The collection of historical instruments at National Taiwan University

This article presents three of the historical instruments from the National Taiwan University collection. The instruments were built between 1894 and 1902. The instruments are (1) Meumann's Largest Time Sense Apparatus, (2) Wundt's Pendulum Tachistoscope, and (3) Schumann's Wheel Tachistoscope. It is hoped that the presentation of these three historical instruments will serve a triple purpose: (a) to enable a greater appreciation of achievements of the scientists on whose shoulders we stand; (b) to illustrate the need for the time-consuming task of designing specialized apparatuses for a given experiment, typical at the time; and (c) to encourage a reflection on the mutual relationship between the instruments available, the questions asked, and the experiments done. In addition, the collection helps illuminate how the importation of apparatuses designed and built in Europe (Germany) to Taiwan and Japan contributed to the spread of Western psychology and its associated technologies on a global scale. (PsycINFO Database Record