Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-12-28
THE LIBRARY TABLE
BY the BOOklOrer


soul, the animal soul, and the human
soul. Descartes defined mind as think
ing substance and body as extended
substance, and made THIN subject to
entirely different laws. Spinoza con-
sidered emotions as a struggle in the
human being for self-protection or self
realization. John Locke denied the ex-
iStence of innate ideas, and believed that
all knowledge is derived through the
senses. Leibnitz, on the other hand,
believed that there must be general
ideas In the mind in advance Of expert
ence. Berkeley was the first philoSo-
pher specifically to deny the existence
of the external world" Hume traced
the return Of impressions as ideas to
association. Kant taught that the soul
itself Is never known, and that outside
objects are never known directly. John
Stuart Mill suggested the term mental
chemistry" to describe the fusion which
takes place among various elementary
sensations and ideas coming together.
Lotze represented mind as enthToned in
the cerebrum, receiving messages from
all parts of the body through the sur
lace nerves. The systems of all these
psychologists and many others are
briefly summarized by w. B. Pillsbury,
professor of psychology in the Univer-
sity OF Michigan, in his book, THE His
tory of Psychology"
X X II
The beginning of experimental psy-
chology in the modern sense came, ac-
cording to Prof. Pillsbury, with Fechner
ana Wundt in Germany. Wundt, who
had many pupils from all over the
world, whom he stimulated to impor-
tant Investigations, soon reached a
position of pre-eminence in the psy-
geological world that was challenged by
few." Among his American students
were G. Stanley Hall and James Nc
Keen Cattell. In his Physiological
psychology" Wundt discusses sensation
and feeling as the elements of mind,
perceptions as combinations of senSa
lions and memories, emotions as the
cause OF actions, and apperception,
sometimes synonymous with will.
Wundt's most important influence on
psychology was in giving it an expert
mental turn. His ideal was to confirm
each statement by experiment and to
rely upon proved fact as the real datum
OF experiments were carried out by him
self and his students"
y -
In the sections on Freud, Jung and
Adler the modern psychological terms
banded about in general conversation
so profusely today, with or without COM
prehension OF them, are defined. We
are told the origin and intent of "psy-
choanalysis," "nxation," the uncon-
scious," 'libido," upper SELF" "conver-
sion neuroSiS," "compulSion neurosis,"
anxiety neurosis," depressed IDEAS"
suppressed desires" "Oedipus COM
unconscious desire" race uncon-
scious," "introvert," "extravert," 'infe-
riority complex" Prof Pillsbury's COM
ment on Freud and his psychology. is
as follows: 1T must be said that to an
outsider many of Freud's conclusions
seem to be based on the assumption
That II you capt prove that they are
false they must be true" And "Freud's
doctrine was variously received in vari-
three decades the center of O contro-
versy between devout apostles and
scoring opponents. He had a small fol-
lowing at home, but not in academic
circles. In England and America, espe-
cially in America, the clinicians tended
to accept him, If with notifications.
while the psychologists were mostly in
credulous. In France the older Charcot
school and Janet held the field, so that
Freud'S doctrine made little Roadway,
and in Germany there were far more
admitted practitioners are becoming
fewer and fewer and the ardor Of those
VINO were disciples Is cooling"
The three brothers of the Powys fam
ily-John Cowper, Theodore and Lew
elyn-might be used as good illustra-
tive material by eugenistS. All are
writer's of distinctive kinds of work
wolf Solent," the recent novel Of John
CoWper PoWyS, belongs to the type of
fiction which represents states of con-
seriousness rather than events. Wolf
Solent has reached maturity without
accomplishing an approach to success,
but this fact does not greatly concern
him. He leaves London and goes to a
Dorset village, the old home of his par
ents, where his father has died in pow
erty and disgrace. There he earns a
meager living by writing a more or less
SalactouS local history for the squire,
who has for years collected the mate
rial. He is rather ashamed of his Job,
and inwardly struggles to free himself
from 1t, but circumstances in which he
allows himself to become entangled
seem to prevent him from being what
he considers his real self. There Is a
ceaSeless conflict between his inner con-
SciousnesS, which he never himself
wholly understands, and outside reality
which he comes to think of as hostile.
His mother, a courageous, irresponsible
pagan; Gerda, a village girl, for whom
he feels physical passion; Christie. his
intellectual love; his friend, Darnley
Otter, for whom he has q complex, un-
stable affection; Squire Urquhart, his
sinister employer, and the haunting
presence of both his dead, diScreditable
father and his mysterious predecessor
in the squires employ, Redfern-are all
part OF the mesh of life which seems to
entangle him. He is not q man of ac-
ton, but is distinctly q man Of moods
and doubts. He spends much Of his
time in walking about the countryside
and from Kings Barton to a neighbour
ing village, stopping for tea with diff
ferent acquaintance. always apparently
In the hope that something will occur
which will clarity his thought and help
him to knowledge of himself and the
meaning Of his life. Nothing does hap
pen. At the end of IA months he Is still
uncertain whether he deSpiseS or SYM
pathizeS with his dead father; whether
he loves his mother with a primitive
love exceeding all other loves, or hates
her for the demands she makes upon
him; whether he needs Gerda or Chris
tie more. OF one thing he seems sure
that the beautiful Dorset country, when
he is with it alone, is his solace. mo
scent had they in themselves "a patch
of celandines), but as he pressed his
forehead into the cold roots Of the
greSS around them and smell of the
earth sucked up through mouth and
nostrils, entered into the very nerves of
his soul with long, shivering, restor-
alive poignance."
+ +
Here in an atmosphere of the Old
World lived rich and cultured men and
women; here was community which
was indeed luxurious, with its opera, its
theater, music, balls. its gambling, its
bullhghts and its circuS-a city of men
who inherited the Latin traits of both