| Summary: | "The aim which I have had in view throughout this work has been twofold: first, to treat of mental phenomena from a physiological rather than from a metaphysical point of view; and, secondly, to bring the manifold instructive instances presented by the unsound mind to bear upon the interpretation of the obscure problems of mental science. Indeed it has been my desire to do what I could in order to put a happy end to the "inauspicious divorce" between the Physiology and Pathology of Mind, and to effect a reconciliation between these two branches of the same science. The First Part, resting as it does mainly on the physiological method of inquiry into mental phenomena, will certainly not command the assent of those who put entire faith in the psychological method of interrogating self-consciousness; it must appeal rather to those who have made themselves acquainted with the latest advances in physiology, and with the present state of physiological psychology in Germany, and who are familiar with the writings of such as Professor Bain, Mr. Herbert Spencer, Dr. Laycock, and Dr. Carpenter, in this country. The Second Part of the book may stand on its own account as a treatise on the causes, varieties, pathology, and treatment of mental diseases, apart from all question of the proper method to be pursued in the investigation of mental phenomena"--Preface. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved).
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