[In 1938, R.S. Woodworth published a seminal textbook, Experimental Psychology, known popularly as the «Columbia Bible». This article examines the origins of the book in early mimeographed versions, the circumstances of its publication, and its reception by the academic community. In the 1938 version of the text, Woodworth narrowed the definition of an «experiment» to the active manipulation of an «independent variable», and he clearly excluded mental testing from experimental psychology]