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Fine scholarship, like fine wine, deserves to be savoured and appreciated as a scarce commodity. Eugene Taylor has come on the scene of writing the history of psychology at a critical time, when the principles of scholarly integrity are being tested, and he provides us, in his work on James, with an exemplary testament to the insight and depth of understanding that disciplined scholarship can provide. His subject is also important to readers of this Journal, inasmuch as one of the most significant lacunae in our understanding of the origins of Jung's system of psychology is the full impact of William James on Jung's thinking.
The particular focus of this book lies in the historical period it addresses. Around 1890, received wisdom has it, William James departed from the interests of his earlier work, as presented in the Principles of Psychology, moving ever more deeply into the obscurities of spiritualism and non-Western ways of thinking. This point of view, Taylor clearly demonstrates, was propagated in large measures by younger psychologists whose preference for the German experimental psychology of Wundt and his followers almost necessitated a rejection of James. Imbedded in the more important discussion of the development of James's thought during this period - roughly from the publication of the Principles in 1890 to his death in 1911 - is a fascinating account of the academic politics of the era as they circled around claims to priority in the development of modern psychological research methods. G. Stanley Hall, who in 1909 invited Freud and Jung to lecture at Clark University, was a pivotal figure in this process of redefining the boundaries of acceptable research, and, Taylor argues, in rewriting the history of psychological research in the United States.
Although Hall had studied under James at Harvard, by the turn of the century he had himself become a leading figure in experimental psychology. In this role, he fought strenuously against James's interest in