The Equinox (Volume I, Number II)

REVIEWS INTRODUCTION TO PHYSIOLOGICAL PSYCHOLOGY. By Dr. THEODOR ZIEHEN. Swan Sonnenschein and Co., 6s. Luke vi. 39. Professor Ziehen, the author of this useful little text-book—useful at least for examination purposes and “ sixth-form” students in psychology—follows in the main the theories more widely known in this country through the works of Minsterberg, and rejects such of those of Wundt as are based by him upon that a priori auxiliary function, the so-called “apperception.” “From the outstart,” states Professor Ziehen, “the conception ‘ unconscious psychical pro- cesses’ is for us an empty conception”; and so, on the strength of this assertion, he attempts to work out the whole of his argument empirically. This he does rationally enough, as we might expect from a professor of Jena; but in spite of the cunning of his logic and the lucidity of his numerous “becauses,” he, in the end, is as inconclusive as Wundt or any of the modern psychologists. Finally he explains nothing, or, to be charitable, very little, and in spite of his assertion, ‘Our thoughts are never voluntary,” we are still more in doubt as to this on closing his volume than we were upon opening it. Further, he writes on p. 247: “The freedom which we think to possess in the so-called voluntary processes of thought is only semblance.” In spite of the dogmatism displayed in this sentance, we almost agree with it, and would heartily do so if our worthy Professor had included in it all mental conditions explicable in the language of man. Semblances we feel they all are, sem- blances of a something beyond book or word,a something alone attainable by Titanic work. The individual, we feel, will never understand the minds of others until he understands his own. This our modern-day philosophers invariably seem to forget, and as long as they do so we cannot help further feeling that their grand generalisation must be as unbalanced as the minds of those asylum patients from which they are so fond of deducing them. “Know Thyself” comes before “Instruct Others.” Let this be well remembered by all such as would teach without learning and would lead others without seeing. F, This admirable manual of Physiological Psychology cannot fail to be of great interest to every psychologist who cares for the physiological side of his fascinating science. At the same time, it should, we think, never be forgotten that the study of physiological psychology is hardly complete without a parallel research in psychological physiology. Nor should confusion arise between physiology proper, psychology proper, 391