Prince, Morton (1854-1929)

Physician, neurologist, and psychologist whose career peaked as psychical research was maturing. He was born on December 21, 1854, at Boston, Massachusetts. He studied at Boston Latin School, Harvard (B.A., 1875), and Harvard Medical School (M.D., 1879). He was particularly interested in the work of Jean Charcot and Pierre Janet in hysteria and hypnosis. He was a physician for diseases of the nervous system at Boston Dispensary (1882-86) and Boston City Hospital (1885-1913), an instructor in neurology at Harvard Medical School (1895-98), a professor of neurology at Tufts Medical School (1902-12), and subsequently professor emeritus. He was an associate professor in abnormal and dynamic psychology at Harvard University for two years at the end of his life (1926-28).

Prince was an outstanding neurologist. He founded and, for almost a quarter of a century, edited the Journal of Abnormal Psychology (1906-29), and in 1911 he was elected president of the American Psychological Association. His book on The Dissociation of a Personality (1906) dealt with the famous case of "Sally Beauchamp" and is considered a basic work in the field of abnormal psychology, with an important bearing on the parapsychological phenomenon of secondary and multiple personality.

Prince was a member of the American Society for Psychical Research and contributed articles to the Society's Proceedings. He authored a number of books including The Nature of Mind and Human Automatism (1885), the title most directly related to parapsychological concerns. He died August 31, 1929.

Sources:

Prince, Morton. "A Contribution to the Study of Hysteria." Proceedings of the Society for Psychical Research 14 (1899).

——. "The Development and Genealogy of the Misses Beauchamp." Proceedings of the Society for Psychical Research 15 (1900-01).

——. The Nature of Mind and Human Automatism. Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott, 1885.

Taylor, W. S. Morton Prince and Abnormal Psychology. New York; London: D. Appleton & Co., 1928.