Page:Collier's New Encyclopedia v. 06.djvu/233

KENTAL SCIENCE 191 MENTONE Psychology, as a branch of American education, is a development of the last fifty years. It has found its place in the high school and academy, as well as in the college and university. In the secondary schools, a science so complex has, and should have, an insignificant place. In normal schools, as a part of the process of training teachers, it holds a significant relationship as is shown in the article on Pedagogy. The proper field for psychology, however, is in the college or university. This field is at first cultivated by simple courses, largely experimental. It continues in the ex- perimental development, and, presently, takes up such questions as comparative psychology, mental development in the individual, and also animal behavior, important in itself and also impor- tant in comparison with the mental development of man. In certain uni- versities, the comparative element is made to apply to the evolution of differ- ent races and of race, as well as of individuals. The psychology also of the primary elements of truth, beauty, morality, and religion, are considered. In the laboratory special emphasis is placed upon research. Research is used as a basis for work for advanced de- grees, as well as for its own sake. It is recognized that the field for special in- vestigation is as limitless and diverse as are the conditions of the human mind. Mental science, or psychology, in its further application has two special re- lationships, pathological and educational. On the patholog:ical side, it represents a most important part of medical education wherein it has taken on the name of psychiatry. Courses in psychiatry are now being rapidly established in Ameri- can medical schools. This department is, if possible, connected with a hospital for the treatment of mental diseases. A jreat therapeutical development in this field is to be expected in the next years and decades. On the educational side, mental science is closely related to the whole pedagogical process. The under- standing of the mind that is to be in- formed and disciplined is of primary consequence. Psychology represents the method for securing such understanding. At this point, the temptation is to accept superficiality in method and ineffective- ness in result. Mental science, as interpreted and ap- plied in America, is in debt to the teachers and scholars of the German uni- versity, and especially to the great Wundt. The present disregard of Ger- man educational power of the past should not blind Americans to the great work which Wundt, and his associates, did in this field. In America, of many names, that of William James is perhaps chief. James (1842 to 1910), of diverse educa- tion — at Geneva, Switzerland, Lawrence Scientific School and the Medical School of Harvard University, Berlin, and a student of Louis Agassiz, he brought to his writing, teaching and research, a great mind educated in many fields and through great masters. His writings rep- resent the best intellectual gifts brought to a high degree of development. His books have been translated into Russian and Japanese, as well as into Spanish, Italian, German, and French. He was a humanist, as well as psychologist and philosopher. Undoubtedly he ranks with Jonathan Edwards as the most influen- tial mind, in philosophical thought, which America has produced. In addition to James should be named Edward B. Titchener of Cornell Uni- versity, George Trumbull Ladd of Yale University, James R. Angell of Chicago University, and G. Stanley Hall of Clark University. For a time Professor H. Miinsterberg of Harvard occupied a commanding place. MENTAlsrA (-ta'na), a small village, 12 miles N. E. of Rome, where Nov. 3, 1867, the Garibaldians were defeated by the Papal and French troops. MENTHOL, a white crystalline sub- stance obtained from, oil of peppermint, and considered a valuable remedy in neu- ralgic affections of the face and head. The crystals are partially soluble in water, but entirely so in ether and the fixed and volatile oils. MENTONE (-to'ne) (French Menton), a town in the department of Alpes Mari- times, France, pleasantly situated on the Mediterranean, 1 % miles from the Italian frontier and 14 miles N. E. of Nice. Ow- ing to its S. exposure, and the fact that spurs of the Alps shelter it on the N. and W., it enjoys a delightful climate (aver- age for the year 61°) and so has become a favorite winter resort of invalids and health seekers from England, Germany, and other countries. The town stands on a promontory that divides its bay into two portions; the native town clings to the mountain side, while the hotels and villas for the visitors extend along the water's edge. The harbor is protected on the S. and W. by a sea-wall. Great damage was done to the place by an earthquake in February, 1887. In the 14th century it was purchased by the lords of Monaco, and, except during the period of the revolution and down to 1815, when France seized it. the princes of Monaco kept possession till 1848. In