Morton Prince

Morton Henry Prince (December 22, 1854 – August 31, 1929) was an American physician who specialized in neurology and abnormal psychology, and was a leading force in establishing psychology as a clinical and academic discipline.

He was part of a handful of men who disseminated European ideas about psychopathology, especially in understanding dissociative phenomena; and helped found the Journal of Abnormal Psychology in 1906, which he edited until his death.

Early life and marriage

Morton Prince came from a wealthy Boston family and was involved in the social and intellectual life of that city. He was born to Frederick O. Prince, a state senator and future Boston mayor and Helen Susan Prince (née Henry). Prince later in life learned that part of his family were descended from early American Sephardic Jews, and became interested in philanthropy and concerns of his ancestral community. He went to private schools and the Boston Latin School and then to Harvard College. He obtained his medical degree from Harvard Medical School in 1879. After Harvard, he took a Grand Tour of Europe, a near requirement for upper-class Americans at that time. Prince hoped to gain more clinical instruction at Vienna and Strasbourg. It was in Paris that he visited Jean Martin Charcot at the Salpêtrière. He was quite impressed with Charcot's theories but returned to Boston to set up an otolaryngology practice. However, the spell of the charismatic Charcot was strong and he quickly switched his practice to neurology, and even adopted Charcot's showmanship for teaching his classes.