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relations. Fortunately alike for the science of psychology and the army, the practical work which is to be described in these chapters over-rode the disadvantages of its name and ultimately converted psychology into a word to conjure with in the United States Army.

There probably were few greater surprises in the war than the conspicuously important service of psychology. Aside from the few who were professionally engaged in the subject no one thought of the study of mental life as having any possible practical bearing on the problems of war. The writer well remembers listening to General Squier present before a meeting of the National Academy of Sciences in Washington in the spring of 1917 the necessity for the study of problems of military clothing. Among the many problems whose solution, in his judgment, would favorably affect the efficiency of our army there were several which the writer recognized as primarily psychological. It happens that neither the War Department nor the scientists of the country, through their instrument of organization, the National Research Council, succeeded in getting around to any of these problems, but had time sufficed and opportunity for such work appeared, psychologists would have coöperated with physiologists, and chemists and physicists, in the careful determination of kind and quality of materials to be used, most serviceable, sightly, and comfortable style and cut, and numerous other special characteristics of the assemblage of garments which constitute the soldier's outfit of clothing.

The National Research Council had made only small headway toward the solution of military problems before it met certain definite needs which called for the psychological expert. As a result a committee for psychology was organized and from that hour the psychologists of the country worked side by side with investigators representing the medical sciences, various branches of biology, anthropology, geology and geography, physics, chemistry and engineering. Throughout this large and heterogeneous group of investigators there ex

isted a splendid spirit of coöperation and of appreciation of one another's efforts to serve.

One of the first obviously psychological problems which was brought to the attention of the National Research Council by the Government was the need of reliable methods for selecting the best men to serve as lookout and gun pointers on armed merchant vessels. This, like many other suggestions and requests for assistance from the navy and the army, was referred to a competent scientist, who finally succeeded in developing highly useful methods. It is fair to say that the efforts of psychologists to make themselves useful in the war were successful from the very start. The authorities of the National Research Council recognized this fact, but they were nevertheless greatly surprised, at first by the ambition of the psychological profession to help win the war, a little later by the psychologists' expectations of success, and finally by the actual achievements.

Even before war had been declared individual psychologists had been thinking of ways in which their science might be applied to military problems. On April 6, 1917, a group of experimental psychologists, then in session at Cambridge, Massachusetts, appointed a committee to consider the relation of psychology to military affairs and to further its application to practical problems. This was the beginning of concerted action. From that day the psychologists of the country acted unitedly as well as disinterestedly and whole-heartedly. In other countries psychologists served conspicuously, but always as individuals and seldom in their professional rôle.

The national psychological association of this country immediately interested itself in the question of service and commit'tees were speedily appointed to work systematically on such important tasks as (1) the assembling and digesting of psychological literature relating to military affairs so that we might make use of the latest and the best information from all parts of the world; (2) the psychological examination of recruits; (3) psychological problems of aviation; (4) the selection of men

for tasks requiring special mental aptitude; (5) problems of recreation and amusement in the army and navy; (6) problems of vision; (7) pedagogical and psychological problems of military training and discipline; (8) problems of incapacity, including those of shell shock and reëducation; (9) problems of emotional instability, fear and inadequate self-control; (10) methods of influencing the morale of the enemy; (11) problems of hearing affecting military activities; (12) tests of deception. This list will give the reader some idea of the range of interest in military problems which existed among psychologists even before they had had opportunity to observe directly the needs of the army and the navy. Altogether during the war more than a score of committees of psychologists furthered the applications of their science to the military situation. Most of them rendered effective service. But it was shortly discovered that committee action and the work of civilian psychologists would not suffice. In many instances, it was absolutely essential that the scientists who wished to serve even in their professional capacity should become parts of the military machine. There was no hesitation about accepting such responsibility, although it often entailed serious personal sacrifice. There existed everywhere faith in the possibility of usefulness, determination to serve successfully, and a desire to get together and coöperate effectively.

The spring and summer of 1917 saw little progress toward psychological military service beyond that of organization. There were few good leads and the unprejudiced observer of the activities of American psychologists might fairly have concluded that all their eagerness and busyness would contribute nothing to our military success unless these scientifically inclined individuals exchanged their habitually professional rôles for that of the combatant soldier.

By the middle of summer the situation began to change rapidly, for the War Department had become aware of certain possibilities of psychological service. The first successful approach by psychologists was made on the Medical De

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