Psychologist

The Education of a Scientist.

The elder brother of novelist Henry James, William James entered the Lawrence Scientific School at Harvard University in 1861 and transferred to Harvard Medical School in 1864 without having first obtained an undergraduate degree. In 1865-1866 he accompanied Harvard biology professor Louis Agassiz on the Thayer Expedition to Brazil, where he collected fish specimens. While there he contracted a severe physical ailment that apparently left him in a weakened condition for the rest of his life. Like so many other American scientists of his generation, James studied in Germany to perfect his laboratory technique and to become acquainted with the latest ideas in experimental physiology. In 1867—1868 he attended the University of Berlin, where he was enrolled in Emil Du Bois-Reymond's physiology course. Listening to this great physiologist convinced James that psychology —then a branch of philosophy—had to be recast...