Bonners Ferry herald. [volume] (Bonners Ferry, Idaho) 1904-current, 1912-03-23

stood talking with Judge Brewster
did you notice how Mr.. Jeffries has
aged recently? He no longer seems
the same man.
mo wonder, after all the trouble
he's had. OF course you know what a
disappointment his son turned out?"
"a scamp, l understand. Married a
chorus girl and all that sort of thing"
mot exactly, but almost as bad.
The girl was a waitress or something
like that in a restaurant She's very
common; her fatSer died in prison.
You can imagine the slow to old JEFF
fries. He turned the boy adrift and
left him to shift for himself"
Alicia approached her husband, who
was still talking with Judge Brewster
She was leaning on the arm of a tall,
handsome man with a dark Van Dyke
beard.
who are you discussing with such
interest?" she demanded, as she came
up with her escort.
1--WE were talking OF Capt. Clinton
and his detestable police methods"
said the banker.
Judge" said Alicia, turning to the
lawyer, "allow me to introduce Dr.
Bernstein. Doctor, this is Judge
Brewster"
The stranger bowed low. as he re-
piled courteously:
THE fame of Judge Brewster has
spread to every state in the union"
A faint smile spread over the face
of the famous lawyer as he extended
his hand:
I've often heard of you, too, doc
tor. I've been reading with great in
terest your book, Experimental Psy-
chology.' Do you know" he went
on earnestly, there's a lot in that
We have still much to learn in that
direction"
81 think" said DR.. Bernstein, quiet
ly, that we're only on the threshold
of wonderful discoveries"
Pleased to find that her two distin-
guished guests were congenial, Alicia
left them to themselves and Joined
her other guests.
yes" said the lawyer musingly,
man has studied for centuries the
mechanism of the body but he has
neglected entirely the mechanism OF
the mind"
DR.. Bernstein smiled approvingly.
1--WE are just waking up" he replied
quickly. people are beginning to
look upon psychology seriously. Up
to comparatively recently the layman
has regarded psychology as the do
main of the philosopher and the
dreamer. 1t did not seem possible
that it could ever be applied to our
practical everyday life. but of late we
have made remarkable strides. AL
though it is a comparatively new
science, you will probably be aston
ished to learn that there are to-day in
the United States so psychological
laboratories. That is to say, work
shops fully equipped with every de-
vice known for the probing of the hui
man brain. In my laboratory in Cali
fornia alone / have as many as TWEEN
ty rooms hung with electric wires and
equipped with all the necessary in
truments-chronosco kymograph,
tachistoscopes and ergographs - in
struments which enable us to meas
ure and record the human brain as
accurately as the Bertillon system"
Really, you astonish mel" ex-
claimed the judge. This is most in
teresting. Think of laboratories sole
ly devoted to delving into mysteries
Of the human brainl 1t is wonderful"
He was silent for a moment, then
he said;
1T is quite plain, 1 think, that
psychology can prove most useful in
medicine. 1t is, l take it, the very
foundation of mental healing, but what
else would it do for humanity? For
instance. can it help me. the lawyer"
DR.. Bernstein smiled.
you gentlemen of the law have al
ways scoffed at the very suggestion
of bringing psychology to your aid,
but just think. sir, how enormously it
might aid you in cross-examining a
witness. You can tell with almost
scientific accuracy if the witness is
telling lies or the truth, and tbe same
would be clear to the Judge and the
jury. Just think how your powers
would be increased if by your skill in
psychological observation you could
convince the jury that your client.
who was about to be convicted on cir
cumstantial evidence alone, was really
innocent of the crime of which he was
charged. Why. sir, the road which
psychology opens up to the lawyer
is well-nigh boundless. Don't you use
the Bertillon system to measure the
body? Don't you rely on thumb prints
to identify the hand? How do you
know that we psychologists are not
able to-day to test the individual diff.
ferences of men?"
(TO BE CONTINUED)