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]
Catalogue details

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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    having opened to us his history, as revealed in the relics of his various works—actions manifestly not automatical but the product of some Intelligence — a great and grand region still remains to be explored. W^hat is the Intelligence directing the action of the MAN described by the Biologist, the Physiologist and the Anthropologist ? If that Man be not merely a machine—an automaton—there must be something within him or without him that intelligently directs the motions of his mechanism to definite and intelli- gent objects. The motions manifestly obey a power within the Man we call his Will. What that force is, whence it comes, how it works, what are its powers and capacities, the mechanism, if any, through which it acts and how the direction is determined of the force that moves the mechanism—here, indeed, is a vast region in the Science of Man for which no provision has been made, but which nevertheless is actually rejected by the British Association for the advancement of Science, and ignored by the Anthro- pological Institute, while professing the Science of Man, and by the Journals that call themselves the reporters of the sayings and doings of all the Sciences. Perhaps to some minds the definition of Psychology, which this Society has ventured to advauce, and for which it challenges discussion by any who object to it, may appear somewhat vague. “What is a force?” they may ask : “ Is there anything moving us but muscular force, which the chemists tell us is produced by the conflagration of the muscle itself? What contracts the muscle ? The nerves. What sets the nerves in action ? The brain. Nothing can be more simple and obvious. The brain wills, the nerve carries the command, the muscle obeys and contracts, as ordered, and the limb moves in the desired direction. The Mechanism is perfect and so is this explanation of it. What need to go beyond it for some- thing we cannot see, hear, or touch ? Why perplex the mind with cpiestious incapable of solution and conjectures [24.3]