SECT. I.

mind are in some way connected with, and depend CHAP. I. upon, the faculties of the body, and more especially that the nervous system, with its centre in the ganglia of the brain and its extremities scattered over the surface of the body, is the principal medium of communication with the external world. Whatever may be the value which a knowledge of the laws and operations of this system of nerves possesses, it may cast some light upon the more refined operations of the mind itself.

c. The history of the human progress or of the results of the continued activity of the human mind. Amongst the most important of these is language. If physiology makes us acquainted with the instrument by which the mind operates, the science of language exhibits and analyses the first and most important of the mind's products. It is only within the last half century that this science has sprung into existence; but the results which it has already attained are of so great importance in illustrating the history and progress of the human mind and the human race, that the most sanguine hopes may be entertained with reference to the achievements which it is yet destined to accomplish. The progress which has been made in different places and under different conditions in the useful and elegant arts, in science, and in social character and customs, may also afford illustrations of the nature and laws of the human mind. The consciousness which each individual possesses of the working of his own mind may be corrected and enlarged by an observation of the

Results of

mental activity.

CHAP. I.

SECT. I.

Order of

study.

1. Criti

cism of

gradual and progressive development of the mind of
the nation or race.
That such progressive develop-

ment has actually taken place, no one can doubt.
The history of religion, of science, of art, as well as
of philosophy, is evidence of the fact. To the history,
of this progress, therefore, the student of philosophy
should turn his attention, for in it he will find illus-
trations, upon a grand scale, of the operation of
mental forces and principles which consciousness
reveals to him, upon a small scale, in his own
mind.

§ 3. Before proceeding to the consideration of the special subjects of psychology, it is desirable to take a general view of the order in which they should be studied.

In the first place, it will be necessary to examine materials. critically the sources from which facts regarding the mind are derived, in order to determine their value, their bearing upon the questions under examination, and the nature of the information which they are likely to give. The facts revealed to us in consciousness, those made known by a study of our physical organism, and the results of human mental activity, constitute different classes of data from which conclusions may be drawn regarding the operations and laws of the mind. These different classes of facts give testimony of different kinds and of different value; and it will be necessary both to pursue an accurate method in the examination of facts themselves, and to see that no conclusions which they do not warrant are drawn from them.

CHAP. I.

SECT. 1.

and combination of elements into complex products.

§ 4. The next step is the analysis of our mental phenomena into their simplest elements. In the maturity of the human mind the feelings, percep- 2. Analysis of presenttions, thoughts, and other phenomena are very com-ative plex in their nature; and we cannot thoroughly un- knowledge. derstand them until they have been resolved into the elements of which they were originally composed. Having determined as accurately as possible the original elements of our knowledge, we may discover the manner in which these elements are combined or modified so as to constitute what is called presentative knowledge-that is, knowledge which is immediately presented to the mind without having undergone any process of repetition, comparison, or inference. In this reduction of knowledge to its simplest elements we shall be led to study the relations between these ultimate mental facts and the parts of the physical organism with which they are more immediately connected, and we shall be able to trace the first beginnings of our knowledge of external things. It will be necessary also to study another process, the repetition or representation of the original elements of our mental activity, since this process plays an important part in the perception of external and distant objects.

§ 5. The repetition or representation of the elements of knowledge, introduced as a subsidiary process in the psychology of perception, must now be studied in its higher and more easily recognised functions as exhibited in phantasy, memory, and imagination.

3. Repre

sentation

of mental pheno

mena.

CHAP. I.

SECT. I.

4. Elaboration of knowledge.

These subjects, and certain problems involved in them, form an interesting chapter in the study of the human mind.

§ 6. The last and highest class of phenomena to which we shall require to turn our attention consists of those complex processes of comparison, generalisation, and inference which are employed in the enlargement and elaboration of our knowledge. The study of the products of these processes is the work of the logician. Logic has to do with the results of the mental processes to which we are referring; but psychology is concerned with the nature of the processes themselves as revealed in consciousness. While, therefore, the objects of our study here will, to a certain extent, coincide with those of the logician, we shall look upon them from a different point of view. It will be our aim to discover the nature and laws of our mental activity exerted in the formation of those predications, general notions, and inferences which form the subject-matter of logic.

CHAP. I.
SECT. II.

SECTION II.

CRITICISM OF SOURCES.

§ 7. In this section it is proposed to examine briefly the sources of our knowledge of the mind, for the purpose of ascertaining the kind and amount of evidence which they are likely to give of the mind's processes. These sources we have already arranged into three classes-consciousness, the study of the

physical organism, and the results which express the mind's activity.

CHAP. I.

SECT. II.

Study of

Beginning with the third of these, as being the most familiar to those who have not devoted much complex mental attention to the subject, we may remark that from products. it we need not expect to obtain much assistance in the study of the more ultimate and elementary phenomena of the human mind. The manifest results of human activity, as seen in language, in mythology, in art, or in religion, are the expression or effects of mental processes of a complex and elaborate kind. They cannot, therefore, throw much light upon the mental problems connected with the first beginnings of knowledge; but they will assist very materially in showing how the more complex mental operations are carried on, how the simpler elements of knowledge are combined and elaborated. Leaving their consideration, therefore, for a future period, we may examine more carefully the other two sources which we have indicated.

Physical

§ 8. A study of the physical organism is without doubt an important preparation for the study of the mind. But the value of the information which it gives has been differently estimated by different students. All are willing to admit that the connection between the body-and especially the nervous system on the one hand, and the mind on the other, is of a very intimate kind; and all should, therefore, to the agree that the study of the one is an important condition of a complete knowledge of the other. But there are diversities of opinion as to the nature

organism:
different
views of
its relation

mind.