DISPOSITION. 297 DISKAELI. as 'stores in reserve,' the fruits of experience which may be conceived as lying outside con- sciousness and yet as attectin-; mental processes. Such a conception is based upon the fact that past exi)eriences seem continually to color our presont thoughts, emotions, perceptions, and ac- tions. 1 hear a familiar voice, and immediately the face of a friend — as I last saw liiiii. perhaps — comes before my mind. Evidently, if I had had no previous knowledge of the individual, the sound would not have 'aroused' the visual image of his face. One may say, in this and similar cases, that the previous experience left a "persistent trace' which serves to revive the image. The dilhoilty of the hyjiothesis lies in its in- ability to give any descriptive account of the conditions of consciousness which it supposes to exist. If one means by "psychical dispositions' a host of ready-made sensations, ideas, emotions, etc., which are not in consciousness, but which nevertheless exist, one is surely juggling with terms; for consciousness is involved in the very notion of these processes. But if the disposition is neither mental nor material, it can only be an unknown condition which we may call x. For this is sometimes substituted the 'physiological disposition,' which may be considered as a ten- dency to functionate, dependent upon the mo- lecular condition in which a previous function has left the brain. (See Memory.) A physical condition for mental processes is more tangible than a psychical disposition, since it may be deduced from the known laws of neural opera- tion. (See Body .>d Mind.) A common in- stance of 'physiological' or "functional disposi- tion' is furnished, e.g. by the law of neural habit known as the "law of co-excitation' of different parts of the brain. (See Associatiox OF Ide.s.) The theory is sometimes rejected on the ground that very little is known in detail con- cerning the physiological processes underlying consciimsness. But we are at least abandoning a theorv- which works fairly well for a bare hypothesis, when we desert 'physiological' for ■psychical disposition.' Consult: Stout, AnaJyt- iml P/sychclofui (London, 1800) : Wundt, Grund-
- ufi tier phuiiolofiischen I'siicholofiic (Leipzig,
189.3) : Bain, The Senses and the Intellect (Lon- don. 18681. DISPOSITION. In music, the estimate of cost bcfurc building an organ, also a concise de- scription of the working parts of an organ, as -tops, keys, pedals, etc. DISPUTATION (Lat. dispuiatio, from dis- fiutarr. to ili-pntc, from dis-, apart + putare, to think). An exercise of logical and dialectic -kill in which one party advances an argument and the other seeks to refute it. Challenges to such exercises were often issued — e.g. at Paris in 1.577 by the 'Admirable Crichton.' Memorable religious disputations were those between Knox and Kennedy {h('t2). and between Laud and Fisher the Jesuit (102."!). The practice surivcs as an academic form in some of the German universities, where the candidate for the doc- torate is obliged publicly to defend the thesis contained in his printed dissertation. Formerly this disputation was hfld in Latin, but this is less often the case in late years. DISRAELI, diz-rall or diz-rfll. Ben.iamin. E.irl of Bcaconsfield (1804-81). An English author and statesman. lie was born in London, December 21, 1804, the son of Isaac D'lsraeli, author of r«/-io4'i7ies of Literature, who belonged to a Jewish family. His education was care- fully superintended by his father. In 1821 he was articled to a solicitor with a view to a Government ollice, but, linding the study of the law uncongenial, he withdrew his name from Lincoln's Inn in 1831. He had meanwhile be- come famous as an author, having published his book liiiod dniy in 182(). He continued his literary career, and spent three years (1828-31) traveling in Spain, Italy, and the Levant. He was, however, more ambitious for political than for literary celebrity, and after two unsuccessful attempts to enter Parliament as a Radical, he succeeded in entering as a Tory from Maidstone in 1837. Before this time, his political pam- phlets, especially his ]'indicatiu>i of the British Constitution, which Peel commended, had at- tracted wide attention. In the House his maiden speech was so much in the grand stj'le, and de- livered with so manv extravagant gestures, that it e.xcited ridicule. JIuch disconcerted, Disraeli stopped abruptly, making, however, the prophetic remark, '"1 shall sit down now, but the time is coming when you will hear me." From this time on he" studied carefully the style of successful Parliamentary orators and propagated his politi- cal tenets in iiis novels, Conin(jsby (1844) ; Syhil (1845): and Toncred (1847). Looking toward the Stuart monarchy for inspiration, he held that the Government "from 1088 to 1832 had been a Whig oligarchy, but that now the Crown, re- leased by tiie Reform Bill, might regain some of its powers, therebj- solving many modern politi- cal and social problems. This idea, plus his Se- mitic ideals, was a tenet of the Young English Party, of which he became the leader. In 1843 the landed aristocracy and country gentry found in him a spokesman for the dissatisfaction with which they regarded the threatened relaxation of the protective system. In 1840 he made a most bitter attack on Peel in the debate on the repeal of the Corn Laws, and on the death of Bentinck, in 1848, he became the acknowledged leader of the protectionist party in the Com- mons. He bore generous testimony to the worth of his predecessor in his Lord George Bentinck: A Bioyraphy (18.52). The same year, the Earl of Derby offered him the post of Chancellor of the Exchequer, a position which he held with honor and credit. Seeing that the nation now desired free trade, he coolly discarded pro- tection. His second budget was, however, re- jected by the Commons and the Cabinet resigned in December, 18.52. Disraeli did not resume his position until the second Derby Ministry (1858). One of his greatest disappointments was Derby's refusal to form a Ministry with the aid of the Peelites in 1857. as Disraeli thought the country ready for his favorite reforms. There was but a scanty majority for the Ministry of 1858, and in 185(1 Disraeli's reform measure, the weak •Franchise' Bill, was rejected. During the seven years of Liberal rule that foUowei Disraeli had to contend not only against the popularity of Lord Palmcrston, but against suspicion and dissatisfaction in his own partv. His talents, spirit, and persisteney were so great during this trying time that he won admiration from all, even from his opponents.
