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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    witnesses must be weighed as well as counted. If the information comes from one sense only, it should be mistrusted until it is confirmed by repeated observation under various conditions. If more senses than one give the same information, the value of such evidence increases in arithmetical ratio, because of the improbability of so many deceptions at the same moment. If there are two trustworthy witnesses, and both have the same perceptions at the same time, the testimony is more cogent still; but if more than two, then the probability of truth is overwhelming. A fact cannot be combated by an argument. It is an answer to any amount of ingenious logic, contending that the fact cannot be, to show that it is. A fact may be howled down by ignorance, “put down” by authority, written down by dogmatism, suppressed by the newspapers; but it cannot be hilled, for a fact is immortal. It will assuredly survive all its opponents. As it was yesterday, so it is to-day, and so it will be to-morrow. Closing to it our own eyes or the eyes of others will not banish it; no persecution can destroy it; no law, nor authority, can make it not to be. And as it has been in the past, so it is now and so perhaps it will ever be. Vanity, and too often more practical interests, are naturally enhsted against the reception of new truths that threaten to disturb old theories and shake established reputations. It is the common weakness of human nature, from which Scientists are not more free than others. This is the true obstacle to the admission of Psychology into the recognised circle of the Sciences. It must be confessed that it does seriously shake the supremacy of Materialism and threaten the fame of eminent Materia- lists. It must, therefore, look for hostility. But courage and perseverance will subdue prejudice and conquer oppo- sition, as it has done so often before. Materialism appears formidable now because it has so many eloquent and able supporters. But we believe it to be destined to fall before the nobler teachings of Psychology, g’oing forth, as here it [260]