关键词: 登州文会馆, 心理学课程, 狄考文, 教科书委员会, 丁韪良

Abstract: In the English literature of the 1840s-1860s, Mental philosophy and psychology were two words used interchangeably, before being gradually customized to psychology after 1860. In Chinese, mental philosophy is generally translated as Xin Ling Xue 心灵学, what is considered psychology in later times.By analyzing the two Dengchow College diplomas of 1885 and 1889, the style of the diploma of 1891, and other relevant historical data, supplemented the biographical information on the early courses offered at the Dengchow College in the biographical information on C. W. Mateer, having examined the proposition that the first psychology course in the history of Chinese psychology,found no evidence of a psychology program at the Dengchow College in 1877. According to a schedule（which appeared in 1891）showing a course of study in Xin Ling Xue in the sixth year, suggests that the Dengchow College may have offered classes in mindfulness in 1896 or after 1897. But this is a judgment based on a single piece of evidence, and there is a lack of information about who taught it and what materials were used. Dengchow College offered psychology courses significantly later than Y. K. Yen 颜永京 at St. John’s College in 1880, and D. Z. Sheffield opened a psychology course at Luhe Academy潞河书院at Tungchow around 1892. The teachers and teaching materials in these two schools are supported by relevant information. Although there is no record of psychology courses being offered at the Dengchow College in its early days, there is the possibility of the dissemination of psychological knowledge. C. W. Mateer, the first director of the Dengchow College, began his term as a School and Textbook Series Committee in May 1877, and The Committee is planning to work on a Chinese textbook on Mental Philosophy, under the responsibility of W. A. P. Martin. Mateer and Martin are both member of the commission, and had always been closely associated. It was in October 1877 that Mateer used the word of “psychology” in his English article, commenting on the Chinese translation of the word “psychology”. Mateer’s interest in psychology was reflected in his chairmanship of the Publication Committee, established in 1890 to organize terminology. The mental science’s terminology in this is the responsibility of Sheffield. However, progress in the harmonization of terminology has been rather slow. It was only after the establishment of the scientific terminology committee in 1896 that this work made much progress. In his diary in 1896, Mateer had written that he himself had collected terminological work in fifteen disciplines, including psychology. In 1898, Martin published his monograph Xing Xue Ju Yu性学举隅, which was followed by a critical essay by Mateer, who highly praised it, especially its use of the term “Xing Xue性学”. Until the Technical terms, English and Chinese术语词汇, of which he was the editor, was published in 1904. These demonstrated that Mateer had a strong background knowledge of psychology. Many of the psychological terminologies, included in the book Technical terms, English and Chinese come from a review of terminology coined by Sheffield in his unpublished teaching material of mental philosophy. From Mateer's opposition to the use of the original meaning of psychology in Chinese translation to his use of the term “Xing Xue性学”, it shows that he recognized the contribution of traditional Chinese culture in the creation of Chinese terminology for psychology, and strove to obtain nourishment from Chinese culture in order to complete the translation of Western studies.