The claims of psychology to a place in the circle of the sciences / sessional address of the President, Mr. Serjeant Cox.

  • Edward William Cox
Date:
[1878]
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The claims of psychology to a place in the circle of the sciences / sessional address of the President, Mr. Serjeant Cox. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    by sufficient evidence to be o'eal—what are still doubtful —what are fanciful merely—what are impostures. That all the tens of thousands of alleged phenomena, witnessed in all parts of the world and attested by experienced observers, should be illusions or delusions, would be a fact even more marvellous than the greatest marvel among the phenomena themselves. It seems to be forgotten that if hid one of the vast multitude be true, that one proved fact lays the foundation of a new Science, for that solitary fact establishes the existence of a force in nature hitherto unrecognised—a force essentially differing from all the forces as yet known to Science in this, that ^ is intelligent force. ' If but one of these phenomena be established as a fact, how new a field is thus opened to the researches of Psychology ! At once the questions arise for investigation and answer: Whence comes this force ? It is developed only in the presence or near neighbourhood of some human being, endowed with a special nerve organisation. Does the force proceed from him without whom it is not iexhibited? The force operates without muscular contact, i Then we face the problem of “ action at a distance.” At this moment our philosophers are in conflict if such a thing can be. But here it is. If the force proceeds from the Psychic, it certainly does not come from his muscles. Whence comes it then ? If from him, but not from his \corporeal frame, it must proceed from some other entity that is in him. What is that entity ? If the conclusion of the inquiry should be that there is such an entity, then that entity is what we call his Soul—that is to say tne Conscious Self. But suppose the force exhibited not to be in him,_^^ ouMe oi him—that it i~s not Us force but the force of some other being. In such case, the conclusion is un- ’ avoidable that there are invisible beings capable of exer- cising force upon visible substances. [254]