Elements of Psychology

THIS book is the joint work of two authors who are evidently well acquainted with the needs of the examinee, as well as those of the more genuine student of the science of psychology. It is therefore not surprising to find in the preface the statement that the book is intended as “a contribution to the teaching of psychology.” Every stone of offence is carefully removed from the learner's path. Even the usual order of treatment is altered for his benefit. After a few introductory chapters on the method and subject-matter of the science, the student is brought face to face with the most essential characteristic of consciousness, viz. mental activity, and in its most pronounced form—volition. Not until the emotions and pleasure-pain have been treated with like fulness and concreteness do the authors descend to the conventional sequence of sensation, perception, &c. This order is determined by relative difficulty of introspection, the prominent complexes of mental life being taken before their more abstract elements.Elements of Psychology.By Dr. S. H. Mellone Margaret Drummond. Pp. xvi + 483. (Edinburgh and London: W. Blackwood and Sons, 1907.) Price 5s. net.