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

  • Cox, Edward W. (Edward William), 1809-1879.
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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    witli sometliing that is immaterial, intangible—whose existence is not proved nor capable of proof, and which, therefore, is unknown and unknowable. Psychology has no foundation of fact and upon fact alone can a Science be constructed.” I dare to dispute the assertion and the argument. The British Association does not preserve its own boundaries and maintain its own definition. It admits Political Economy and Education. It does not prohibit occasional wandering into the wide field of Art. Speculations verg- ing closely upon Theology are permitted and even welcomed in Presidential Addresses. TheoTies are not always scouted because they are wild. A section is invited to discuss the best manner of educating a human being; but investigation into the existence, the nature, and the capacities of the mind to be so taugkt, its relationship to the body, its past, its present and its future, is sternly prohibited, as not being a part of Science. If any member dares to moot incidentally auy question, however interest- ing and important, bearing upon the Mind or Soul of Man, be is instantly shouted down, and rules are made with express purpose to prevent the introduction of the subject in any shape. Psychology is not merely refused ^dmi^smn into, it is positively scouted from, the British Association for the Advancement of Science ! Even more strange, illogical, and unphilosophical is the treatment of Psychology by another Society of lesser note. Anthropology is the Greek name for the Science of Man. There is an Anthropological Institute, whose profession is the pursuit and promotion of this Science. It was after many years of claim, advanced and rejected, that Anthropology obtained for itself a place even then grudgingly granted—upon the platform of the British Association, which had, from the beginning, established a department for Natural History. T_hiuk of t^!_ The associated Scientists of our time accepting discussions on [240]