ABSTRACT
Rise of Physiology and Psychophysics in Germany Compared with his fellow countryman, Carl Ludwig, and the Leipzig school of physiology that developed during the last half of the 19th century, Wilhelm Max Wundt (1832-1920) had an even greater influence on American neuroscience. Wundt succeeded in defining a “new” field of experimental psychology, not only through his laboratory of physiological psychology and its students, but also by his voluminous writings. His career began as an assistant to Helmholtz in the physiological Institute at Heidelberg during 1857 to 1864, where he continued as an assistant professor for another decade. Parallel with Helmholtz’s famous program of studies and discoveries in sound and visual perception, in 1862, Wundt began an annual course of lectures on “Psychology from the Standpoint of Natural Science,” in which he incorporated Gustav Fechner’s quantitative thinking for the measurement of sensations (Adler, 1977). The title of the lectures was later changed to “Physiological Psychology” and their substance was elaborated as The Principles of Physiological Psychology, the first half published in 1873, the second in 1874, both while Wundt was still at Heidelberg. The book went through six editions, the last in 1911, and in each was updated and enlarged, the last two editions to three volumes, reflecting Wundt’s gradual metamorphosis from physiologist to psychologist and the beginnings of a new independent science.
