The notion, central to neuroscience, that all subjective experiences have objective correlates was first formulated by the 19th-century Czech scientist Jan Evangelista Purkinje (d. 1869) in his dissertation on vision. Never before translated into English, this dissertation comprises the main body of

The life of Jan Evangelista Purkinje (1787-1869) has fascinated students from many disciplines. Histologists marvel at his early descriptions of cells; physiologists admire his attempts to relate structure to function; pharmacologists view in awe his heroic experiments on self-administered drugs; forensic scientists acknowledge his role in the use of fingerprints for identification; and Czech patriots salute his awakening of pride in their nation. Yet all these achievements followed his initial enquiries into vision. It is this psychological dimension that fostered this collaboration. As the...