Editing W. H. R. Rivers (section)

==Beginnings of career in psychology==
Back in England, Rivers earned an M.D. (London) and was elected a Fellow of the [[Royal College of Physicians]].<ref name="slobodin"/> Soon after, he became house surgeon at the Chichester Infirmary (1887–1889). Although he enjoyed the town and the company of his colleagues,<ref name="slobodin"/> an appointment at Bart's and the opportunity to return to working in research in medicine was more appealing. He became [[Senior house officer|house physician]] at St Bartholomew's in 1889 and remained there until 1890.<ref name="odnb"/>

At Bart's, Rivers had been a physician to [[Samuel Gee]].<ref name="WLB1936">{{cite journal |author=Walter Langdon-Brown |date=November 1936 |title= "To a Very Wise Man": W. H. R. Rivers |journal=St Bartholomew's Hospital Journal |pages=29–30 |author-link= Walter Langdon-Brown}}</ref> Those under Gee were conscious of his indifference towards, if not outright dislike of, the psychological aspects of medicine. [[Walter Langdon-Brown]] surmises that Rivers and his fellow Charles S. Myers devoted themselves to these aspects in reaction to Gee.<ref name="WLB1936"/>

Rivers's interests in neurology and psychology became evident in this period. Reports and papers given by Rivers at the Abernethian Society of St Bart's indicate a growing specialisation in these fields: ''Delirium and its allied conditions'' (1889), ''Hysteria'' (1891) and ''Neurasthenia'' (1893).

Following the direction of his passion for the workings of the mind as it correlates with the workings of the body, in 1891 Rivers became house physician at the National Hospital for the Paralysed and Epileptic.<ref name="odnb"/> Here he and [[Henry Head]] met and formed a lasting friendship.<ref name="Head1922">{{cite journal |author=Henry Head|date=June 1922 |title=Obituary: W. H. R. Rivers, M.D., D.Sc, F.R.S.: An Appreciation|journal= St Bartholomew's Hospital Journal |pages=1–3}}</ref>

Rivers's interest in the physiology of the nervous system and in "the mind", that is, in sensory phenomena and mental states,<ref name="slobodin"/> was further stimulated by work in 1891. He was  chosen to be one of [[Victor Horsley]]'s assistants in a series of investigations at [[University College London]] that explored the existence and nature of electrical currents in the mammalian brain.<ref name="slobodin"/> His selection for this work demonstrated his growing reputation as a researcher.<ref name="slobodin"/>

In the same year, Rivers joined the [[Medical and Chirurgical Society of London|Neurological Society of London]] and presented ''A Case of Treadler's Cramp'' to a meeting of the society. The case demonstrated the ill effects of what is understood as repetitive motion injury. Such injuries sustained by factory workers, against which they had little protection or compensation, were part of the cost for millions of people of Britain's industrial supremacy.<ref name="slobodin"/>

Resigning from the National Hospital in 1892,<ref name="odnb"/> Rivers travelled to [[Jena]] to expand his knowledge of experimental psychology.<ref name="Head1922"/> Whilst in Jena, Rivers became fluent in German and attended lectures on both psychology and philosophy.<ref name="slobodin"/> He also became deeply immersed in the culture; in a diary he kept of the journey he comments on the buildings, picture galleries, church services, and education system, showing his wide interests and critical judgement.<ref name="Eagle1922"/> In this diary he also wrote that: "I have during the last three weeks come to the conclusion that I should go in for insanity when I return to England and work as much as possible at psychology."<ref name="slobodin"/>

After his return to England, he became a Clinical Assistant at the [[Bethlem Royal Hospital]]. In 1893, at the request of G. H Savage, he began assisting with lectures in mental diseases at [[Guy's Hospital]], emphasising their psychological aspect. At about the same time, invited by Professor Sully, he began to lecture on experimental psychology at [[University College, London]].<ref name=":0">From C. S. Myers's "Presidential Address" (1922), to the Psychology Section of the British Association. The address is included in Rivers's posthumously published ''Psychology and Politics'' (1923).</ref>

By 1893, when he was unexpectedly invited to lecture in Cambridge on the functions of the sense organs, he was already deeply read in the subject.<ref name="Head1922"/> He had been captivated by Head's accounts of the works of [[Ewald Hering]], and had avidly absorbed his views on colour vision and the nature of vital processes in living matter.<ref name="Head1922"/> He also prepared for this project by spending the summer working in [[Heidelberg]] with [[Emil Kraepelin]] on measuring the effects of fatigue.<ref name="odnb"/>

The offer of a Cambridge lectureship resulted from continuing evolution within the university's [[Natural Science]] [[Tripos]]. Earlier in 1893, Professor McKendrick, of [[University of Glasgow|Glasgow]], had examined subject and reported unfavourably on the scant knowledge of the special senses that was displayed by the candidates;<ref name="WLB1936"/> to correct this, [[Michael Foster (physiologist)|Sir Michael Foster]] appointed Rivers as a lecturer. He became Fellow Commoner at [[St John's College, Cambridge|St John's College]].<ref name="WLB1936"/><ref>A "Fellow Commoner" is a student, or, in this case, lecturer, at the [[University of Cambridge]] who is given the right to "common", or dine, at the Fellow's table.</ref> He was made a [[Fellow]] of the college in 1902.<ref>{{acad|id=RVRS893WH|name=Rivers, William Halse Rivers}}</ref>

Rivers was stretched in his work, as he still had ongoing teaching commitments at Guy's hospital and at University College.<ref name="slobodin"/> In addition to these mounting responsibilities, in 1897 he was put in temporary charge of the new psychological laboratory at University College. That year Foster had assigned him a room in the Physiology Department at Cambridge for use in psychological research. As a result, Rivers is listed in the histories of experimental psychology as simultaneously the director of the first two psychological laboratories in Britain.<ref name="slobodin"/>

Rivers's work has been considered to have profound influence on Cambridge and in the scientific world in general. But, at the time, the Cambridge University Senate were wary of his appointment. [[Frederic Bartlett|Bartlett]] wrote: "how many times have I heard Rivers, spectacles waving in the air, his face lit by his transforming smile, tell how, in Senatorial discussion, an ancient orator described him as a 'Ridiculous Superfluity'!"<ref name="ajop50"/>

The opposition of the Senate resulted in limited support for Rivers's work in its early years.<ref name="slobodin"/> It was not until 1901, eight years after his appointment, that he was allowed the use of a small cottage for the laboratory, and budgeted thirty-five pounds annually (later increased to fifty) for purchase and upkeep of equipment.<ref name="slobodin"/>  For several years Rivers continued in this way until the Moral Science Board increased support;<ref name="ajop50"/> in 1903, Rivers and his assistants and students moved to another small building in [[St Tibbs Row]].<ref name="ajop50"/> These working spaces were characterised as "dismal", "damp, dark and ill-ventilated"<ref name="EB1957">{{cite book | author = Edwin Boring | title = A History of Experimental Psychology | year = 1957 | publisher = New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts}}</ref>  but they did not discourage the Cambridge psychologists. Psychology began to thrive: "perhaps, in the early days of scientific progress, a subject often grows all the more surely if its workers have to meet difficulties, improvise their apparatus, and rub very close shoulders one with another."<ref name="ajop50"/> In 1912 a well-equipped laboratory was finally built under the directorship of Charles S. Myers, one of Rivers's earliest and ablest pupils. A wealthy man, he supplemented the university grant with his own funds.<ref name="slobodin"/>

[[Image:My Cross Country Pictures 122.jpg|left|thumb|View of [[St John's College, Cambridge]]]]
The Cambridge psychologists and Rivers were initially most interested in the special senses: colour vision, optical illusions, sound-reactions, and perceptual processes.<ref name="ajop50"/> In these fields, Rivers was rapidly becoming eminent. He was invited to write a chapter on vision for Schäfer's ''Handbook of Physiology''. According to Bartlett, Rivers's chapter "still remains, from a psychological point of view, one of the best in the English Language".<ref name="ACH-FB1922">{{cite journal |first1=A. C. |last1=Haddon |first2=F. C. |last2=Bartlett |date=July 1922 |title= William Halse Rivers Rivers, M.D., F.R.S., President of the Royal Anthropological Institute, Born 1864, Died June 4, 1922|journal= [[Man Journal|Man]] |volume=22 |pages=97–104}}</ref> Rivers reviewed the work of previous investigators, incorporated his own, and critically examined the rival theories of colour vision. He noted clearly the significance of psychological factors in, for instance, the phenomena of contrast.<ref name="Eagle1922"/>

For his own experiments on vision, Rivers worked with graduate medical students [[Charles S. Myers]] and [[William McDougall (psychologist)|William McDougall]]. They assisted him and developed close friendships in the process of working together.<ref name="slobodin"/> Rivers also collaborated with [[Sir Horace Darwin]], a pioneer instrument maker, to improve apparatus for recording sensations, especially those involved in vision. This collaboration also resulted in a lifelong friendship between the two men.<ref name="slobodin"/>

In this period, Rivers also investigated the influence of stimulants: tea, [[coffee]], [[alcohol (drug)|alcohol]], [[tobacco]], and a number of other drugs, on a person's capacity for both physical and mental work. His work under Kraepelin at [[Heidelberg]] had prepared him for this work. Rivers conducted some experiments on himself, for instance for two years giving up alcoholic beverages and tobacco, neither of which he liked, but also giving up all tea, coffee and cocoa as well.<ref name="Eagle1922"/> Initially he intended to explore physiological incentives for consuming these products, but he quickly realized that a strong psychological influence contributed to taking the substances.<ref name="Rivers-Webber">{{cite journal |first1=W. H. R. |last1=Rivers |first2=H. N. |last2=Webber |year=1906 |title=The influence of small doses of alcohol on the capacity for muscular work |journal=The British Journal of Psychology |volume=2 |pages=261–280}}</ref>

Rivers realised that part of the effects – mental and physical – that substances had were caused psychologically by the excitement of knowing that one is indulging.<ref name="Rivers-Webber"/> In order, to eliminate "all possible effects of suggestion, sensory stimulation and interest", Rivers ensured that the substances were disguised so that he could not ascertain, in any instance, whether he was taking a drug or a control substance.<ref name="Rivers-Webber"/><ref>Owing to the distinctive taste of alcohol, it was necessary for the control mixture to be able to disguise the taste. The mixture used was one containing [[capsicum]], [[cardamom]]s, [[chloroform]] and [[peppermint]].</ref> This was the first experiment of its kind to use this double-blind procedure.<ref name="slobodin"/> As a result of the importance attached to the study, Rivers was appointed in 1906 as [[Croonian Lecture]]r to the Royal College of Physicians.<ref name="ACH-FB1922"/>

In December 1897 Rivers's achievements were recognised by the University of Cambridge who honoured him with the degree of M.A. ''[[honorary degree|honoris causa]]''<ref name="ACH-FB1922"/> and, in 1904 with the assistance of [[James Ward (psychologist)|Professor James Ward]], Rivers made a further mark on the world of psychological sciences, founding and subsequently editing the [[British Journal of Psychology]].<ref name="ajop36"/>

Despite his many successes, Rivers was still a markedly reticent man in mixed company, hampered as he was by his stammer and innate shyness.<ref name="WLB1936"/> In 1897, Langdon-Brown invited Rivers to come and address the Abernethian Society. The occasion was not an unqualified success. He chose "Fatigue" as his subject, and before he had finished his title was writ large on the faces of his audience.<ref name="WLB1936"/> In the Cambridge physiological laboratory too he had to lecture to a large elementary class. He was rather nervous about it, and did not like it,<ref name="Eagle1922"/> his hesitation of speech made his style dry and he had not yet acquired the art of expressing his original ideas in an attractive form, except in private conversation.<ref name="WLB1936"/>

Among two or three friends, however, the picture of Rivers is quite different. His conversations were full of interest and illumination;<ref name="WLB1936"/> "he was always out to elicit the truth, entirely sincere, and disdainful of mere dialect."<ref name="WLB1936"/> His insistence on veracity made him a formidable researcher, as Haddon puts it, "the keynote of Rivers was thoroughness. Keenness of thought and precision marked all his work."<ref name="ACH-FB1922"/> His research was distinguished by a fidelity to the demands of experimental method very rare in the realms which he was exploring<ref name="ACH-FB1922"/> and, although often overlooked, the work that Rivers did in this early period is of immense import as it formed the foundation of all that came later.<ref name="ACH-FB1922"/>