EMPLOYMENT PSYCHOLOGY DEFINED 
9 
At death, this spirit left the body at its last breath, and 
departed into some other region. This belief, in a more 
or less refined form, constituted the heart of psychology 
as far down as the present decade. Within the memory 
of most people are the famous experiments conducted by 
many prominent physicians, in which bodies were weighed 
on the most delicate scales just before and just after death 
in order to discover if the departure of the soul was accom 
panied by any falling off in weight. At the present time, 
psychology is in what we have called the stage of home 
remedies. People are believing all manner of queer things 
and following all kinds of strange advice because they are 
labelled psychology. Hypnotism and the ability of the 
psychologist to make people do impossible stunts are 
still considered a psychological sine qua non. Indeed, 
it is most common for people to ask whether it is possible 
for a psychologist to read minds, and they are usually 
disappointed at a negative answer. The writer once 
made a deep impression on a group of hard-headed busi 
ness men to whom he was being introduced as a psychol 
ogist. During the introduction he remarked to one of 
the men: “You are a Cornell man, are you not?” This 
happened to be the case and all the men marvelled at the 
uncanny insight of this psychologist, when, as a matter 
of fact, his question was nothing more than a lucky guess. 
Instances of this kind, and the frequent misuses of the 
word psychology which have been pointed out before, 
are evidence of the nebulous idea which psychology sug 
gests to the majority of those who use the word. 
However, within the last fifty years, in secluded and little 
known laboratories, psychology has been developing very 
rapidly into a genuine science. The workings of the mind 
have been subject to a scrutiny as minute and thorough