Physique and Intellect

Physique and Intellect. By Donald G. Paterson. New York: The Century Co. (Century Psychology Series). 1930. There have been during the past few decades many investigations directed primarily toward the determination of the relation between those two factors which the author of this book generalizes under the names physique and intellect. The theoretical and practical importance of the results of these investigations for the entire field of psychology is evident. The published results of such studies, however, have been widely scattered and not always available to the student. Thus in the first place Professor Paterson has done ?in extremely useful service in bringing together the gist of all this material in the present admirable form. This, however, is only the minor part of his service; the material here treated required not only a systematic presentation, but likewise the eminent critical judgment which Professor Paterson is qualified to give it. The first general impression of the book is to make one wonder whether there have ever been so many commonly held notions?and, to the theoretically minded, apparently reasonable notions?exploded in so brief a space. Many of the investigations discussed here were conducted before the more refined methods of statistical analysis were widely employed, and on what seem now to be very inadequate grounds investigators hastened to conclusions and generalizations, a tendency which is not impeded by the fact that the conclusion is just what one Avould expect to find. This book reveals very strikingly how what at first sight seem reliable conclusions disappear when exposed to the light of exacting quantitative analysis. The general term intellect is used by the author to apply to what in one chapter he calls intelligence, in another mental age. The most commonly