304 PSYCHIATRY 



in the functional psychoses, required first an examination of the 

 terms and conditions of the problem. This necessitated an inquiry 

 concerning certain principles and conclusions of the biological and 

 medical sciences that have had a controlling influence in psychia- 

 try. Morphological conceptions being dominant in medicine, it 

 was found also that a number of terms and phrases are so com- 

 monly employed in medicine that their use has been compelled 

 in psychiatry, although they embody conceptions and theories 

 inconsistent with its dependence upon functional conceptions of 

 mental pathology. The inquiry having led to the conclusion that 

 the physiology of the life-process is the first recourse for psychiatry, 

 in the search for explaining principles it becomes necessary to be 

 emancipated from all preconceptions. The functional conceptions, 

 being framed, and applied consistently with the facts of physio- 

 logy and psychology, lead to a recognition of the developmental 

 and genetic character of the functional modifications, and indicate 

 their sources in physiological facts. A clearer idea is gained of the 

 relation of conscious experiences to body states, and of the influ- 

 ence of the "somatic group of senses" in the relations of the con- 

 ditions of the whole organism to the mental states. The depend- 

 ence of all functional phenomena upon the processes of nutrition 

 and metabolism for the maintenance of the nervous and mental 

 mechanisms points to the fundamental importance of pathological 

 physiology and chemistry. Physiological and psychological ex- 

 periment in the immediate clinical examination of functional modi- 

 fications shown in symptoms helps to determine the physiological 

 sources of the contributing disorders in the whole body as well as 

 the central nervous system. 



The psychiatrist inclined to inquiry finds, in the pursuance of 

 his practical work, that as a physician he must treat the whole 

 body, and that a functional conception of mental diseases leads to 

 treatment. Psychiatry belongs to general medicine and mental 

 disease like bodily disease is not an entity nor an agency, but the 

 result of normal function acting under abnormal conditions; the 

 problem requires the investigation of the developmental and genetic 

 character of functional modifications. 



