New Britain herald., 1923-01-31
CALLS PSYCHOLOGY SCIENTIFIC MYSTERY
Principal White Discusses Sub
 jeCt Before WOnan's Club

hfE htNeNtfss T Hf4 NH iriltAt Ah a
 most anything they shouldn't belie'
 in and won't believe iR many thinl
 they should That is The history {
 mankind', said Marcus White prime
 pal Of the Normal school in sReakin
 on, Facts and Faneies Of Psychology
 al the annual guest night 0f the Won
 ans club al the Center church char
 el last evening,
 He told et the doctors and of med
 ieine in olden times. of the aneieH
 beliefs such as scarlet cloth for man
 diseases and many other so.eaile
 cures employed hy The physicians c
 that time, ''fhe first thing a daeta
 wfsd do to person would be |
 bleed him, said MF, White. adding
 "And they haven't changed SO muel
 up 10 the present.,
 The reason for the use of so man!
 CT these flake" cures was that thu
 medical men of those times did no
 know the causes of the diseases ans so, could not treat them, Many o them were honest in their intentions
 And then came fastcur in reeen years.
 Pasieur nnd Medicine
 "Pasteur placed modern medicine upon its feet', said the speaker Pas, ture attributed disease 10 minute or, ganisms SO small as 10 be visible only with tho aid of a microscope, He was ridiculed for 2 long time. He would make discoveries and announce them. but tho people would not take them seriously. Iie made tests with animals and succeeded 10 such an cN- tent that ho could prophecy the re- suits Of the experiments even before they were performed.
 And the reason for the success of Pasteur, one Of tho worlds greatest human benefactors. was that he had traced the causes and the effects and had arrived at a definite conclusion, and at the present time physicians arc trying to put medicine on scien- tiic basis"
 The gullibility Of people of today and how they will be attracted by ad- vertiscments and so-called cures, just as they were attracted by the patent medicine advertisements which guar anteed to cure every disease known to man were described. Mir. White stated that there is just as much bene- fit to be derived from many simple and well known things as there is from some expensive article. The people want the name and anything else will not do.
 Now. if there is such wide field for duping the people in the experi- mental field of medicine, what possi- bilities lie in the little known and new science of psychology" asked the speaker.
 What Is Consciousness?
 ITO understand consciousness one must think of what is impossible in inconsistencies In consciousness we can love, hate, talk. speak and do many other things that make up the conscious self. All these phenomena are associated with changes i'll the nervous system. None of these would | happen unless there was nerve &C., tion," said the speaker.
 Psychologists say that human be- ings come into the world as manu- factured products, results of inherit cd systems of action dating back to prehistoric times.
 We have instincts which cause us to act in certain ways For example he told of an experiment with pup pies that showed thay have natural instinct to swim. an inherited in stinct. A baby has no such instinct
 'The reason why we know so much more about medicine than we do about psychology is that experiment. srs in medicine have a wide field to work from he said. They have ,een able to experiment with animals. Psychologists have no such field. foung children can not be secured to experiment. on and so these eSperi- nents must be carried on under arti- icial conditions; the results may not ,e conclusive, lie said.
 Tho Emotions
 Regarding the emotions, little is ,nown. It is shown that the state of hind has an effect upon things con- lected with the body and the emo ions play big part in the body well are. MT. White said that there is reat deal still to be learned about he body.
 He referred to anger, as an exam. le, when the natural tendency of the ody is to act. The muscles become aut and the body prepares for de- -nsc, an instinct dating back to pre- istoric times when a man had to pro- ect himself. In this case the blood an better serve the muscles than it an the function of digestion and di- estion stops. It is practically certain lat this is the case, said Mir. White. Many emotions are detrimental at le present time as modern conditions Q not warrant the use of them. 'All things are mysterious, but hen we have traced the chain of luses and effects they become less ysterious," said MT. White.
 The Nerves
 Tn speaking of the nerves. MT. yhite said that each nerve does it's vn work of carrying messages to the -ain. After this takes place it is not 1own what happens in the brain. All can do is to guess. erve currents. after reaching the ain. shoot out in all directions, is Ie belief. Thus, when one word is tered by one person. the person ad- essed immediately thinks of several her things connected with it. The oughts become associated. The fact that a man has a good emory merely shows that he has an ucated brain. The currents are well aimed to follow a definite pathway out the brain. The mind becomes ganized by training.
 Strange Cases
 He brought to mind many strange ses of peculiar minds which cannot accounted for because enough is { known about the mind. Colburn,