Related to W. McDougall, 'William McDougall', in C. Murchison (ed.) A History of Psychology in Autobiography' (Vol. I) (Clark University Press; Worcester, MA, 1930), pp. 191-223.
Description: 'In 1894 I passed the second part of the [Cambridge natural sciences] Tripos with the highest honours obtainable and secured the university scholarship at St. Thomas' Hospital, London.' (198)
'On going up to London in the fall of 1894, a further four years' course of study lay before me as preparation for the medical degree. I was not content to follow the regular courses on pathology, bacteriology, medicine, and surgery. I took also all the special courses available and undertook research in the Physiological Laboratory of the Hospital, then under the charge of C.S. Sherrington, who alreadt was giving promise of the eminence since attained. I was fascinated by the problem of muscular contraction, and spent each long vacation at Cambridge and part of my time in London in seeking to provide a solid foundation fo rthe hypothesis I had formed.
During these years at St Thomas' Hospital I still led the double life, the bustling life of the medical student in wards and laboratories, and the life of the studious recluse. In the latter I had one companion only, Walter Myers... The most important effect of my reading at this time came from William James' Principles of Psychology. I had, while still an undergraduate, determined that a life devoted to the study of the nervous system was the most desirable of all; for in the brain, it seemed to me, were locked the secrets of human nature. But James showed me that neurological research is not the only road to the uncovering of those secrets, and led me to believe that they should be approached from two sides, from below upwards by way of physiology and neurology, and from above downwards by way of psychology, philosophy, and the various human sciences.' (199-200)