Since the remarkable dissertation of W. Ostwald,[205] on Sept. 20, 1905,
we have been standing at a turning point which looks toward a new view
of the world. We do not know whether the “ignorabimus” of some of the
scientists will hold, or whether we shall be able to think everything in
terms of energy. We merely observe that the supposedly invincible
principles of scientific materialism are shaken.
Frederick the Great, in a letter to Voltaire, says something which
suggests he was the first to have thought of the purely mechanical
nature of thought. Cabanis had said briefly, that the brain secretes
thought as the liver bile. Tyndall expressed this conception more
cautiously, and demanded merely the confession that every act of
consciousness implies a definite molecular condition of the brain, while
Bois-Reymond declared that we could not explain certain psychical
processes and events by knowledge of the material processes in the
brain. “You shall make no picture or comparison, but see as directly as
the nature of our spirit will permit,” Ostwald tells us, and it is well
to stick to this advice. We need neither to cast aside the mechanical
view of the world nor to accept energism; neither of them is required.
But according to the teachings of the latter, we shall be enabled to
recognize the meaning of natural law in the determination of how actual
events are conditioned by possible ones. And thus we shall see that the
form that all natural laws turn to expresses the mediation of an
invariable, a quantity that remains unchangeable even when all the other
elements in the formula of a possible event alter within the limits
defined by the law.[206]
Every science must provide its own philosophy, and it is our duty to
know properly and to understand clearly how far we may perceive
connections between the physical qualities of any one of our witnesses
and his psychic nature. We will draw no inferences ourselves, but we
will take note of what does not explain itself and apply to experts to
explain what we can not. This is especially necessary where the relation
of the normal to the abnormal becomes a question. The normal effects to
be spoken of are very numerous, but we shall consider only a few. The
first is the connection of symbol and symbolized. “The circumstance that
the symbol, on its side of the union of the two, becomes perfectly clear
while the symbolized object is rather confused, is explained by the fact
that the symbol recalls its object more quickly than the object the
symbol; e.g., the tool recalls its use more quickly than the purpose its
instrument. Name and word recall more quickly, reliably, and
energetically the objects they stand for than do the objects their
symbols.”[207] This matter is more important than it looks at first
glance, inasmuch as the particles of time with which we are dealing are
greater than those with which modern psychologists have to deal,--so
large indeed, that they may be perceived in practice. We lay stress
during the examination, when we are in doubt about the correctness of
the expected answer, upon the promptness and rapidity with which it is
given. Drawn out, tentative, and uncertain answers, we take for a sign
that the witness either is unable or unwilling to give his replies
honestly. If, however, psychologically there are real reasons for
variation in the time in which an answer is given, reasons which do not
depend on its correctness, we must seek out this correctness. Suppose
that we have before us a case in which the name awakens more quickly and
reliably the idea of the person to whom it belongs than conversely. This
occurs to any one of us, and often we can not remember the name of even
a close friend for a greater or shorter period. But we very rarely find
that we do not think of the appearance of the individual whose name we
hear mentioned. But it would be wrong to relate this phenomenon to
certain qualities which contradict it only apparently. E. g., when I
examine old statutes which I myself have worked with and review the
names of the series, I recall that I had something to do with this
Jones, Smith, Black, or White, and I recall what the business was, but I
do not recall their appearance. The reason is, first of all, the fact
that during the trial I did not care about the names which served as a
means of distinguishing one from the other, and they might, for that
purpose, have been _a_, _b_, _c_, etc. Hence, the faces and names were
not as definitely associated as they ordinarily are. Moreover, _this_
failure to recall is a substitution for each other of the many tanti
quanti that we take up in our daily routine. When we have had especial
business with any particular individual we do remember his face when his
name is mentioned.
If, then, a witness does not quickly recall the name of something he is
thinking of, but identifies it immediately when the name is given him,
you have a natural psychological event which itself has no bearing on
the truth or falsity of his testimony.
The same relation is naturally to be found in all cases of parallel
phenomena, i.e., names, symbols, definitions, etc. It applies, also, to
the problem of the alteration in the rapidity of psychical processes
with the time of the day. According to Bechterew and Higier there is an
increase in psychical capacity from morning to noon, then a dropping
until five o’clock in the afternoon, then an increase until nine o’clock
in the evening, and finally a sinking until twelve o’clock midnight.
There is, of course, no doubt that these investigators have correctly
collected their material; that their results shall possess general
validity is, however, not so certain. The facts are such that much
depends, not only on the individual character, but also on the instant
of examination. One hears various assertions of individuals at times
when they are most quick to apprehend and at their best, and hence it is
hardly possible to draw a general rule from such phenomena. One may be
wide awake in the morning, another in the forenoon, a third at night,
and at each time other people may be at their worst. In a similar
fashion, the psychic disposition varies not only during the day, but
from day to day. So far as my observations go the only thing
uncontradicted is the fact that the period between noon and five o’clock
in the afternoon is not a favorable one. I do not believe, however, that
it would be correct to say that the few hours after the noon dinner are
the worst in the day, for people who eat their dinners at about four or
five o’clock assure me that from one to five in the afternoon, they
cannot work so well. These facts may have a value for us in so far as we
can succeed in avoiding the trial of important cases which require
especial consideration during the time mentioned.