate these to some extent: 1. It makes life w^orth living. 2. It is a guide in human action. 3. It is the mainspring to all human activity. Without feeling life would not be worth living. It is impossible to conceive what one would want to live for, if all feeling were taken out of life. No joy, no hope, no love, no happiness, nor pleasure would bless one's life, if there were no feeling. Feeling is thus the wine of life. Feeling is a sort of safeguard which nature has. thrown around us. Feeling ahvays accompanies activ- ity. If the activity furthers the gro\vi:h toward well- being, a pleasant feeling accompanies it to urge, us to repeat the activity for the development it furnishes. If the activity hinders gro\^i:h toward well-being, a dis- agreeable feeling accompanies it to urge us to avoid the activity because of the hindrance to development. Thus feeling is a guide in action. However it may seem one is always ultimately guided by his feeling. Feeling urges to activity; that is, it is a spring to action. Everything which one intentionally does, he does because of feeling; because he loves somebody or something. Thus love of truth has produced science and philosophy ; love of beauty, architecture, sculpture, painting, music and poetry; also, many other beautiful things ; love of society, the family, the church, the school and the state; love of goodness, ethics. Nature of Willing. — A short accurate statement for 122 Studies in Psychology willing is willing is the mind^s process of controlling its impulses. Willing is a complex process involving both know- ing and feeling, being characterized by sttnving to act in some way. The process of willing always begins with jun impulse. Impulse is an excess of energy, or a sur- plus of force. Impulse produces some sort of activity. The impulses which urge the little child to throw his arms and legs about in any direction before he is old enough to control himself are good examples of im- pulses. By a rather complex process in willing impulse is changed into desire. Desire is a feeling directed toward something which it is thought will satisfy that feeling. Desire in the process of willing is changed into choice. Then lastly the mind directs the activities of the self toward the realization of the choice; that is, toward carrying out the choice. Definition of Willing. — The following are both ac- curate definitions of willing: 1. Willing is the mind's process of controlling its impulses. 2. Willing is the process in which the mind changes impulses into desire, desire into choice, and in which the mind tries to realize the choice. An analysis of this definition shows the following points in it: , 1. Impulse. 2. Desire. 3. Choice. Studies in Psychology 123 4. The process by which impulse becomes desire. 5. The process by which desire becomes choice. 6. The process by which the mind seeks to realize the choice. Impulse as seen before is a surplus of force. It furnishes the power to make the whole process of willing go. Desire is a feeling for anything which the mind thinks will satisfy the feeling. Thus one's desire for a drink is his feeling for the drink with the additional point that the mind thinks the drink will satisfy the feeling. And so it is with every desire. A careful analysis of the process by which impulse becomes desire shows the following points involved in it : 1. The mind is conscious of its real condition. 2. The mind sees an ideal condition of itself. 3. The mind compares these two. 4. The mind decides which is better. 5. A feeling of dissatisfaction arises. 6. A desire arises. Illustration. — A student knows of a lecture, which arouses an impulse in him. He is at home — his real con- dition; he thinks of his being at the lecture — the ideal condition; he compares these two; he decides that to be at the lecture is better than to be at home ; he is dissatis- fied to be at home, and so desires to have himself at the lecture. In the process of changing the desire into choice there may be involved a conflict of desires; that is, the mind may desire two things or more, the possession of 124 Studies in Psychology one of which precludes the possession of the other or others. In the illustration given the student probably- desired to stay at home and study his lesson, but he also desired to be at the lecture. Since he could not both go to the lecture and stay at home, there was a conflict of the two desires. ^ The selecting the desire to go to the lecture and dropping the other out of mind was the choice. Thus choice is selecting a desire and dropping out of mind any other desire in conflict with it. The thing chosen is thus a desire. An analysis reveals the following in the process by which desire becomes choice: 1. Two or more desires before the mind. 2. The mind compares these. 3. The mind decides which is better. 4. The selecting of the better one — the choice. The process in which the mind tries to realize the choice, consists in the mind's directing the mental and physical activities to perform the deed. The directing is purely mental, but the activities directed may be either mental or physical. In the above illustration, the mind's directing the physical activities of going to the lecture was the process in which the mind was trying to realize the choice. The process of realizing the choice may be short or may continue through years. . It may be extremely difficult and complex, and never is entirely simple. The Functions of Willing. — Repeated acts of the Studies in Psychology 125 will give self-control and character. Thus the functions of the will are in general two : 1. Self-control. 2. Character. Self-control is of three kinds: physical, prudential, and moral. Character is of two kinds: good and bad. Intellect, Feelmg, and Will. — We must distinguish between a power of mind and the resulting activity. Thus one may have the power to run and not be running at all. Thus there is a distinction betAveen the power to run and the activity of running. Intellect is a power of mind, the power to know. Knowing is an activity and the intellect is the power which is back of the activity of knowing. The following is a formal definition for intellect : Intellect is the power by which the mind grasps the relation between its present and past experiences. In a similar way feeling and will may be defined as powers, as follows: Feeling is the power of having agreeable and dis- agreeable aspects to our experiences. The will is the mind's power of controlling its impulses. Opposition between Knowing, Feeling and Willing. — Knowing, feeling and willing oppose each other to some extent. Thus one can not know and feel and will to the maximum at the same time. If most of the men- tal energy is employed in knowing, feeling and willing are weakened. Or if one is feeling to the maximum, it opposes knowing and willing. The expression, one is 126 Studies in Psychology so angry he has no sense, means feeling opposes the best work of the intellect. All in All. — In every complete mental activity knowing, feeling and willing are all involved. There is no complete activity of the mind which is just knowing or just feeling or just willing. All are involved in every complete activity. Thus all is in all in psychology. If the predominating element in an activity is know- ing, the act is called one of knowing ; if it is feeling, the act is called one of feeling; if it is willing, the act is caUed one of willing. Thus mental activities are named on the basis of their predominating element. CHAPTER X. The Sensation. Nature of the Sensation. — The sensation is the first, most primitive, and least developed conscious mental activity which the mind ever has. It is the first con- scious step in the mental changes succeeding the physical changes in one 's life. It is the first conscious step across from the purely physical to the mental. It is the first consciousness resulting from external stimulus. If one places his hand on a chestnut burr, it acts as a stimulus, which excites the peripheral nerve ending. This disturbance of the peripheral nerve ending extends along the nerve fiber to the brain and there arouses a disturbance. This disturbance of the brain is followed by a disturbance in the mind from which there results a state of consciousness. It is this resultant state of con- sciousness which is the sensation. Thus the succession of steps leading up to and in- cluding the sensation are: 1. Stimulus. 2. Excitation of peripheral nerve ending. 3. Transmission of impulse. 4. Disturbance in the brain. 5. Corresponding mental disturbance. 6. The resultant state of consciousness, that is, the sensation itself. 128 Studies in Psychology Stimulus, as before seen, is always some kind of motion which comes in contact with some part of the nervous system. Thus the stimulus of hearing is motion in the air ; the stimulus of sight is motion of the ether ; the stimulus of touch is motion in the molecules of matter; the stimulus of the muscular sense is motion in the muscles. Impulse is an excess of energy, or a surplus of force. Thus in the transmission of the impulse one particle of nervous matter has an excess of energy and strikes against another particle and transfers some of its energy to it; and it in turn strikes the next, trans- ferring some of its energy to it, and so on till the impulse reaches the brain. Then the disturbance spreads and produces a small or large disturbance in the brain, depending upon the force of the stimulus and the ten- sion in the brain. Just how a disturbance of the mind results from the disturbance in the brain is not known. If this were known the exact connection between the mind and the body could probably be worked out. In our present state of knowledge this connection is a mystery. But we know positively that there does result a mental disturb- ance. It is this mental disturbance which arouses con- sciousness; that is, arouses the sensation. And since one can no more be conscious without being conscious of something than he can eat without eating something, the sensation is the consciousness of the mental disturbance. Definition of Sensation. — The sensation may be de- Studies in Psychology 129 fined as follows: The sensation is the first state of con- sciousness resulting from external stimulus. The popular notion of sensation is usually vague. It is not uncommon to hear the term, sensation, used for stimulus and impulse. Sensation is often thought of as a physical thing, and is spoken of as being transmitted. No sensation is a physical thing and no sensation is ever transmitted. Four steps leading to the sensation are physical, but the sensation itself is a state of conscious- ness, and consciousness is purely a mental thing. Classes of Sensations, — There are two classes of sensations : 1. General, or organic. 2. Special. General, or organic, sensations are those which give us a knowledge of the ill-being or well-being of our bod- ies, and have no special sense organs. Any organ of the body which has nerves is an organ of general sensation. Pai7i, fatigue, hunger, and thirst are general sensations. Special sensations are those which give us a knowl- edge mainly of objects around us, and have special sense organs. Light, soimd, odor, and flavor are special sensations. Characteristics of Sensations. — Sensations have three characteristics. They are as follows: 1. Quality. 2. Intensity. 3. Duration. Quality. — The quality of sensations is the main dif- ference between sensations. It is it more than anything 130 Studies in Psychology else which enables the mind to tell the differences among material objects. No two objects stimulate the mind to quite the same sensations in quality. The mind knows hot from cold, rough from smooth, sweet from sour, white from black, one man from another, and so on because of a difference in the quality of the sensa- tions. Causes of Difference in Quality. — There are several causes of the difference in the quality of sensations, some of which are the following: 1. Difference in the quality of the stimulus. This is the main cause of the difference in the quality of sensations. The song of the robin gives different sen- sations from the song of a hen, the lowing of cows, dif- ferent from neighing of horses. The rose gives different sight sensations from those given by the lily. A feather gives different touch sensations from those given by a stone. A carnation gives different sensations of smell from those given by the hyacinth. An apple gives dif- ferent taste sensations from those given by a strawberry. These differences in the quality of sensations are all due to differences in the quality of the stimuli. 2. Difference in the sense organ stimulated. If the same stimulus, as an electrical current, be applied to the eye and the ear, sensations different in quality result. 3. The time for which the stimulus acts may change the quality of the sensation. After one looks at red for a long time it may appear green. 4. The intensity of sensation changes its quality. Studies in Psychology 131 A moderate degree of warmth is pleasant. But by in- creasing the stimulus the sensation becomes painful. A light gives a pleasant sensation. But increase its intens- ity and a place is reached where it becomes painful. Intensity. — The intensity of the sensation means the force with which a sensation affects one. It is very well illustrated by the difference in the sensations aroused by a light of ten candle power and one of sev- enty-five candle power, or by the difference in the sen- sation aroused by a kerosene lamp and by that of an electric light. Causes of Difference of Intensity. — The following are causes of the difference in the intensity of the sen- sation : 1. The intensity of the stimulus. The cause of the difference in the intensity of the sensation aroused by a candle and by the sun is that the stimulus from the sun is more intense than the stimulus from the can- dle. Also, the cause of the difference in the intensity of the sensation from the report of a rifle and from a peal of thunder is in the intensity of the stimulus. 2. The attention the mind gives it. If the atten- tion is centered on the pain from a slight wound, it becomes more intense. If no attention is given to wounds they often are not at all painful. 3. The conditon of mind and body. A noise that gives but a slight sensation when one is feeling well gives a much more intense sensation when one is not feeling well. "If we have a headache, a noise that we should not ordinarily notice may seem unbearable." 132 Studies in Psychology 4. Contrast in stimulus. ' ' Let A be a bowl of cold water; B, a bowl of hot water; C, a bowl of lukewarm water. Plunge the right hand into A, the left into B; then withdraw both and plunge them into C. The luke- warm water will seem warm to the right hand, cold to the left." Thus contrast affects the intensity of the sensation. Limits of Sensation. — Our sensations do not ac- quaint us with all the phenomena of the world in which we live. In fact they acquaint us with only a small part of it. Thus the ear can not acquaint most persons with vibrations in the air below thirty per second and above 36,000 per second. There are vibrations in the air below thirty and above 36,000 per second, but we have no sensations to give us a knowledge of them. We have no sense which gives us sensations of the vibrations of ether before they reach 18,000,000 per second, when we get sensations of heat. Then there is a jump to the sensation of light at about 462,000,000,- 000,000 per second, which gives red. They increase as we pass from one color to another until about 733,000,- 000,000,000 per second is reached, which gives violet. Beyond this the eye does not give us sensations, so all is darkness. Thus our sensations are limited to a very small amount of the phenomena in the world about us. There is no knowing how the world would appear if we had a dozen more senses. The Threshold of Sensation. — *' There is always in- ertia to be overcome in rousing nervous matter. A cer- Studies in Psychology 133 tain amount of stimulus is expended in this. If no more is added, there is no sensation. When the inertia is once overcome, the sensation will perist for a time after the cessation of the stimulus. Atmospheric vibrations at the rate of ten per second do not sufficiently stimulate the brain to render us conscious of sound. When they reach a minimum of from sixteen to thirty, they enter the threshold of human consciousness; and at a maxi- mum of 36,000, they pass out by the upper threshold. The cat can hear sounds inaudible to man, and hence has a lower aural threshold." Thus sensations have two thresholds: 1. Upper. 2. Lower. Intensity of Sensation not Proportional to Intensity of Stimulus. — The increase in the intensity of the sensa- tion is not proportional to the increase in the intensity of the stimulus. '* Within certain limits, any sensory stimulus may be augmented without increasing the sensation. We should not perceive increased intensity in a sound when augmented one-fourth. An ounce might be added to two pounds without detection by the pressure sense. The additional stimulus necessary to increase the inten- sity of a sensation varies for different senses. Sound must be increased one-third; light, only one one-hun- dredth." Thus doubling the stimulus in intensity does not double the sensation in intensity. Duration. — The duration of the sensation has refer- 134 Studies in Psychology ence to the time which it lasts. Thus the difference be- tween a whole note and a half note of the same pitch, intensity, and quality, is in their duration. Again, some tastes endure for a long time while others disappear quickly ; that is, the duration of some is greater than of others. The Local Sign of Tactile Sensations. — There is something about touch, or tactile, sensations which en- ables the mind to know the point of application of the stimulus. Thus when the foot is touched the mind does not make the mistake of thinking it is the face which is touched. This characteristic of the sensation is the local sign. The formal statement for it is as follows: The local sign of tactile sensations is that characteristic of them which enables the mind to tell the point of appli- cation of the stimulus. Aspects of the Sensation. — If one should put his hand upon a hot stove, the sensation got would (1) enable him to know something; (2) give pain; and (3) stimulate him to act. Thus there are three aspects to the sensation as follows: 1. Intellectual. 2. Emotional. 3. Volitional. The intellectual aspect of the sensation is that one which enables the mind to get knowledge from the sensa- tion. It furnishes the basis for the development of knowing. The emotional aspect of the sensation is that aspect Studies in Psychology 135 which is pleasurable or painful. It furnishes the basis for the development of feeling. The volitional aspect of the sensation is that aspect which urges to action. It furnishes the basis for the development of willing. Comparison of General and Special Sensations. — The following points in the comparison of general and special sensations are worthy of study: 1. General sensations enable the mind to know the ill-being or well-being of the body; the special, mainly the outside world. 2. General sensations have no special sense organs ; the special have. 3. The knowledge got through general sensations is vague, while that obtained through special sensations is much more definite. 4. The emotional aspect predominates in the gen- eral sensations; the intellectual, in the special. 5. General sensations have no special brain areas; special have. Pain, hunger, fatigue and thirst as examples of general sensations give one only a knowledge of the ill- being or well-being of the body. This is the function of the general sensations. Color, odor, sound, flavor and so on, special sensations, give one a knowledge mainly of objects in the outside world, though not wholly. The mind can also get a knowledge of the body through special sensations. Any part of the body containing nerves is an organ of general sensation; not so, in regard to the special 136 Studies in Psychology sensations. Their organs are the eyes, the ears, the nose, and so on — special organs. Pain, fatigue, and so on, general sensations, do not give definite knowledge. The knowldege got through them is general and vague. Sound, flavor, odor, and color, special sensations, give definite knowledge. General sensations are mainly painful or pleasur- able. This is the most important thing about them. But the most important thing about the special sensations is their value to the intellect. They enable the mind to get knowledge. General sensations are not aroused by impulses being carried to special brain areas. Any part of the cortex of the brain seems to be connected with general sensations. Sight sensations, auditory sensations and so on have special brain areas. Read: 1. Pillsbury's Essentials of Psychology, pp. 60-103. 2. Angell's Psychology, pp. 91-121. 3. Dewey's Psychology, pp. 27-44. CHAPTER XI. The Senses. The Nature of a Sense. — A sense is wholly a mental thing. It is not made up of nerve endings, tissues, blood vessels nor cells. It is not a physical thing at all. It is entirely mental. It is a sense which enables the mind to get sensations. The following is the formal statement for it: A sense is the mind's power to get sensations. Thus the sense of sight is the mind's power to get sensa- tions of color; the sense of hearing is the mind's power to get sensations of sound; smell, the mind's power to get sensations of odor. **A sense is not an organ or group of nerve-ends, but a power of the mind. A sense is the mind's power to receive impressions of the outer world by means of a particular set of nerves, or part of the nervous system. For example, the sense of smell is the mind 's power to be impressed through the agency of the olfactory nerves and their special connection in the brain." Classes of Senses. — There are in general two classes of senses: 1. General, or organic. 2. Special. Pain, hunger, thirst and fatigue are sensations got through the general sense. It will be seen that their function is chiefly to inform one of the ill-being or well- 138 Studies in Psychology being of the body ; also, that they have no special organs. Any part of the body having nerves is an organ of the general sense. Thus the hands, the eye, the stomach, the heart and the liver are organs of the general sense. The definition of the general sense is as follows: The general sense is that sense which gives one a knowledge of the ill-being or well-heing of the hody and has no special organs. Color, sound, odor, and flavor are sensations got through the special senses. Their functions, it is seen, are mainly to give us knowledge of objects in the outside world. They have special organs. Thus the eye is the organ of color sensation ; the ear, of sound sensation ; the nose, of odor sensations ; and the mouth, of flavor sensa- tions. The definition of a special sense is as follows ; A special se7ise is that hind of sense which gives us mainly a knoivledge of objects around us, and which has special organs. The Special Senses. — The special senses are seven in number, though not long ago it was thought that there were only five. If they be named accordingly as they give most knowledge during one's whole life under normal conditions, they are as f oUow^s : 1. Sight. 2. Hearing. 3. Touch. 4. Smell. 5. Taste. 6. Muscular. 7. Temperature. Studies in Psychology 139 The Temperature Sense. — ''Next to the organic sense in its generality, is the Thermal, or Temperature Sense, yielding the sensations of heat and cold. This sense was formerly not distinguished from that of touch, for the reason that its nerve ends are distributed through the skin. But experimentation finally estab- lished the fact that these sensations arise from the ex- citation of separate nerve ends devoted to this purpose. Some of these are susceptible only to contacts of rela- tively high temperature, and are known as heat spots; others only to contacts of low temperature, and are known as cold spots. These are closely interspersed throughout the skin, but may be located by the use of a metal pencil or needle. If this when heated be touched to a 'cold spot,' only the sensation of contact will be felt ; the same will be true if a cold point touches a ' heat spot.' It should be remembered that 'heat and cold are only skin deep. ' The temperature of the blood, and con- sequently of the flesh, does not vary greatly with the changes of atmospheric temperature. The temperature of the blood is confined within the range from 95" t 106 ** Fahrenheit, the normal temperature being from 97° to 98.5°. Sidney Smith, on a hot day, wished to 'take off his flesh and sit in his bones. ' It would have answered as well to take oft' his skin only." There are the two following reasons why the temperature sense is to be considered a separate sense from the touch : 1. They have separate nerve fibers and nerve end- ings. 140 Studies in Psychology 2. Their delicacy does not vary in the same way over different parts of the body. The tip of the tongue, the ends of the fingers and the lips are most sensitive to touch, while the cheek, not very sensitive to touch, is the most sensitive to temperature. The Muscular Sense. — The muscular sense and touch are so closely connected that formerly they were not discriminated. And there are some psychologists now who do not regard it as a separate sense. But it is better regarded a separate sense. There are afferent nerve fibers which have their peripheral ending in the muscles. When the muscles act or are at rest these fibers carry impulses into the brain and there result muscular sensations. The mental power to get sensations of motion and resistance from sensory nerve fibers having their peripheral ends in the muscles is the muscular sense. The chief sensations got through this sense are the sensations of movement and resistance. Both measure muscular energy which is being put forth. Without the aid of other senses the mind learns muscular movement, its distance and direction; also, the amount of energy put forth in Overcoming resistance in any form what- ever, weight, hardness, or rigidity. Ideas Got from Muscular Sense. — Through the var- ious muscular sensations the mind gets ideas of motion, extension, distance, direction, weight, hardness, softness, rigidity and pliahility. The muscular sense is thus seen to be a very import- ant sense. It gives us the original ideas which furnish Studies in Psychology 141 the basis for geometry and physics. Without the mus- cular sense our progress in getting acquainted with the external world would be very slow if not impossible. The Sense of Taste. — Taste is that special sense whose end organs are the taste huds in the tongue. This is a statement for taste in a strict sense. What is usual- ly called taste is really a combination of three senses: taste proper, smell, and touch. It is a common observa- tion that when anything affects the sense of smell, a bad cold, for instance, our food tastes different. And much of the pleasure which comes from eating jellies, ices, etc., is derived from touch and the temperature sense. There are on the tongue papillae which give the roughness to the tongue, and in these papillae are taste buds. Soluble substances reduced to liquid form soak into these taste buds and stimulate them. From these stimuli there result the sensations of taste. The distinct tastes are four in number : sweet, sour, salt, and hitter. There are many combinations of these four. Such so-called tastes as puckery, pungent, and hot are not regarded by psychologists as tastes, properly speaking. They are called mechanical effects. "All these 'mechanical effects' belong really to the class of organic sensations. ' ' Functions of Taste. — The functions of taste are in general three: 1. It has been called the ' ' sentinel of the stomach. ' ' 142 Studies in Psychology 2. It gives points of knowledge about substances in the external world. 3. It gives us a great deal of pleasure. The Sense of Smell. — The sense of smell is that special sense whose organ is the nose. Hidden away in the upper cavities of the nose are two small patches of mucous membrane. In these are distributed the olfactory nerves, the nerves of smell. They are affected by gas- eous particles of matter coming in contact with them, and there result the odor sensations. ''These nerve ends are extremely sensitive and may be stimulated by inconceivably small portions of matter. It has been calculated that three one hundred millionths of a grain of musk can be distinctly smelled ; and a sub- stance called mercaptan can be smelled in still more minute quantities.'' Odors are many in number but they do not have definite names. They are usually grouped as: 1. Agreeable. 2. Disagreeable. These terms are not definite in meaning, but very vague. The effects of ammonia, horse-radish, pepper, snuff, and dust are not considered as sensations of smell, properly speaking. They more properly belong to the organic sense. Functions of Smell. — The functions of smell are similar to those of taste. They are three in number. 1. Smell is a sentinel to the stomach and the respi- ratory organs. Studies in Psychology 143 2. Smell gives us ideas of many substances in the external world. 3. Smell gives us a great deal of pleasure. ''Confusion of Taste and Smell. — The confusion of taste and smell is a very common experience. Many sub- stances, as fruits and cakes or confectionery containing certain 'flavoring extracts/ as vanilla, peppermint, etc., when taken into the mouth and subjected to its heat and moisture and the process of chewing, give off vapors which rise from the pharynx into the upper cavities of the nose and produce sensations of smell. These, occur- ring in such close connection with real sensations of taste, are not discriminated from them, and all go in as Haste.' The so-called cooking extracts have no true tastes, but only their respective odors and certain mechanical effects due to the alcohol which they con- tain. The taste of onions is sweetish, where any exists; their chief characteristic, even in the mouth, being their odor and the 'strong' mechanical effect. If the nasal passages be properly obstructed, one can not distinguish by taste alone peppermint or wintergreen lozenges from each other or from those without any 'flavoring' ele- ment. ' ' The Sense of Touch. — Touch is that one of the special senses which gives sensations of contact and pres- sure. The sense organs of touch are distributed through the layers of the skin. There are several forms of these. These are special endings of afferent nerve fibers, and some of them are quite complex. There are the follow- ing of these organs: 144 Studies in Psychology 1. Touch cells. 2. Pacinian corpuscles. 3. Tactile corpuscles. 4. End bulbs. The organs of touch are more numerous or more sensitive in some parts of the skin than in other parts. The tip of the tongue, the lips, and the finger tips are most sensitive, while the thigh or mid dorsol region is least sensitive. The finger tips of the blind become most wonderfully sensitive, since they have to depend upon them largely for their knowledge of the external world. Strictly speaking the sensations of touch are only those of contact and pressure. Pressure by some author- ities is considered intensity of contact. Functions of Touch. — The functions of touch are in general of two classes : 1. Pleasure- giving. 2. Knowledge-giving. The sensations of smoothness and softness are pleas- urable. They are especially so when combined as in velvet, or the human skin. Dust and sand give pleasant sensations to the feet and hands of children. Rough- ness and hardness when combined into harshness are on the other hand, disagreeable. The knowledge-giving function of touch is by far its most important function. Along with the muscular sense it gives us our most fundamental ideas of the material world. ' ' Thus we derive from contact, first, the idea of extension, and thus also of superficial form. This comes Studies in Psychology 145 from what is known as 'plurality of points/ that is through the number of points of stimulation, or of nerve ends excited. The idea of motion may also be derived from the succession of stimulated points, as when we draw a pencil point across the skin, or in the progress of a fly or other creeping thing across the cuticle. From plurality of points, we also derive ideas of surface^ as roughness, smoothness, the rough surface being that in which the projecting points are relatively few and far apart, as in a rough-plastered wall contrasted with . a polished surface. Some idea of weight may also be derived, as when a weight is placed on the back of a hand supported by a table." The Local Sign of Tactile Sensations. — It will be remembered that local sign of touch sensations is thai characteristic of them ivhich enables the mind to know the point of application of the stimulus. Thus the mind knows pretty well just where the stimulus is applied on the skin or at how many points on the skin. This en- ables the mind to tell the form and size of objects. "The accuracy of this localizing power varies greatly with different areas of the skin. This may be tested by touching the skin at two points simultaneously, as with the points of a pair of compasses or scissors, and noting the distance between them necessary to produce a consciousness of two contacts. This distance is least on the tip of the tongue, where it is only four-hun- dredths of an inch, whereas, on the middle of the back the points must be over two inches apart in order to be distinguished as two." 146 Studies in Psychology Thus touch gives the following ideas: extension, roughness, smoothness, weight, form, distance, motion and size. ''The value and importance of active touch is em- phasized by the fact that it is so often employed as a court of appeal from the other senses. 'There are ghosts to all senses but one ; ' but whatever seems real to the touch has met the supreme test of reality. 'Let me take hold of it,' is our demand when we distrust our other senses." The Sense of Hearing. — The sense of hearing is that special sense which gives sensations of sound. The sense organ of hearing is the ear. The ear is a very complicated organ consisting mainly of cavities, canals, fluids and membranes. In these are distributed the ends of the fibers of the auditory nerves. The stimuli of hearing under ordinary conditions are waves, or vibrations, of the air. These vibrations are produced by some vibrating body. These waves of the air disturb the ends of the auditory nerves and set up impulses which result in sensations of sound. Classes of Sound. — Sounds are of two classes : 1. Noises. 2. Tones. Tones are sounds produced by regularity of vibra- tion of the air. Noises are sounds produced by irregu- larity of vibration in the air. Characteristics of Tones. — The characteristics of tones are three : Studies in Psychology 147 1. Pitch. 2. Intensity. 3. Timbre, or quality. Pitch, which is ordinarily called highness or low- ness, of sound is due to the rapidity of vibration. A sound of the human voice produced by the vibration of the vocal cords at the rate of 100 per second is very low ; one produced by the vocal cords vibrating at the rate of 700 times per second is very high. The range of the human voice is from eighty-seven to 768 vibrations per second ordinarily, though a famous singer's voice is said to have reached a height of 1,365 per second. The ears of most persons are capable of responding to vibrations so as to hear only between thirty and 36,000 vibrations per second. But in rare instances sounds are heard produced by from sixteen to 40,000 vibrations per second. The middle C of the musical scale is produced by a rate of 256 vibrations per second. Intensity of sound is usually called loudness or softness of sound. It results from the amplitude of the vibrations in the air. The amplitude of vibration has reference to the distance through which the vibrating medium swings. Thus if one vibrating string swings through a space of six inches and another swings through a space of twelve inches, the amplitude of the vibrations of the air produced by the second is greater than those produced by the first. Thus the amplitude, 148 Studies in Psychology or breadth, of the sound waves determines the intensity of the sound. Timbre, or quality, of tone is that characteristic which enables the mind to tell tones of the same pitch and intensity one from another, as the tone of one friend's voice from another, the song of the robin from the song of the thrush, the song of the oriole from the song of the cat bird, the music of the fiddle from the music of the mandolin, or of the flute from the bagpipe. It is said that the difference in quality is due to differ- ence in overtones. Functions of Hearing. — The functions of hearing are in general of two kinds : 1. Pleasure-giving. 2. Knowledge-giving. The chief pleasure-giving value is to be found in music. Music charms, soothes, and delights the mind of everyone from the infant to the most aged. In addition to pitch, intensity ^ and quality of sound the mind gets harmony, distance, and direction through hearing. These when associated with objects give the mind a great deal of knowledge concerning objects in the external world. The Sense of Sight. — Sight has been called the king of the senses. Its wonderful range and its constant use during all of one's waking hours properly give it this high position. Sight is that one of the special senses which gives, sensations of light and shade. Organ of Sight. — The eye is the organ of sight. Studies in Psychology 149 *'The organ of sight is a seemingly more simple but no less wonderful instrument than the organ of hearing. The enclosing envelope, or eyeball, consists of three coats or layers. The outer, called the Sclerotic coat, is a tough white membrane, which encloses the eye except in front, where the transparent cornea takes its place, like the crystal of a watch set in its case. Next within is the Choriod coat, a thin, black coat of great delicacy. In front, it is modified into the curtain called the Iris, the circular opening in which is called the Pupil. The iris contains certain muscles by the contraction of which the pupil may be dilated or contracted. The third or inner coat, called the Retina, covers only the back por- tion of the eyeball, having the form of a cup or bowl. ' ' The space inside these coats is filled up with humors and lenses. 1. Just back of the cornea is a watery fluid called the Aqueous Humoi\ 2. Just behind this humor is the Crystalline Lens, ' ' a double convex lens of a jelly- like substance having considerable elasticity and en- closed in a capsule attached to the Suspensory Liga- ment." 3. Between the crystalline lens and the retina is the Vitreous Humor, a semifluid substance. Stimulus of Sight. — The stimulus of sight is vibra- tions of ether. Ether is a medium which pervades all space. The vibrations of ether enter the eye in rays, or lines, of light. The waves of these rays are many in number per second ranging from 462 trillions to 733 tnllions. These rays of light pass into the eye and stimulate 150 Studies in Psychology the retina from which result the sensations of light and shade. Accommodation. — In order that rays of light may be focused upon the surface of the retina so as to form a correct image, means of adjusting the crystalline lens are provided. If the object to be seen is close to the eye the lens must be more convex than if it is at a distance. This adjustment of the lens to suit the eye to the distance of the object is called Accommodation. In order that the student may understand accommo- dation, it is absolutely necessary that he have well in mind the position of the parts of the eye. Having these in mind he can understand the following explanations: *'In a state of rest the front of the lens is kept some- what flattened by the suspensory ligament, which is at- tached to the crystalline lens and to the ciliary process- es. The ciliary processes are attached to the ciliary muscle, which is itself firmly attached to the point of junction of the cornea and sclerotic. When the ciliary muscles contract the ciliary processes are pulled for- ward. This loosens the suspensory ligament, and the crystalline lens by its own elasticity becomes more con- vex. The strain felt in looking at an object very near to the eye is the muscular feeling due to the contraction of the ciliary muscle. ' ' — Dexter and Garlick. "How does the lens change its curvature? The crystalline lens is elastic, that is, if its surface be made flatter by pressure, it recovers its original curvature and shape when the pressure is removed. We have seen that the lens is kept in its place by the suspensory ligament Studies in Psychology 151 passing off from its edge to the ciliary processes all around it. The lens itself is enclosed by a transparent membrane, thicker in front than behind, called the cap- sule of the lens. It is to this capsule that the suspensory ligament is attached, but the suspensory ligament not only joins the capsule at the edge of the lens, but be- comes directly continuous with the part of the capsule covering the front of the lens. This ligament is natur- ally tight, so that it is always more or less compressing the front of the lens, making this surface less convex than it would otherwise be. When we are looking at dis- tant objects the pressure of the suspensory ligament is reducing the curvature of the front surface of the lens as much as possible, so as to make the lens weak. In this condition also is the lens when the eye is at rest, as during sleep. From the junction of the cornea and sclerotic there are fine unstriated muscle fibers passing downward into the ciliary processes. These form a con- tinuous ring of delicate muscle, called the ciliary muscle. When this muscle contracts, the ciliary processes with the loosely-attached choroid are drawn upwards towards the origin of the muscle from the junction of the firm and immovable sclerotic and cornea. As the ciliary pro- cesses are moved they carry with them the attachment of the suspensory ligament up nearer to the lens ; thus the whole suspensory ligament is slackened. When we look at a near object this muscle contracts, and so slackens the suspensory ligament, and the lens, the pressure on its anterior surface being lessened, becomes by its own elasticity more convex." — Foster and Shore. 152 Studies in Psychology External Muscles of the Eye. — The eyeball must be turned in various positions in seeing. There are six muscles attached to the eyeball on the outside: four straight muscles, called Recti, and two oblique muscles, called Obliqui. The recti move the eyeball up and down and to the right and left. The obliqui run through loops which act as pulleys and move the eyes in direc- tions between those produced by the recti. These muscles are important psychologically in that sensations from them help sight in furnishing ma- terial for various kinds of ideas. The Unaided Office of the Eye. — In adult life we get so much of our knowledge through the sense of sight, that we are likely at first thought to overestimate its original power. Though in adult life we get ideas of distance, direction, size, form, roughness, smoothness, hardness, softness, heat and cold, not one of these ideas came to the mind originally through sight. Orig- inally sight gives but three things : 1. Colors. 2. Combination of colors. 3. Intensity of light. Mr. Dewey calls these three things (1) hue, (2) tint, and (3) intensity. '*A man who had never seen until lie was thirty years old has sent to The Problem, a magazine for the blind, a remarkable account of his experience when the bandage was drawn from his eyes in the hospital, and he was, as it were, born again into the world. What I saw frightened me, it was so big and Studies in Psychology 15^ made such strange emotions I called out in terror and put out my hand. My fingers touched my nurse's face. I knew she was there, for she had just taken the bandages from my eyes, and I knew what I was touching, but I did not know what it was I saw. *For mercy sake, what is it?' I asked. The nurse answered me soothingly, taking my fingers in her hand and moving them from her mouth to her eyes, to her nose, chin and forehead. ' It is my face that you see. Look ! You know this is my mouth — my chin — and these are my eyes. ' Soon I knew that I was seeing what was familiar to the touch of my fingers — a human face. But the sensa- tion was still one of terror. I seemed so small beside that expanse of human features which was so familiar to my fingers, so unnatural to my new sense. When the nurse moved away from my cot, I felt a new sensation, which was so agreeable that I laughed aloud. The nurse came back, but not so close as before. 'What is that?' I asked. 'You are looking at the blanket which lies across your feet,' she said. 'Blankets must be very beautiful things,' I said. 'It is a red blanket,' she explained. Then I thought I knew why people spoke of the beauty of the red rose. This was my first knowledge of colors. I saw and yet I did not know that I saw. How could I know at first that those new and wonderful sen- sations meant the birth of a sense of which I knew noth- 154 Studies in Psychology ing except in theory? Of course I was expecting to see, but was this sight — this jumble of extraordinary sensa- tions? The dazzling light first convinced me, for I had always been able to distinguish between night and day. But I could not recognize objects with my new-found sense until I had translated into its speech the language of the other senses. The one lesson of the blanket was sufficient to teach me the color, red. Yellow was a different matter. The nurse brought me a cool drink. I could recognize her by sight now. The thing I saw in her hand I knew to be a tray after I had felt it. Suddenly I felt a thrill of disgust. 'What is that thing on the tray?' I asked. 'It makes me sick.' 'It is a lemon. You said you liked lemonade.' 'Then it is yellow. It is the color that nauseates me. ' Any object close to me looked tremendously large. I had often romped with children, yet when I first set eyes on a baby it looked gigantic. The first day I sat by the window I put my hand out to feel the pavement. ' That must be the pavement, ' I said. ' I 'm going to feel of it to make sure. ' ' My goodness ! ' laughed the nurse. ' The pavement is two stories below. ' The first meal I ate was an odd experience. When Studies in Psychology 155 I saw the great hand with a huge fork approaching my mouth, the inclination to dodge was ahnost irresistible.'* Read : 1. Dewey's Psychology, pp. 50-75. 2. Halleck's Psychology, pp. 29-40. CHAPTER XII. Sense-perception. The Development of Knowing. — The most helpful way to study knowing is to study its development be? cause in this way the mind sees how the different ele- ments to be studied in knowing have come into existence, how they change and are succeeded by new products. But at once we are confronted with the question, What does the development of knowing consist of ? And to answer this question, it is necessary to rethink what knowing is. This was defined in a previous study as follows : Knowing is the mind^s process of grasping the re- lation between its experiences. So, in brief, all knowing is a process of grasping relations. This is true whether it be the simplest kind of knowing of the little child or whether it be the highest kind of knowing of the most profound thinker. Illustration. — One finds a peculiar looking plant growing in a pasture. He knows it is a plant because the experiences which it arouses in his mind are related to the experiences which plants have aroused in his mind before, but beyond knowing it is a plant, he is not aware of having any knowledge concerning it. What kind of roots, what kind of blossoms, what kind of fruit it produces, he does not know. Whether it is benef- Studies in Psychology 157 icent in its connection with man or whether it is in- jurious he does not know. If we should ask him why he does not know these things, he will say something Avhich in substance will mean he lacks experience with the plant. But one may learn to know all these things and the learning will be seeing the plant in its relations. So it looks as if knowing is seeing the relations between outside objects in this case. But scientifically speaking the mind can not do such a thing. The mind is mental and can deal with only mental things; that is, with mental experiences. Knowing the plant is then grasp- ing the relations between the experiences the mind is stimulated to, by these various things in connection with the plant. Knowing is then getting relations between our ex- periences and relations are in the mind only. They are the connections between our mental experiences. If few relations are grasped the knowing is little developed, but if many relations are grasped the know- ing is much developed, and so gaining in ability to get relation is one thing the development of knowing con- sists of. Not all the knowledge one has of anything is of equal importance, and so not all relations grasped are of equal importance. Some are of little importance and some are of much importance. To know that the toad is a homely creature is not as important as to know that he is one of man's best animal friends. To know that the three-leaved ivy vines is not as important as to know that it is a most dangerous 158 Studies in Psychology poisonous plant. To know that malaria causes chills is not as important as to know that it is caused by a lit- tle animal living in the red blood corpuscles. An important thing in knowing then, is to dis- tinguish between important and unimportant relations and that knowing which does so is more developed than that which does not. Also, that knowing which dis- tinguishes to a large degree between the important re- lations and the unimportant ones is more developed than that knowing which distinguishes between the important and unimportant relations to a small degree. A second thing thus that the development of know- ing consists of is gaining in ability to distinguish be- tween important and unimportant relations. Though one could both get more and more rela- tions and distinguish between the important and unim- portant ones and yet was very slow in doing these things something would be lacking. And one who can do these two things readily is evidently a more devel- oped knower, other things equal, than one who cannot. From this study it appears that the development of knowing consists of the following three things: 1. Increasing ability to grasp more and more re- lations. 2. Increasing ability to distinguish between the im- portant and unimportant relations. 3. Increasing ability to do "1" and '*2" easily and readily. So to show that one kind of knowing is more de- veloped than another, one must show that the mind in it Studies in Psychology 159 does one or more of these three things to a greater de- gree than in the other. Stages in the Developme7it of Knowing. — In its growth from the lowest to the highest kind of knowing the mind manifests its activities in fairly well marked stages. These stages are named from the predominant element in the activity and are as follows: 1. Sense-perception. 2. Memory. 3. Imagination. 4. Conception. 5. Definition. 6. Judgment. 7. Reasoning. 8. Systematization. 9. Intuition. Sense-perception is the least developed kind of knowing and intuition is the most highly developed kind. Sense-perception. — This as the term indicates is per- ception of objects through the senses. The term sense- perception is frequently used by authors to mean the same as the term perception. This should not be done, as the term perception is a term of broader application than the term sense-perception. Perception may be the perception of what is going on in one's own mind; that is, inner perception, or it may be the perception of ma- terial objects; that is, outer perception. Inner percep- tion is simply iiitrospection, previously studied. Outer perception is sense-perception, the subject of study in this chapter. Perception includes both introspection and 160 Studies in Psychology sense-perception. To use the terms interchangeably is not scientifically accurate. The term perception is also used in a kind of popu- lar sense to mean almost any kind of knowing. One says he perceives the force of an argument, when he means he comprehends it. Or he says he perceives the gravity of a situation, when he means he understands it. Or, again, he perceives the humor of a joke. This general vague use of the term is its popular use and not the sense in which it is used in psychology. In these studies the term is used to mean the pro- cess of getting a knowledge of material objects through the senses — its scientific use. Really the only way to understand sense-perception perfectly well is to trace through the process, step by step, of the mind in the act of sense-perception. We look at a flower and know it is a carnation. The act is one of sense-perception. We of course do not get the material carnation in mind. That is a psychological and physical impossibility. We say we get the idea of the carnation in mind, and in general this is right. But there is no such thing as an idea getting out of the carnation and in some mysterious way getting over into our minds. The mind of course is mental and deals only with mental things. The only thing which one actually receives from the carnation is some rays of light reflected by it. These strike the retina of the eye and disturb it, this dis- turbance spreads, reaches the brain, disturbs it and re- sults in a group of sensations. A complex object always Studies in Psychology 161 is the stimulus for a group of sensations, not a single sensation. This group of sensations is like a group of sensations which the mind has had in the past when it was informed it was experiencing a carnation, may be many times in the past when it understood it was ex- periencing carnations. The mind sees, either conscious- ly or unconsciously, the likeness between the present group of sensations and the past group of sensations and infers the object is a carnation. This is the process of the mind in sense-perception. Again we listen to a bird's song and know the bird is an oriole. The act is one of sense-perception. All that comes to one in this case is some motion in the air produced by the activity of the bird in sing- ing. The motion comes into the ear and affects the ends of the auditory nerve; this disturbance spreads to the brain, and produces a disturbance there and results in a group of sensations. This group of sensations is like a group of sensations the mind has experienced in the past, probably many times, when it understood it was experiencing the activity corresponding to the oriole. The mind grasps, consciously or unconsciously, the like- ness between the present group of sensations and the past group and infers that the bird is an oriole. This again is the process of the mind in sense-perception. If one both sees and hears some object, as a bird, there goes on sense-perception through two senses, sight and hearing. The process in sense-perceiving some objects 162 Studies in Psychology through smell, taste and touch is similar to that in the case of sight or hearing. The process of seeing the likeness and difference between a present group of sensations and a past group of sensations and referring them to some object is called interpreting the sensations, and this, interpreting the sensations is the sine qua non of sense perception. There is no sense-perception without it. Induction from the above cases of sense-perception gives the following definitions of sense-perception: Sense-perception is the mental process of interpret- ing the sensations corresponding to some external object. Sense-perception is that stage in the development of knowing in which the mind interprets the sensations corresponding to some external object. The Object of Sense Perception. — In the discussion above the carnation and the oriole were the objects sense-perceived. These objects were particular objects; they were material objects, they were external to the mind, they were present in time and space and the pre- sumption was they were not known to have been known before. Suppose one should have a rose placed under his nose, he being blindfolded, and from the odor the mind would know that the object is a rose. The mental ac- tivity would be a case of sense-perception. The object again is particular, material, external, present in time and space and not known to have been known before. From these several examples the conclusion is that Studies in Psychology 163 the object with which sense-perception deals has the following characteristics : 1. Particular. 2. Material. 3. External. 4. Present in time and space. 5. Not known to have been known before. Particular. — That which makes an object particular is that which enables the mind to know it from all other things. It is differences which enables the mind to do this. A particular object is thus an object known from all other things. Material. — To the mind that is material which makes possible sensations of resistance, or occupies space. But the mind can know that the object occupies space only because it stimulates to sensations of resist- ance. The material object thus is one that stimulates to sensations of resistance. External. — The external object is an object outside the mind, not necessarily external to the body. One may perceive parts of his own body. Present in Time and Space. — The quantity of time actually present is unconceivably small, so the term pres- ent time as usually used has reference to a present period of time. In this sense to-day is present ; this min- ute is present; this hour is present. This century is called the present century. But the present period is always found to be measured by some event, as the year by the time it takes the earth to swing around the sun. So when it is said the object is present in time the mean- 164 Studies in Psychology ing is that the object and the act of sense-perceiving co- exist, exist at the same time. The quantity of space one can actually call present is also very relative. It may be very small or it may be very large. An object may be present to one sense and not present to another. One may hear a friend speaking in the next room, but not be able to see the friend. The friend is present to hearing but not present to sight. One may see the sun, some 92,000,000 miles away, but he can not hear, touch, taste, or smell it. It is present to sight, but not present to any of the other senses. One may see a star so far away that it takes the light 2500 years to come from it to the eye, traveling at the rate of 186,000 miles per second. The star is present to sight but not to the other senses. An object then is present in space when in such a positiion as to be a stimulus to any of the senses. Not Known to Have Been Known Before. — If the object is known to have been known before either pop- ularly or scientifically one would say he remembers it. So known to have been known before is an element of memory but not an element of sense-perception. If one knows he has known the object before, it seems right to say it may be a case of sense-perception to the place where this element comes in, but at that place it shades into memory. Relation of Sensation to Object. — In sense-percep- tion the sensation always is referred to the object as an attribute of the object, and the object is made up of the total of its attributes. The odor of clover, the flavor of Studies in Psychology 165 the orange, the scarlet of the poppy are all sensations — mental things — though the mind in sense-perception re- gards them as real attributes of the objects. This is only another aspect of the truth so often seen that the mind is mental and can deal only with mental things. Classes of Sense-perception on Basis of Sense In- volved. — One sees a flower and knows it is a rose, a case of visual sense-perception ; he hears a bird and knows it is a lark, a case of auditory sense-perception; he touches an animal and knows it is his dog, a case of tactual sense- perception; he smells a flower and knows it is a pansy, an instance of olfactory sense-perception; he tastes a fruit and knows it is a strawberry, an instance of gus- tatory sense-perception ; he comes in contact wdth an ob- ject and knows it is cold, an instance of temperature sense-perception ; he lifts an object and knows it is heavy, an instance of muscular sense-perception. So on the basis of the sense involved, there are the following classes of sense-perception: 1. Visual. 2. Auditory. 3. Tactual. 4. Olfactory. 5. Gustatory. 6. Temperature. 7. Muscular. Visual Sense-perception. — Visual sense-perception is so important in adult life that one is likely to over- estimate its original importance. We in adult life know size, distance, direction, form, temperature, roughness, smoothness, hardness, softness, odor, flavor, weight, etc. of objects, as well as what they are, through sight, but scarcely think that all these things have been transferred to visual sense-perception from some other kind of sense- perception. But such is the case. At first visual sense- 166 Studies in Psychology perception gives us only (1) color, (2) combinations of color, and (3) intensities of light of objects. As said before some authors call these : 1. Hue. 2. Tint. 3. In- tensity. By combining and associating these three things sight learns to construct its field of vision. The Field of Vision. — **When a surgical operation has enabled the blind to see, they have invariably at first declared that objects either touched their eyes or were at no definite distance from them. A landscape with a hill and a forest in the background, a pasture with cattle and sheep, a brook with a growth of willows and a white farmhouse in the foreground, were first seen only as blotches of color touching the eye." Visual sense-perception learns from several things how to construct a field of vision, that is, how to sense- perceive objects. 1. By the size of the retinal image, since it varies with the distance of the object. If men at work in a field look to be only about two feet high, the mind, since it knows the size of an average man, thinks they must be a considerable distance away. "The fishermen, that walk upon the beach Appear like mice." 2. The mind estimates distance by the intensity of light. More light comes to the eye when the object is close and less when the object is far away, other things equal. So a lighter shade is a sign of a closer object and a darker one a sign of a more distant object. Also Studies in Psychology 167 the outline of the distant object is dim and of a near one sharp. The painter by manipulating shades and outlines gives the idea of perspective on canvas. 3. The mind estimates distance and size by the in- tervening objects. One used to estimating distance on land is almost certain to underestimate distance on water or a plain when there are no intervening objects. A common instance of this is the way most people misjudge the width of a river. 4. The motion of objects across the field of vision helps visual sense-perception. In case of turning the eyes to right or left, up or down, objects far apart afar off require less motion of the eyes than objects far apart nearer. Also in riding past objects, those near at hand pass from sight quickly and those far off much more slowly. 5. The muscles of the eye furnish data, too, which helps visual sense-perception. The eye must be focused differently in looking at objects near and far and the muscular activity helps the mind in estimating distance and size. Auditory Sense-perception. — Auditory sense-per- ception is the process of interpreting sensations of sound. One hears sounds caused by a violin, a piano, a bell, a dog, a cow, a grasshopper, a cricket or robin, interprets them and knows the object which produces the stimulus. All such are instances of auditory sense-perception. By auditory sense-perception we do the following: 168 Studies in Psychology 1. Locate, to some extent, the object producing the stimulus. 2. Refer the sound to the characteristic object pro- ducing the stimulus. The mind tells the distance and direction of the stimulus producing object by (1) intensity of the sound, (2) the quality of the sound and (3) by the direction of the approaching sound wave. The intensity of the sound varies with distance the sound waves travel. A report of a cannon is not so in- tense when five miles away as when one mile away. The quality of the sound is changed, too, by the distance the sound waves travel. A flute produces a sound different in quality when near at hand and when one-half mile away. If the line of the approaching sound wave be from the front, from the right, left or back, it will in each case result in sounds that differ a little in quality. This furnishes the mind signs which enables it to know some- thing of direction. Accuracy of Auditory Sense-perception. — Auditory sense-perception is not as accurate as popularly thought. Many mistakes both as to distance and direction are made. Some experiments seem to show that as many as forty cases in a hundred were in error as to direction, and almost all cases more or less in error as to distance. The ventriloquist deceives in every way, (1) as to the character of the object producing the stimulus, (2) as to distance, and (3) as to direction. He produces the sound the object would naturally occasion if it were Studies in Psychology 169 what it seems to be and were where it seems to be. His art consists in doing this. The mind knows the character of the object oc- casioning the sound by the quality of the sound. The mind thus knows a friend by his voice, the thrush by his song, the horse by his neigh, the cow by her low, the storm by its roar, etc. It makes mistakes though here, too, quite often. Tactile Sense-perception. — Tactile sense-perception is the process of interpreting sensations of touch. In the dark we put our hands on a chair, the table, a book, the stove, a hat, or the door, and the mind knows the object in each case, and each case is an instance of tactile sense-perception. Tactile sense-perception is the most fundamental kind of sense-perception and the hardest kind to deceive. We may think we see and hear something, but when we put out our hands and touch nothing, we decide sight and hearing were in error, and that touch is right. From the sensations of contact and pressure, the purely tactile sensations, the mind learns the extensions, roughness, smoothness, weight, form, distance, motion and size of objects. And from these signs it readily knows what the objects possessing these characteristics are. Touch sense-perception is capable of improvement by cultivation. This is readily seen in the case of the blind who learn to read by touch, to do fancy work and even to understand one who is speaking to them, when both deaf and blind, by placing their fingers on one's vocal organs. 170 Studies in Psychology Olfactory Sense-perception. — Olfactory sense-per- ception is the process of interpreting the sensation of smell. The odor of the rose, of the violet, of the clover or linden, of coffee, of the codfish, of the cocoa, or the strawberries enables the mind to know these objects by these sensations alone. Each case of such knowing is an instance of olfactory sense-perception. Olfactory sense-perception is better developed in many of the lower animals than in man. The dog will track, by olfactory sense-perception, his Inaster along the crowded streets of a city hours after the master has passed that way. Olfactory sense-perception is capable of cultivation to a rather high degree. The following quotation will show something of this: ' ' Dr. Howe, in the Forty-third Report of the Massa- chusetts Asylum for the Blind, is authority for the statement that Julia Brace, a deaf and blind mute, could instantly recognize a person she had met before as soon as she caught the odor from his glove or hand. This sightless girl was actually employed to sort all the clothing of pupils after it came from the wash. Her power of smell, in definiteness and vividness must have surpassed the sense of sight in most persons.^' Gustatory Sense-perception. — Gustatory sense-per- ception is the process of interpreting the sensations of taste. Knowing chicken, beef, mutton, an apple, a peach, a cherry, or an onion by taste is in each instance gusta- tory sense-perception. The extent to which gustatory sense-perception is Studies in Psychology 171 capable of cultivation may be known from the skill of wine tasters and tea tasters. Mr. Taylor in his genetic psychology says that tea tasters become so skillful that one may mix fifty kinds of tea together, steep some of the mixture and the tea taster by tasting will correctly tell the different teas mixed. Wine tasters become equal- ly skillful and some have been known "who could tell under what latitude a wine was produced as accurately as an astronomer can predict an eclipse." Temperature Sense-perception. — This is the process of interpreting sensations of heat and cold. This kind of sense-perception is usually combined with tactile sense-perception and seldom, if ever enables one to know an object merely by itself. It enables the mind to know objects as hot or cold. Muscular Sense-perception. — Muscular sense-per- ception is the process of interpreting muscular sensa- tions. Muscular sense-perception is usually combined with tactual sense-perception, but probably not to as large a degree as temperature sense-perception. The chief muscular sensations are those of movement and re- sistance. By a combination of these the mind learns the motion, extension, distance, direction, weight, hardness, softness, rigidity and pliability of objects. Classes of Sense-perception on Basis of Develop- ment. — We look at a table and say it is rough or smooth. The knowledge that the table is rough or smooth is gained by the way it looks ; that is, through visual sense- perception. But this knowledge could not have been gained at one time through visual sense-perception. It 172 Studies in Psychology could have been obtained through only tactile sense-per- ception. There thus appear two kinds of sense-percep- tion which may be used in knowing the table is rough or smooth. Again, if one learns that a piece of red-hot iron is hot by placing his hand upon it, he gets his knowledge through the temperature sense, the only w^ay there is of directly getting such knowledge. At first, sight could not give such knowledge, but later the mind would know that the iron is hot through sight. Here again two kinds of sense-perception may be used in knowing the iron is hot. In the first case the sense-perception was transferred from tactile sense-perception to visual sense-perception, and in the second case, from temperature sense-percep- tion to visual sense-perception. The first kind of sense- perception is original sense-perception and the second kind is transferred sense-perception. Thus on the basis of development there are two classes of sense-perception: 1. Original. 2. Transferred. The following definitions grow out of the above study : Original sense-perception is that kind of sense-per- ception in which the mind interprets the sensations from one sense without the aid of the sensations from any other sense. Tra7isf erred sense-perception is that kind of sense- perception in which the mind interprets the sensations Studies in Psychology 173 from one sense hy means of the sensations from some other sense. If one learns that the iron is hot by touching it, the mind interprets the sensations from the temperature- sense — one sense — only. The sense-perception is orig- inal. If one learns that the table is rough by looking at it, the mind interprets the sight sensations by means of touch sensations, and the sense-perception is transferred. It has been transferred from touch to sight. Value of Transferred Sense-perception. — The mind tries to economize in its work. So when it can save time or energy, or when it is more valuable or convenient, the mind transfers the sense-perception from one sense to another. We tell whether a watermelon is ripe by tap- ping on it. The physician tells whether the patient has pneumonia by listening to the sound made by the air passing through the patient's lungs. It is more con- venient and valuable to use transferred sense-percep- tion in these cases. Reasoning in Sense-perception. — In sense-percep- tion the mind always classifies the object which it per- ceives; that is, thinks it into some known class. But to think the object into some known class requires reason- ing. Reasoning, briefly, is comparing two ideas through the medium of a third. Thus a equals y; h equals y; therefore, a equals b. The mind sees an object and knows it as a rose, a ease of visual sense-perception. The mind thinks the 174 Studies in Psychology object into the class rose; that is, classifies the object. And the following is the reasoning. This object has stamens united to the top of the calyx tube. The rose has stamens united to the top of the calyx tube. This object is a rose. The Products of Sense-perception. — Sense-percep- tion is a process and every process produces some sort of product or products. Sense-perception produces three: 1. The percept. 2. The illusion. 3. Hallucination. The Percept. — One can not get the object he sense- perceives in mind, because the mind is mental and the object is material. But he does get something in mind which corresponds to the object, and this mental thing is the percept. This percept is an idea. But what is an idea? Perhaps no term in the English language is used in a wider and vaguer sense than the term, idea. Men say they have an idea of the universe, an idea of the solar system, an idea of Mohammedanism, an idea on the tariff, an idea of truth, an idea of emigration, an idea of a horse, an idea of a mosquito, an idea of a cell, an idea of the nucleus of the cell, an idea of a molecule, an idea of an ion, an idea of an atom, an idea of an electron, etc. So it seems that the term, idea, is a symbol for al- most any mental thing as a whole, but it is always a unit; that is, the smallest mental product. From the above study the following definition of an idea is reached: Studies in Psychology 175 An idea is the smallest mental product correspond- ing to a thing as a whole. The percept is a mental thing, an idea. It is the idea reached by sense-perception. The idea of the object we perceive is the percept, the idea of the particular rose, of the particular tree, animal, house or man. The following defines it : A percept is an idea of a particular, material object present in time and space. The Illusion. — The mind thinks some times that it has a percept, but the mental product does not cor- respond with what seems to furnish the stimulus which occasions the sensations. Thus one thinks he sees two objects, when there is but one, or he thinks he sees the color green when he should see the color red. Or again one thinks he sees a wild animal when it is only a bunch of dried grass, or is sure he has seen a friend pass, as some one passed, when the friend was miles away. In each instance one has an illusion ; that is, he has a mental something in mind, he thinks it is a percept, but the supposed percept does not correspond with the external object. At the time the mind is deceived. A conclusion from the above study gives the follow- ing definition for an illusion: An illusion is a mental product which the mind thinks is a percept, hut which does not correspond with the external object. Illusions are of two kinds, those in which the sense organs are at fault, and those in which the mind is at 176 Studies in Psychology fault. If an object appears double, the sense organ is at fault, but if a curtain is taken for a ghost or a robber, the mind is at fault. If red looks green, the sense organ is at fault, but if a stump is taken for a dog, the mind is at fault. There are thus illusions of two classes : 1. Illusions of the senses. 2. Misinterpretations. All cases of what is called color blindness are illu- sions of the senses. These illusions are due usually to some abnormal condition of the nerves of the sense or- gans. They are of importance in rail-roading, in manu- facturing, and signaling. All cases of mistaking objects in haste are cases of illusion by misinterpretation. A man saw a sheep which was eating the grass from around a grave rise up and look at him and was sure at first that he saw a ghost. Another saw a stump in the dark giving off a phos- phorescent glow and was certain he had met Satan. There are many common illusions of this kind. They are most numerous among the ignorant and super- stitious, but not confined to them by any means. These are the illusions with which the magician mostly deceives his auditors. Many most amusing and ludicrous mistakes are the result of illusions by misinterpretation. Hallucinations. — These are the most deceptive re- sults of sense-perception. In illusions some sort of ob- ject is always present, but in hallucinations no external object is present at all. Good people have heard things when there was nothing to hear; and good people have Studies in Psychology 177 seen things when there was nothing to see, and no one is able in some of these cases to convince the person of his error. It is recorded that Martin Luther, when detained in a castle by his friends, saw the Devil tempting him and threw his inkstand at Him, broke it on the facing of the door and bespattered the wall with ink. Martin Lnther is said to have always believed he saw the Devil. Scientists think it was merely an hallucination. Many cases of visions, miracles, telepathic communi- cations, revelations, etc., have been in all probability nothing but hallucinations. The following is the formal definition : An hallucination is a mental product which is re- garded as a percept by the mind, hut which has no cor- responding external object. All classes of people are subject to hallucinations, but the ignorant, sentimental, superstitious, nervous, im- pulsive and unhealthy seem more subject to them than others. By some authors hallucination is treated as a class of illusion, and there are good reasons for so doing, and by others it is described as somewhat distinct from the illusion. The present studies treat it the latter way. It Is thought a little more helpful. "In distinction from illusion, which is essentially perception, (i.e., a consciousness of particular material things present to sense — though other things than those really perceived happen to be present), hallucination is the name given to the consciousness of objects felt to be 178 Studies in Psychology physically present, when as a matter of fact no object of any kind is at hand." — Angell. "Hallucinations are closely related to illusions. Hallucinations have a slighter basis in sensation than illusion, and derive more from association." — Pillsbury. "There are illusive perceptions due to no present external cause. These internally originated illusions are often called hallucinations." — Halleck. Sense-perception and Apperception. — Many stud- ents have some difficulty because of confusion of the meaning of these terms ; also, some writers, it seems. Apperception, it is to be remembered, is an attribute of the mind and sense-perception a stage in the develop- ment of knowing. Apperception enables the mind to bring the past experience to bear upon the present ex- perience, and the present experience may be one of know- ing, feeling or willing. There could be no sense-percep- tion, memory or any other kind of knowing without ap- perception, attention, consciousness, etc. ; that is, with- out mental attributes. And attributes are more funda- mental than knowing, feeling and willing. Attributes are necessary to them. There are the three following distinctions between apperception and sense-perception: 1. Apperception is a mental attribute, sense-per- ception is a stage in the development of knowing. 2. Apperception is more fundamental than sense- perception. 3. Apperception is a broader term than sense-per- ception. The Cultivation of Sense-perception. — By cultiva- Studies in Psychology 179 tion of sense-perception is meant so exercising it as to change it from a more or less inefficient condition to one of high efficiency for use in living. This is popularly spoken of as making one a good observer, and that there is need of being a good observer almost every one agrees. There are several definite reasons for desiring to have well cultivated sense-perception. 1. It gives one a great advantage in practical economic activity. 2. It enables one to get so much more out of life. It makes life much more worth living. 3. It adds considerably to one's appreciation of literature. 4. It is the solid and concrete foundation for all kinds of education. 5. It arouses and fosters the scientific spirit. First, the person who observes the various aspects of his environment carefully sees the things that need to be seen, while the one who has not this habit passes by unnoticed many of the essential things in the affairs of practical life. It is not usual for men and women to know the common trees of the community in which they were reared ; nor the common birds, the common friendly and injurious insects, the common mammal friends and mammal enemies, the common beneficent and injurious winds, the relief forms and soils, and the common stars, planets and constellations to be known in the community in which they were reared. Some people make a suc- cess of every business undertaking, others make a fail- ure of every business undertaking, and one reason for ISO Studies in Psychology the difference is that some can observe while others can not ; that is, some have trained sense-perception, oth- ers have not. Secondly, certainly the one who has eyes and can see, ears and can hear, a nose and can smell, a mouth and can taste, largely, whatever comes into such a posi- tion as to furnish a stimulus gets more out of living than the one who can do these things to a less degree. The one who loves nature gets much more out of life than the one who does not. He always sees something to admire, to attract, to look forward to, and to hope for. He gets happiness from winter; with glad expect- ancy he awaits the coming of spring; he gets life from the summer sunshine and developing nature, and sees with joy the maturity of autumn. "To him who in the love of Nature holds Communion with her visible forms, she speaks A various language." Fortunate is he who early learns to love fervently nature. It will prove one of his greatest blessings. Thirdly, there are many selections of literature which have beautiful pictures, but which must mean very little to one who has not observed nature. "Meadows trim with daisies pied, Shallow brooks and rivers wide." "Around it still the sumacs grow And the blackberry vines are running." "Singing she wrought and her merry glee The mockbird echoed from his tree." Such pictures are a source of much more interest Studies in Psychology 181 and pleasure to one who has observed such as they rep- resent. Fourthly, the cultivation of sense-perception is the sure foundation on which to rear the educational struc- ture. Children read poorly, because they don't observe. People spell poorly because they have not learned to observe, because they have not learned how to observe. They are poor in arithmetic because they have not learned how to observe. They study about things which they do not understand because they have not observed them. Their geography is verbal memory largely be- cause they have not observed the things about which they study. "The education of the senses neglected, all after education partakes of a drowsiness, a haziness, an in- sufficiency which it is impossible to cure." Lastly, the cultivation of sense-perception arouses and fosters the scientific spirit. The scientific spirit is the spirit of search for the truth; the spirit that is not afraid to search for the truth; the spirit of investiga- tion that the truth may be found. It is the attitude of mind that makes anything short of truth hateful ; that believes in the ultimate triumph of truth. It is the spirit of free inquiry and free investigation, and its watchwords are experiment, observe, and think. The Method of Cultivating Sense-perception. — Sense-perception is cultivated by throwing students upon their own responsibility, and by leading them to find out things first hand for themselves ; by bringing them in sensuous contact with whatever they are study- 182 Studies in Psychology ing that will admit of such contact, and by suggestions and questions stimulating them to find out truth for themselves. The spirit of the method of cultivating sense-per- ception may be obtained from the following: ''Agassiz's pupils usually had excellently trained perceptive faculties as one result of his teaching. Since his pupils generally succeeded well in life, it will be profitable to notice how he trained them. A certain student who wished to be well grounded in zoology pre- sented himself at the professor's laboratory one morning. The professor immediately pulled a fish out of its jar of alcohol and said: 'You are to look at this fish carefully and tell me when I return how much you have seen. You must not cut it nor use any instrument upon it. ' The professor then left the student alone with the specimen. The student had seen fish before. He knew that they were oblong objects with fins and scales, but he looked at that special fish for ten long minutes. He w^as sure that he had seen all that was visible from the outside, and he started to tell the professor so. The museum was carefully searched, but the thoughtless in- structor had left the building. There was nothing for the disgusted student to do but to return to stare at the uninteresting fish. Feeling that his time Avas too valua- ble to be wasted in this way, he nevertheless looked at the fish for half an hour without seeing anything. Then he turned the fish over. He looked at it in the face ; he gazed at it from above, below, behind. Two hours passed and he was inexpressibly disgusted. He knew Studies in Psychology 183 that it was a fish ; but he was sure of that before he came to the great Agassiz. The student then put the fish in the jar and went to lunch. When he returned he found that the pro- fessor had been there and gone away somewhere to re- main several hours. It seemed strange that such a man should be wanted for a teacher. Again the disgusted student stared at the fish. This was growing tiresome^ and to amuse himself, he began to count the scales. Feel- ing that this was nonsense, a happy thought struck him, and he proceeded to draw the fish. He had just made the interesting discovery that the fish had no eyelids, when Agassiz returned and remarked that a pencil was the best of eyes. He asked the student to tell what he had seen and looked disappointed at the shortness of the recital. 'You have not looked very carefully, keep on looking' said Agassiz, who then left the room. The student then went to work with a will, and, with his pencil, he began to make new discoveries, and to wonder how it was possible for him to see so little at first. For three long days he was made to gaze at the fish. Agassiz would occasionally return to listen to a recital of new discoveries, but would answer no ques- tions. ' ' Time to Cultivate Sense-perception. — From the ages of two to twenty is the proper period for cultivating sense-perception. If a person is not a fairly good ob- server at the age of twenty the chances are he never will be. Not that he could not be, but that the life of most persons is so much of a treadmill that the time and trou- 184 Studies in Psychology ble are not taken in ninety-nine cases in a hundred to cultivate it. In any case, though, the cultivation of sense-per- ception is much more difficult after the age of twenty. Subjects to Cultivate Sense-perception. — There are a number of subjects which will, if properly taught, prove good to cultivate sense-perception. In the pri- mary schools nature study, geography, and primary lan- guage are all good. And in the secondary schools and -colleges and universities, botany, zoology, geology, chem- istry, physics and astronomy are among the best. And drawing, whether taught as a separate subject or in connection with other subjects, is of the highest value. Read : 1. Halleck's Psychology, pp. 66-100. 2. Pillsbury's Psychology, pp. 156-187. 3. Angell's Psychology, pp. 122-160. 4. Dewey's Psychology, pp. 156-174. 5. Colvin and Bagley's Human Behavior, pp. 213- 225. CHAPTER XIII. Memory. General Nature. — Every experience one has leaves him somewhat different from what he was before he had the experience. This holds true whether the ex- perience be mental or physical. One's mind acts in a certain way to-day and to-morrow it acts in the same way a little more easily. Something from the first ac- tivity stayed Avith the mind, and so something from every activity stays with the mind; that is, the mind retains something from every activity. All that may with cer- tainty be said concerning the nature of what is retained is that it is the effect of the activity. This effect makes it easier for the mind to act again as it has acted before, and the mind because of this will react its experiences again with less stimulus, or provocation. And when it does react its past experiences it knows it is doing sof that is, it knows it has had this experience or that ex- perience before. Illustration. — One sees to-day for the first time in his life some poison ivy. Not knowing its poisonous na- ture he is in the act of examining its berries when with a show of much fear some one tells him how dangerously poisonous it is. He is strongly impressed with what he has heard. A month later in taking a walk, he finds himself among some bushes and vines and seeing that he is almost in contact with some poisonous ivy, he fairly 186 Studies in Psychology runs away. He does not have to be told about it this time. We say he remembered his former experience. But an analysis shows he retained the effect of it, reacted it, and knew he had had something of the same experi- ence before, that is, identified it. This whole process just thought through is what is known as memory by psychologists, and it is the second stage in the development of knowing. The following