Biographical Memoirs - National Academy Of Sciences Vol Xxv

Text extracted from opening pages of book: . NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS VOL. xxv CITY OF WASHINGTON PUBLISHED BY THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES 1949 CONTENTS JAMES McKEEX CATTELL W. B. Pillsbury i HENRY SEELY WHITE Arthur B. Coble 17 WILLIAM WALLACE CAMPBELL W. H. Wright 35 CHARLES BENEDICT DAVENPORT Oscar Riddle 75 FRANK MICHLER CHAPMAN William King Gregory in FRANCIS BERTODY SUMNER Charles Manning Child 147 WILLIAM BERRYMAN SCOTT G. G. Simpson 175 CHARLES VINCENT TAYLOR C. H. Dan forth 205 ROBERT ALMER HARPER Charles Thorn 229 HARRY BATEMAN F. D. Murnaghan 241 ORVILLE WRIGHT William F. Durancl 257 MARGARET FLOY WASHBURN Robert S. Wood worth 275 GEORGE WILLIAM LEWIS William F, Duraiul 297 ROLLINS ADAMS EMERSON Marcus M. Rhoades 313 NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS VOLUME XXV FUST MEMOIR BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIR . OF JAMES McKEEN CATTELL 1860-1944 BY W. B. PILLSBURY PRESENTED TO THE ACADEMY AT THE AUTUMN MEETING, 1947 JAMES McKEEN CATTELL 1860-1944 BY W. B. PILLSBURY Through most of the beginnings and early fruition of scien tific psychology, Cattell was a dominant factor in introducing the experimental technique in America. It is true that James and Stanley Hall 'antedated him; for each the scientific method was grafted upon an older theoretical approach. Neither did much in experiment of the modern type themselves. Hall developed a school of workers, but not quite in the modern method. Cattell on the other hand came in with the experi mental method, held the first chair in psychology, and developed one of the first laboratories in America. As editor of journals and head of one of themost productive laboratories in America, he was one of the men who presided over the destinies of psychology for generations of scholars. James McKeen Cattell was born in Easton, Pa., May 25, 1860. His father was first professor of classics, and from 1863 to 1883 president of Lafayette College. Cattell received his A. B. from Lafayette in 1880, the A. M. in 1883. Follow ing his graduation he studied for two years in Gottingen, Leip zig, Paris, and Geneva, then spent the year 1882-83 as fellow at Johns Hopkins. He then returned to Leipzig, where he studied with Wundt and received the Ph. D. in 1886. Cattell's associa tions with Wundt were very close during this period. He said once that he told Wundt that he needed an assistant, volun teered for the position and was accepted. He took some credit or blame for Wundt's large literary output, saying that he gave him an American typewriter, without which so much could not have been written. The period at Leipzig was very fertile in investigation. Six articles were published in the Philosophische Stttdien and several of them were adapted for publication in Mind and Brain in England. They dealt with various phases of reaction times and association, together with the simpler processes of reading. NATIONAL ACADEMY BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS VOL. XXV All were fundamental to the topics discussed and have been taken as classics in their field. In 1887 Cattell returned to America as lecturer in psychology at the University of Pennsylvania and Bryn Mawr College. The following year he spent as lecturer at the University of Cambridge. He developed a laboratory there and continued his investigations. This year was especially fruitful for the close contact withFrancis Galton, whose methods and ideals Cattell specially admired. They inspired much of his own work in individual differences and in the study of distinguished men that was so important in the middle and later portion of his life. This year he met and married Josephine Owen of London, who was a great help and support all through his career. The following year Cattell returned to the University of Pennsylvania as chairman of the department of psychology. He established another laboratory and began a vigorous re search program. The most important contribution of