The origin of graphic recording of psycho-physiological phenomena in Germany.

Abstract

Despite some negative comments expressed by E. du Bois-Reymond on W. Wundt's experimental skills, the latter provided accurate descriptions of the laboratory instruments just in his first works. But he paid particular attention to graphic recording, whose history was most likely reconstructed by him probably for the first time. Its significance lay in the fact that it was applied in every psychology laboratory: without it, mental phenomena could not be measured. Starting from such a history, the aim of this essay is to trace the paths that have led to the introduction of graphic recording into the sciences. Commonly connected with the invention of C. Ludwig's kymograph in 1846, graphic recording has nevertheless a much more extensive background.