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The Neuramœbimeter - continued...

The name that Exner had chosen for his device significantly contributed to this development. From the very beginning, ‘neuramœbimeter’ seemed awkward. It provoked ideas about ‘amœba’ and the ‘amoibaion’. It also suggested ties between neurology and the Moebius strip. In fact, Exner had derived the term from the Greek word amoibë, which he translated as ‘response’ or ‘exchange’. As a consequence, the instrument’s name literally translated into ‘nerve-reply-measurer‘. In the late 19th century, there was only one such name given a similar device that could compete with this esoteric designation. In 1865, the Dutch physiologist Franciscus Donders had baptized his rather complicated instrument for measuring the physiological time of psychological processes ‘noëmatachograph’, i.e. ‘speed of thought writer’.

Instruments for measuring the time of psychological processes, Münsterberg 1893 Instruments for measuring the time of psychological processes (1893). Taken from Münsterberg, Hugo. 1893. Psychological Laboratory of Harvard University. Cambridge, Mass.: University Press of Cambridge, Mass., p.12, table VI.
ISSN 1866-4784: reference - xlink