Elements of Psychophysics, Vol. I

VI

...the empirical basis for the development of psychophysical measurement measurement (German: Masslehre): the formal theory and system of quantifying psychological sensations still requires great expansion, and what has been provided in terms of applications only demonstrates that incomparably more will need to be provided in the future.

In short, psychophysics, in the form in which it appears here, is a doctrine still in its first state of becoming; therefore, one should not misunderstand the title of this work, Elements, as if it were a presentation of the essentials of an already established and formalized doctrine—an elementary textbook—but rather the presentation of the beginnings of a doctrine that is still in its elemental German: Elementarzustande. Fechner uses a wordplay here: his book is titled "Elements" not because it is a simple "Elementary" guide for students, but because it deals with the "Elemental" or embryonic state of a brand-new science. state. One should not, therefore, place demands on this work that would be placed on an elementary textbook. It frequently offers investigations, detailed explanations, and compilations that would be quite inappropriate in such a textbook, but which may contribute to making such a textbook possible one day. I believe that what was required—maintaining a focus on specific points of investigation and summarizing the results in specific directions—will not be found lacking.

However, just as little as an elementary textbook, one should not look here for a collection of the entire material of psychophysics, but rather primarily for that which belongs to the foundation of psychophysical measurement and enters into its applications. Countless things that form a subject of psychophysics could find no place here, because they have not yet progressed far enough to be included in such a system.

While some things in this work may already be too much and others too little, there is certainly reason to be lenient in this regard, since formally almost nothing and materially only scattered fragments existed upon which I could stand and to which I could refer; but a house cannot be built without hauling stones to it; and where the plan must be drafted even before the house is built, one can