510 



SCIENTIFIC THOUGHT. 



the attention, of philosophers to the existence of this re- 

 lation in a variety of instances, and collected a large 

 number of facts to prove its general correctness. He 

 conceived the idea of measuring sensations by their 

 accompanying stimuli, a mode of measurement based 

 upon that relation which, under the name of Weber's 

 law or formula, he introduced as a general psycho- 

 physical proposition. The intervals in the numerical 

 scale, the differences in the magnitude of stars, the 

 facts established by Weber relating to our estimate of 

 differences of touch, of weight, and of temperature ; 

 lastly, the relation of " fortune physique " and " fortune 

 morale," known to Euler and Lagrange, could all be 

 utilised towards proving the general accuracy, within 

 certain limits, of the psycho - physical formula. The 

 work gave rise to many discussions ] as to the mean- 

 ing of the term quantity applied to psychical pheno- 

 mena, as to methods of measurement, and as to the 

 significance to be attached to the new branch of research 



1 In addition to the ' Element* 

 der Psychophysik ' (1860), of which 

 a second edition appeared in 1890, 

 the author enlarged, discussed, and 

 defended his special ideas and 

 theories in three further publica- 

 tions. The year 1877 produced ' In 

 Sachen der Psychophysik,' the year 

 1882 the 'Revision derHauptpunkte 

 der Psychophysik,' and shortly be- 

 fore his death (1887) there ap- 

 peared, in the ' Philosophische 

 Studien ' of Prof. Wundt, his last 

 contribution, " Ueber die psychi- 

 schen Maasprincipien und das 

 Webersche Gesetz," which Prof. 

 Wundt declares to be " the clearest 

 and most complete exposition of 

 the problem which he gave in the 

 course of the forty years during 



which he was occupied with it." 

 (Seethe obituary oration, reprinted 

 in Kuntze's 'Biography,' p. 360.) 

 The attacks on Fechner came from 

 many quarters. In the polemi- 

 cal treatise of 1877 he notices 

 how the views of his critics 

 Helmholtz, Aubert, Mach, Bern- 

 stein, Plateau, Delbonif, Bren- 

 tano, Hering, Langer agree as 

 little among themselves as with 

 his own. He sums up with fine 

 humour : " The tower of Babel was 

 not finished, because the builders 

 could not agree how to build it ; 

 my psycho-physical structure may 

 remain standing, because the work- 

 men cannot agree how to pull it 

 down" ('In Sachen,' &c., p. 215). 



