Elements of Physiological Psychology

William Noyes
1887 Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease  
English to cover the ground of experimental psychology, and, appearing seven years after the second and last edition of Wundt's " Grundztige der Physiologischen Psychologie," it supplements that epoch-making book, and brings clearly before us the advances that have been made since that time. It is a surprise as well as a pleasure to receive a book conceived in such a truly broad and scientific spirit from a pro¬ fessor of philosophy who is at the same time a doctor of divinity in a confessedly
more » ... onservative religious body. Prof. Ladd has no fear of the study of the mind from the experimental and physio¬ logical point of view, and while he holds that there is no ground for extravagant claims, yet there is still less ground for any fear of consequences, and we may certainly agree with him that with declamation, either in attack or defense of the " old psychology " of the " introspective method," etc., one may dispense without serious loss. The problem, then, that physiological psychology sets for itself is, " What is the nature of mind considered in the light of its cor¬ relations with the body ? and, Do the so-called physiological and the so-called psychical phenomena belong to one subject or to more than one ? " It is, of course, but the old, old question that each will solve for himself according to his environment and the light that he gets from the little lantern with which he sees his own small portion of the universe ; but it is indeed refreshing to have it confessed that " introspective psychology, important as its results have been, and indispensable as its method is, has shown its incompetency to deal with many of the most interesting inquiries which it has itself raised. On the other hand, psy¬ chology as pursued by the experimental and physiological method has already thrown a flood of fresh light upon many of these in¬ quiries." As the field covered is an entirely new one for English readers,
doi:10.1097/00005053-188706000-00019 fatcat:vbgq7kgbqjf7bnfrjogcw4ikam