6

EMPLOYMENT  PSYCHOLOGY

in  their  profession.  No  doubt  they  do.  However,  many
a  psychologist  to-day,  while  standing  in  complacent  satisfaction ­
  at  the  greatness  of  his  medium,  can  not  help
wondering  what  all  the  fuss  is  about.  And  not  a  few
must  feel  like  the  fisherman  of  the  Arabian  Nights  tale
when  he  uncorked  the  flask  and  let  out  the  genii.  They
must  be  wishing  the  thing  had  not  escaped  them  quite
so  fast.  This  illustration,  however,  is  a  misleading  one.
According  to  the  story,  the  genii  of  the  flask  was  an
accommodating  spirit  who  did  anything  which  his  master
required.  But  psychology  will  not  do  everything  which
the  psychologist  could  require  of  it.  Far  from  it.  Only
those  who  know  least  about  psychology  can  make  it
solve  every  problem  and  perplexity.  As  a  consequence,
professional  psychologists  are  put  in  an  embarrassing
position  in  the  eyes  of  the  world.  In  the  face  of  a  prevailing ­
  impression  that  the  powers  of  psychology  are  unlimited, ­
  the  psychologist  knows  full  well  that  his  science,
like  every  other  science,  can  do  some  things  particularly
well  but  can  by  no  stretch  of  the  imagination  accomplish
everything.
How  psychology  came  to  be  regarded  as  the  panacea
for  all  ills  is  difficult  to  explain.  We  may  attribute  it  to
the  great  American  virtue  of  advertising,  or  to  that  other
well-known  trait,  credulity.  If  Barnum  were  living  to-day,
he  would  undoubtedly  have  a  side  show  of  psychological
wonders.  However,  it  has  been  characteristic  of  people
from  times  past  to  put  all  their  eggs  into  one  basket.
Five  thousand  years  ago,  astrology  was  the  cult  which
could  solve  all  human  ills.  The  astrologer  was  succeeded
by  the  philosopher,  and  for  many  centuries  more,  philosophy ­
  was  regarded  as  the  touchstone  of  the  sciences,  and
the  philosopher  as  the  wisest  of  the  wise.  To  take  things