710 PHILOSOPHICAL THOUGHT. 



means of purely mechanical, but essentially inadequate, 

 conceptions. 



On the other side Wundt's scientific studies began 

 with that branch of physiology which had received 

 special attention in the school of Johannes Miiller : the 

 physiology of the sense-organs and of the processes of 

 sensation and perception. 



His earliest contribution to this branch of physiology 

 belongs to a period which witnessed the publication of 

 two standard works of a very different character : 

 Helmholtz's ' Physiological Optics/ followed by his 

 ' Physiological Acoustics,' and Fechner's ' Elements of 

 Psycho -physics.' For a considerable time Wundt's 

 labours moved in the new region of research opened out 

 by these two epoch-making publications, but he soon felt 

 the necessity of studying the principles of exact reason- 

 ing contained in the application of mathematics to 

 physical phenomena. In his treatise on the ' Axioms of 

 Exact Science,' he dealt with a subject prepared by Kant, 

 cultivated by the Neo-Kantians, and to which atten- 

 tion was attracted by the growing interest taken in 

 Schopenhauer's writings. It was, however, essentially 

 through his development of psycho-physical methods that 

 he defined his attitude towards philosophical problems. 



If Fechner may be termed the father of psycho- 

 physics, it is really Wundt to whom the great enlarge- 

 ment and firm establishment of this branch of research 

 is mainly due. But here we may notice a great 

 difference between the scientific spirit which animated 

 Spencer and that which permeates all Wundt's writings. 

 The former soon fastened upon a definite mechanical 



