THE NEW PSYCHOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

Otago Witness, Issue 1230, 17 July 1875, Page 3

THE NEW PSYCHOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

On the 14th April, the inaugural meeting of the New Psychological Society of Great Britain, was held in the rooms of the Architectural Society, Conduit street, Regent-street, London, under the presidency of Mr. Serjeant Oox. There was an overflowing attendance, every inch of sitting aud standing room being occupied, and numbers of persons unable to g>ii» admittance. Among the listeners present were, Sir John Maxwell, General Brewstf r, Mm. Makdougall Gregory, the Hon. Mrs, Strong, the Rev. W. Staintoti Moses, MA., Mr. and Mrs. W. Tel»b, Mr. N. Fabyan Dawe, Dr. and Mrs. Edmunds, Mr Fredk. Collingwood (were! tary to the Anthropological Institute), Mr. Moncure D. Con way, Mr. Crisp Mrs. Fitz-Gerald, Mr. Alexander Caldvr! Mr. H. D. Jencken, M.R.I , Major S. R I. Owen, F.L.S., Mr. Pero val, Mr. George Harris, F.S.A., Mr. V\ k. Mim ton, Mr A. L. Lewis, Dr., Mrs «md Miss Sexton, and Mr. and Mm. O. ..rg« Chillis. Mr. Serjeant Cox then Wuimred Im opening address, in the c tirs • of whicli he said that physiology f \wU with the physical structure of man, but psychology deals with the potencies whenos proceed the/orces by which the molecules com p sing the body are governed, and the existence of these potencies could b\> demonstrated, by those who had given attention to the aubjeot, to be not less real than initter, and not less capable of becoming known. Ps\ahobgy, in plain English, was "the science of the soul." He considered psychology and materialism to be necessary to ouch other. Electricity and magnetism could not be seen or weighed, their properties had to be deduced from their effects upon matter, yet they were none the lees real because they could be known only in this way; and his position was that by precisely the same processes, the nature of psychological forces cou'd be ascertained ; the province of psychology irai to investigate the nature of all the forces governing the mechanism of man. Students of psychology had to fear theologians on the one hand, and materialists on the other, since the latter denied the existence of the soul except as a function of matter, and the former by exhortations to faith, as in some recent instances, would have men return to the mental state of prescientific ages. The Society would have to study many abnormal phenomena. It was not in the ordinary operations of nature that her secrets wore most disclosed, but whf n some of the wheels were oufc of gear, and so presented us to give information as to the nature of the mechanism. He also said —

"Is it, as the materialists assert, that man is nothing more than the material structure perceptible to our senses ? that life ia tho product of a certain combination and arrangement of molecules in the special manner wo c;ill organic ? Is it that mind— intelligence— ia but an action of that material structure, and conciousness merely a state of that organism? Is it that, when this combination of molecules ia dissolved, life ends, and with life the intelligence and the conciousness that wei o also the product of that combination ? Or is it that this thing that is concious is something othbr than the material organism of which it is concious ? Is the force that moves that complex mechanism selfgenerated? Is the intelligence that directs it self- produced? Or isTthero not something in our material structure that is non-material—aomething that is in fact ourselves, and of which the body is merely the material mechanism through which that non-material something, from the very condition of its being, can aloue hold communication with the material world I "This is the first question, surely, of overwhelming interest to every human being, that presents itself to the psychologist. For a scientific answer to it he must consult—what 1 Not hi» inner 'cansciou3uess, not his hopes and desires, not creeds, not dogmas, not opinions,, nofc conjectures, but facts. He must do hs did the discoverers of electricity and magnetism, as Faraday did, aa T'yndall is doing ; he must note the changes in the matter his senses can perceive, and seek in ths phenomena tfcy e*h*J?i* tof the

presence of a force, if any such there be, that his senses are unable to perceive. If he finds the presence of such a force acting upon m ltcular structure, whether organic or inorganic, by noting with strict tests and repeated experiments the action of that force, he, will be enabled to learn much of its nature and qualities, and especially if ife be a blind force or ari intelligent force. " If it be a blind force, like magnetism, or any of the physical forces, be will be compelled to the conclusion that, like them, it belongs to nature generally, and not especially to the individual.

" But if he should find, us perhaps he will, that this force is an intelligent force —that is to say, that it has a will and knowledge, and cannot be commanded, — to what conclusion will he then come]

" Inevitably that the intelligent motive force proceeds from something as imperceptible to the senses of the observer as is magnetism or electricity. But intelligence can only pr. ceed from some being that is intelligent- — some personality, some entity — call it what you please, — and if this is found to be associated with the individual man, then the inevitable conclusion will be that man has in him, or associated with him, some being other than his material structure.

"It is to that intelligent entity, whatever it be, and if it be (which is the problem to be solved), that the name of soul or spirit has been given, but to which I prefer to give the name of psyche, as more accurate, because the former have been so employed that they both convey to the popular mind a cone ption somewhat different from that which is designed when the term is read in a scientific sense.

"If the fact of the existence of a psychebe demonstrated scientifically, there will follow the scarcely less interesting questions — whence it is ? what it is 'I what is its structure, its shape? what are its faculties ? what has been its past, if it has had a past ? what will be its future, if a future be in store for it 1

"As I have said, the first business is to ascertain precisely what are the facts, and then, by reflection and discussion, to deduce from those facts the reasonable conclusions to which th>y point. * * * # J * #

"The process by which we propose to adopt the exploration of this strange country will be, first, by the collection of facts, and secondly, by discussion upon their causes and consequence*. Our primary endeavour will be to secure authenticated reports of the psychological phenomena, and to subject whatever is presented to our notice to the severest pcrntiny, so to ascertain, if possible, what claim it has to be received and registered as a fact. We hpe that, such being our avowed purpose, no person, however «rpat nig authority, will take offrnce if we subject him to the most severe crossexamination upon any .inserted observations, seeing that we have no other desire nor desigu than to discover the very truth. When important occasions demand, we shall appoint committees of inquiry, to examine, and test, and report results. But as to opinions, and speculations based upon the facts, we shull receive them from all qxtarters and on any aide of any question, if only they ba temperately advanced."