The American psychologist and educator Granville Stanley Hall (1844-1924) pioneered in developing psychology in the United States. His wide-ranging and prolific writings reveal a central theme best characterized as genetic psychology or evolutionism.

On Feb. 1, 1844, G. Stanley Hall was born on his grandfather's farm in Ashfield, Mass. He graduated from Williams College in 1867 and then, apparently to please his mother, studied for a year at the Union Theological Seminary in New York. His lack of deep conviction must have been heard between the lines of his trial sermon, for at its close the members of the faculty knelt in prayer for the salvation of the young man's soul. With borrowed funds the heretic field to Germany, where for 2 years he wandered in poverty from one university to another in a constant state of intellectual ferment and euphoria.

On his return to America, Hall taught various subjects for 4 years...