 The most dramatic and fateful event in Fechner’s life was his mental breakdown, which lasted for nearly four years, beginning in December 1839 and ending in October 1843. The breakdown was extremely severe, leading to near death and loss of sanity. His mental and physical collapse was the talk of Leipzig. No one expected Fechner to come out of it. But, remarkably, he did. That he survived it at all, and then continued in a productive career, is astonishing. Fechner himself regarded it as “a miracle”. 