Fact and Fable in Psychology

V

The study of the dreams of the blind thus emphasizes many points of interest in the nature and development of the cortical centres of the human brain; it graphically illustrates the explanatory power of the modern view of their functions; and it presents in a new aspect certain characteristics of their constitution. It shows beyond a question that the power of apperceiving sight-images is in no true sense innate, but is the product of slow development and long training. That the same holds true of other centres is proved by a mass of evidence gathered from many quarters; with regard to the motor centres, it is even experimentally determined by the observation that stimulation of the central convolutions of the brains of puppies fails to excite the appropriate movements of the legs, unless the puppies are already nine or ten days old. These facts will be utilized in the formulation of an important developmental law applicable alike to physiological and to psychological processes.

The "critical period," revealed by the above research, must not be understood as marking the point at which the visual centre begins its life; this indeed occurs at a much earlier age, and this centre from the outset and continuously increases in complexity and stability. Nor was the statement made that there was no difference here relevant, between the loss of vision at different ages before the critical period. That a child who has seen up to the fourth, or the third, or even the second year of life, probably retains some traces of visualizing not attainable by those who attended the school of vision for a shorter time or not at all, is believed on evidence of a general, but not as yet of a specific nature. Among other facts it is indicated by the influence of the age of blinding on the future development of noted blind persons. Similarly, after the critical period, the same processes of growth and assimilation continue, as is evidenced by the vague character and comparatively early decay of the dream-vision of those becoming blind close upon the end of the seventh year. The more time spent in gathering in the provisions, the longer do they hold out. The significance of the critical period lies in its demonstrating a point in the growth of the higher sense-centres, at which a divorce from sense-impression is no longer followed by a loss of their psychical meaning; a point at which imagination and abstraction find a sufficiently extended and firmly knit collection of experiences to enable them to build up and keep alive their important functions; a point where the scholar dispenses with the object-lesson and lives off his capital; a point at which the scaffolding may be torn down and the edifice will stand.

The indication of such a period in the development of the human mind brings clearly into view the dependence of the higher mental processes upon the basis furnished them by the experiences of sensation; it strongly suggests a rational order and proportion in the training of the several faculties of the child's mind; and finally, it prevents the formation and survival of false notions, by substituting certain definite though incomplete knowledge for much indefinite though very systematic speculation.

INDEX

• Alchemy, 18, 171;
  • problems of, 19;
  • modern forms of, 20;
  • type of occultism represented by, 20.
• Analogy, as applied in pseudo-science, 23, 43, 44, 267, 268;
  • as a logical process, 237, 267, 272;
  • the natural history view of, 236 sqq., 271;
  • as characteristic of primitive thought-habits, 239, 241, 247;
  • in children, 251;
  • see also, Metaphor, Myth, Numbers, Superstition, Symbolism, Unusual.
• Animal Magnetism; see Mesmer.
• Apperception, illustrated by diagrams, 283-295.
• Astrology, 18, 171, 266-269;
  • interest in, 23;
  • logic underlying, 23.
• Attention, misdirection of, 121, 124;
  • expectant, 294.
• Automatic writing, 333.
• Automatograph, 309.

• Beard, Dr. G. M., 229.
• Belief, fixation of, 40, 104, 105;
  • occult, see Occult;
  • psychology of, 38, 60.
• Bernheim, ——, 230.
• Bertrand, ——, 201.
• Besant, Mrs., 10.
• Binet, ——, 157.
• Blavatsky, Mme., 7, 8, 9, 10.
• Blindness, 340;
  • total, 341;
  • partial, 343, 344;
  • in dream-life, 361-363, 367, 368;
  • age of onset and dream-vision, 341-344, 369, 370;
  • and the imagination, 363, 364;
  • and special sensibilities, 365-367.
• Braid, James, 205;
  • his early observations, 206, 207;
  • his historical position, 207, 208;
  • his method, 207;
  • his theories, 209, 211;
  • his relation to phrenology, 209, 210;
  • his later writings, 211;
  • detection of unconscious suggestion, 211, 212;
  • his status, 213.
• Brand, ——, 241.
• Bridgman, Laura, 366;
  • dreams of, 347-350.

• Census Office, 301.
• Charcot, J. M., 69, 228, 338.
• Christian Science, 26, 44;
  • origin of, 27;
  • principles of, 27-30, 31, 32;
  • text-book of, 28;
  • extravagance of, 30, 31, 32;
  • antagonism to science, 33.
• Clairvoyance, 14, 223, 226;
  • see Puységur.
• Clocquet, ——, 214.
• Clodd, Edward, 241, 242, 244, 245, 248, 265, 272.
• Coincidences, 81, 83, 88, 90;
  • and chance, 84, 97.
• Color, association with sound, 366, 367.
• Conjuring; see Deceptions, conjuring.
• Contagion, mental, 132-134.

• Darlingism, 224.
• Darwin, Erasmus, 346.
• Davey, ——; see Hodgson and Davey.
• Deafness, in relation to dreams, 347.
• Deception, as dependent upon objective conditions, 109;
  • as dependent upon habit, 111;
  • love of, 111;
  • historical aspect of, 112;
  • conjuring, 113, 114-117, 120-128;
  • as imitation of reality, 116-118;
  • as dependent upon subjective conditions, 118, 120-128;
  • and technical knowledge, 13, 128, 148;
  • analysis of, 129;
  • as influenced by contagion, 132-134;
  • liability to, 150;
  • see also Illusion.
• Deleuze, J. P. F., 217.
• Deslon, 183, 184.
• Dickens, Charles, 350.
• Digby, Sir Kenelm, 261.
• Dorman, ——, 240, 246, 249.
• Drawings, equivocal, 286-295.
• Dreams, sensory factors in, 364, 365;
  • of the blind; see Blindness; see Omens.
• Dupotet, ——, 202, 224.
• Dyer, ——, 256, 258, 264.

• Eccentric opinions, 2.
• Eddy, Mary Baker Glover, 27.
• Electro-biology, 219.
• Englinton, ——, 146.
• Esdaile, ——, 215.

• Faria, Abbé, 200;
  • his use of suggestion, 201.
• Folk-medicine, 260, 265.
• Fox, Margaret and Katie, 138.
• Frazer, ——, 254.
• Furness, Horace Howard, 142-144, 158, 163.

• Galton, Francis, 338, 366.
• Gassner, Johann Joseph, 179, 180.
• Greaterick or Greatrakes, Valentine, 176-178, 180.
• Gregory, William, 222.

• Hall, G. Stanley, 347, 348.
• Hallucinations, 71.
• Hansen, ——, 229.
• Heermann, Dr. G., 342, 343.
• Hodgson, Richard, 8, 147, 150;
  • and Davey, 129, 149, 151-157.
• Hollerith, ——, 301.
• Houdin, Robert, 121, 122.
• Husson, ——, 202.
• Hypnotism, 67, 171;
  • history of, 172 sqq., 203, 227, 231-235;
  • before the Academies, 202-205;
  • extravagances of, 214, 217-227;
  • as applied to medicine, 202, 204, 214;
  • lessons of, 231-235.
• Hypothesis, its logical status, 100, 101.

• Illusion, 109, 110;
  • optical, 282, 284;
  • of ambiguous outlines, 286 sqq.;
  • see also Deception.
• Images, their use in magic, 244.
• Inertia, mental, 296, 297-300.
• Interest, as creating coincidences, 88-92;
  • as influencing perception, 119;
  • in Psychical Research, 56-58, 63, 65.
• Involuntary Movements, 307;
  • illustrations of, 312-321;
  • influence of bodily position upon, 322-330;
  • analysis of, 322-330;
  • varieties of, 334;
  • effects of object of attention upon, 331-333;
  • see also Subconscious.
• Involuntary whispering, 335, 336.

• James, William, 39, 41, 43.

• Kellar, Harry, 122, 140, 150.
• Keller, Helen, 366;
  • her account of her dream-life, 353-358;
  • her mental traits, 351, 352, 359, 360.
• Kitto, John, 363, 366.
• Knerr, Dr., 141, 142, 145.

• Lang, Andrew, 14, 21, 66, 166, 176.
• Le Bon, ——, 134.
• Lewis, Prof. Carvill, 146.
• Liebault, A. A., 216.
• Logic, as applied to the occult, 3, 13, 19, 23, 30, 31, 39;
  • logicality and rationality, 45.
• Lubbock, Sir J., 242, 252.

• Magic, 242, 257, 265;
  • sympathetic, 240, 241, 246, 254, 261-263, 273;
  • correspondences in, 266;
  • see also Images, Names, Numbers.
• Mahatma, 8, 10.
• Martineau, Harriet, 221, 222.
• McCosh, Dr., 346.
• Medicine; see Folk-medicine; see also Superstition.
• Mental Community, 80-83.
• Mental Telegraphy; see Telepathy.
• Mesmer, Friedrich Anton, 14, 25, 36, 43, 180;
  • his theories, 181, 189;
  • his practices, 181, 190, 191;
  • his Parisian career, 182-189;
  • the commission to examine, 185-187, 192, 193;
  • his attitude, 187;
  • caricatures of, 188;
  • his status in regard to Hypnotism, 191, 192.
• Metaphor, in relation to analogy, 248, 264, 270.
• Mind, its influence over body, 26, 37, 38;
  • mortal, 28, 29.
• Mind-reading; see Muscle-reading.
• Miracles; see Supernatural.
• Muscle-reading, 308, 324.
• Myth, in relation to analogy, 270.

• Names, their use in Magic, 243-245, 257.
• Nancy, School of, 230.
• Numbers, in Magic, 258;
  • in relation to analogy, 259.

• Observation, defects of, 87, 153-155.
• Occult, nature of, 3;
  • motives that incline to the, 4, 39, 40, 43;
  • conditions that favor the, 5, 57;
  • persistence of, 46;
  • antidote to the, 46.
• Occult Healing, 25, 26, 33, 34;
  • varieties of, 34, 35;
  • by absent treatment, 36;
  • extravagances of, 35, 37.
• Od, 225.
• Omens, 243, 253;
  • by contraries, 250;
  • in dreams, 255-257.
• Oudet, Dr. ——, 204, 215.

• Palmistry, 18;
  • interest in, 23;
  • logic underlying, 23.
• Perception, 106, 108, 110;
  • as determined by interest, 119;
  • and expectation, 120.
• Personal interpretation of events, 17, 40-42, 56, 84.
• Pétetin, ——, 197, 198;
  • his transposition of the senses, 199.
• Phrenology, 18, 171;
  • interest in, 23;
  • logic underlying, 23.
• Physiognomy, 18.
• Podmore, Frank, 10, 162, 164, 167.
• Prepossession, 44, 120, 126, 127, 130, 131, 151, 162-166, 296, 297-300;
  • a noteworthy illustration of, 301-304.
• Pseudo-science, 5, 20, 21, 24;
  • temper of, 22;
  • practical aspect of, 18, 21, 25;
  • varieties of, 35.
• Psychical Research, the programme of, 50;
  • the trend of, 51, 62, 75-77;
  • interests contributing to, 56-58, 63, 65, 66;
  • the problems of, 67;
  • relation to Psychology, see Psychology.
• Psychology, scope of, 51;
  • relation to Psychical Research, 52-56, 58-61, 64, 65, 76;
  • difficulties in teaching, 298.
• Puységur, Marquis A. M. J. Chastenet de, 194;
  • his discovery of somnambulism, 194, 195;
  • his views and status, 196, 197.

• Quackery, 25.

• Reichenbach, Baron, 225.
• Rydberg, ——, 266, 267.

• Salpêtrière, 202, 228, 231.
• Scherer, ——, 366.
• Science, the spirit of, 48;
  • the nature of, 49;
  • and error of, 69.
• Sensation, and perception, 106, 107.
• Seybert Commission, 140, 141, 158.
• Sidgwick, Mrs., 141, 157.
• Sight; see Vision.
• Signatures, doctrine of, 264.
• Sinnett, A. P., 10, 11.
• Slade, Henry, 139, 140, 141.
• Somnambulism, artificial, 197, 198.
• Spiritualism, 12, 27, 44, 125;
  • manifestations of, 13, 128, 131;
  • origin of, 14, 15, 137, 166, 167;
  • doctrines of, 15, 161, 165;
  • present status of, 16, 18, 169;
  • fraud disclosed in, 140, 141, 142-145, 146, 157, 159.
• Spiritualists, temper of, 16, 17.
• Statistics, in relation to mental problems, 84-86.
• Subconscious, 70, 79, 92, 108, 128, 129, 308.
• Suggestion, 230;
  • unconscious, 68, 174, 186, 199, 211, 233.
• Sully, James, 111, 345.
• Supernatural, divergence between report and fact, 153, 155, 158;
  • conflict with science, 174.
• Superstition, 252, 254, 258;
  • in relation to analogy, 253;
  • in medicine, 259.
• Survivals, 240, 248, 269, 274.
• Symbolism, in relation to analogy, 248, 249, 270.
• Sympathy; see Magic, sympathetic.

• Telepathy, 72, 73, 78;
  • logical status of, 74;
  • evidence for, 96-98, 103;
  • validity as an hypothesis, 99;
  • inclination toward, 104.
• Theosophy, 7, 27;
  • Mr. Hodgson's investigation of, 8, 9;
  • alleged miracles of, 9, 10;
  • doctrines of, 11, 12.
• Thought-habits, in children and savages, 251, 271, 272.
• Triplett, Norman, 117, 123.
• Tylor, ——, 167, 240, 242, 250, 253, 256, 267, 270, 273.
• Tyndall, ——, 135.

• Unconsciousness of defects, 79, 80;
  • see also Subconscious.
• Unknown, attitude toward the, 49.
• Unusual, in relation to analogy, 250, 260.

• Vision, its nature, 276, 337;
  • subjective and objective, 276;
  • subjective factor in, 277, 279, 280, 283, 288-295;
  • interpretation in, 285, 286-295;
  • education of the visual centre, 341, 345-347, 369, 370;
  • its function in dreams, 339.
• Visualizing power, 338.

• Zöllner, ——, 139.

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