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PREFACE

TO THE SECOND EDITION.

These LECTURES originated in notes prepared for use in lecturing on the subjects indicated by their titles, to my classes in the University. They were published some six or eight years ago-chiefly for the use of those attending my Lectures although they have attracted a

wider circle of readers and students.

The original edition having been exhausted, I have taken advantage of the opportunity not only to bring down some of the discussions to the present state of the facts to which they relate, but also to reconstruct and rearrange the whole, with something of an enlargement of the discussion of two or three of the leading topics such as, for example, the nature of sensation, the nature and origin of "ideas," and the extent and influence of volition in human action.

I have called this work, "Lectures on Psychology," for the two-fold purpose of forestalling the expectation of find

ing the fulness and proportions of a complete treatise

and of allowing myself a little more more ease and latitude in the discussion and illustration of some of the points, than the proprieties of a systematic and scientific presentation of the facts and principles of so comprehensive a subject, would allow.

In the selection of the Authors that I have cited or referred to, I have not aimed to give a view of the whole literature of the subject, nor yet to quote all the authors whose opinions are well worth considering. I have aimed rather to cite those whose names will most frequently occur in the hearing and reading of my students, or those whose opinions most prevail in the community where we live. Want of space, as well as want of time, to look them up, has compelled me to omit the mention of authors that do not come within the range thus indicated.

CORNELL UNIversity,

Sept, 1879.

W. D. WILSON.

CONTENTS.

LECT. XIII.-NATURE AND REALITY OF MIND.

LECTURE I.-THE NERVOUS SYSTEM.

The Origin of the Idea of a Soul or Mind, 9. The Two Methods of Inves-
tigation, II. Results of the Physical Method, 12. Results of the Psy-
chological Method, 13. The Psychological as the Foundation of the
Physical Method, 14. The Body a Piece of Mechanism, 15. The Matter
of the Nervous System, 16. Two Kinds of Nerve Fibres, 16. The
Ganglionic Masses, 18. The Hemispheres of the Brain, 19. Six Kinds of
Afferent Nerves, 21. The Nerves of Touch and of the Sense of Pain, 22.

Consciousness a Function of the Hemispheres, 62. The Co-operation of the

Hemispheres, 63. Consciousness not Essential to Sensation, 64. Several

Kinds of Reflex Action, 66. Hamilton's Theory of Consciousness, 68.

Several Meanings of the Word, 69. Hamilton's View Accounted For, 70.

The Narrower Definition Adopted. 72. Locke's Use of the Word, 73.

How Much is Contained in Consciousness? 75. Locke's Account of Sensa-
tion, 77. Sensations Without Consciousness, 78. No Consciousness of
Sensations in the Special Senses, 79. The Inhibitory Action of the Hemi-
spheres, 80. Unconscious Brain Activity, 81. Hamilton's View of the
Phenomena, 82. Nature of the Phenomena, 84. The Effects of Physio-
logical Studies, 85. Nerve-cell Activity without Sensation, 85. Are Ani-

⚫mals Conscious? Reasons for Doubting it, 86.

LECTURE IV.--SENSE PERCEPTION.

Perception Produced by Sensation, 90. When Perception Ceases, 91. Lim-
it to the Frequency of Sensations, 92. Difference Between the Two Classes
of Sensations, 93. Classification of Objective Sensations, 94. No Nerve

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