J. C. Flugel

John Carl Flugel was born in London on 13 June, 1884, and died there on 17 August, 1955. His father was German, but with close connections in France, and his mother English, so Flugel had the advantage of growing up with a fluency in three languages. He was educated privately up to University level, the reason for this being that he was plagued by a congenital affliction of the feet, a hyperkeratotic variety of ichthyosis hystrix, which made walking painful and difficult and therefore excluded school life. His first contact with contemporaries was when he proceeded to Balliol College, Oxford, with an exhibition at the early age of seventeen. There his inquiringly original mind was soon evident, as was also a certain penchant for unconventionality. He deviated from the orthodox study of philosophy—he was reading Classical Moderations and Greats—by attending Gotch's lectures on psychology, took part in psychological experiments in the Museum laboratory, and deserted Plato for Darwin and Spencer. Worse than all that he studied the black art of hypnotism and conducted séances under the auspices of the Society for Psychical Research, of which he was already a member.

On leaving Oxford he went to Würzburg to study the new subject of experimental psychology under Professor Külpe, after which he returned to Oxford. There in 1908 he won the John Locke scholarship in Mental Philosophy, which at once marked him out. Soon after that he added to his Oxford degree a Doctorate of Science at the University of London. In the following year he was appointed Demonstrator in Psychology at University College, and he retained his connection with that institution till the day of his death. He became Senior Lecturer there in 1920 and Assistant Professor in 1929. After resigning the latter position in 1944 he continued to give courses as a special lecturer. For over twenty years he was in charge of the experimental work in the laboratory there, where his inspiring and helpful inf