ii Journal of Comparative Neurology. 



serviceable and useful to those who are often practically concerned with 

 the early diagnosis and prognosis of insanity." After the usual defini- 

 tions and the enumeration of a few "classifications" (pp. 603-610), 

 the author takes up the general etiology of insanity (pp. 610-647). 

 Twenty-one out of these 37 pages are devoted to a summary of the 

 stigmata of degeneration, practically a reprint of Peterson's article in 

 the State Hospitals Bulletin, 1896, illustrated by 34 figures. The space 

 allowed to the other far less problematic and decidedly much more 

 essential etiological factors is very short and in many respects failing to 

 give a fair picture to the student. Alcohol gets 28 lines, syphilis, 22, 

 while the relatively unimportant " imitation" gets over 3 pages with 4 

 detailed observations. 



General Symptomatology is dealt with on pp. 648-676. Peterson 

 follows closely the descriptions given by Ziehen; i. e., the most diagram- 

 matic and lifeless expose of the topic ever produced. It is difficult to 

 see what satisfaction the student will carry away from this pseudo-psy- 

 chology. It looks very plausible and systematic at first sight ; but it 

 has not a shadow of a connection with the subsequent clinical descrip- 

 tions and problems. 



Chapter IV (pp. 676-680) gives an outline of the course of an ex- 

 amination and a few remarks on the course and prognosis of mental 

 diseases. Chapter V (pp. 680-693) outlines the general treatment of 

 insanity. 



The subsequent chapters deal with the individual disease-types. 

 Mania is dealt with in 6 pages, melancholia in 10, circular insanity in 

 6, epilepsy in 8, dementia in 5, general paralysis in 13, paranoia in 24 

 and idiocy covers 50 pages. The length of the chapters is proportion- 

 ate, not to the importance of the topic, but to the reprints of previous 

 articles on special questions by the author. This is decidedly to be re- 

 gretted. 



The reviewer recognizes the difficulty of writing a text-book on 

 mental diseases at this juncture of psychiatry ; but even with this ad- 

 mission we cannot say that the present attempt gives even a represent- 

 ative idea and certainly no inspiring outlook of what psychiatry is 

 worth and is striving for. 



The clinical descriptions, as far as they go, are concise and well 

 written as may well be expected from the clear and fluent style of the 

 author; yet the book makes one feel that the truly brilliant philanthro- 

 pist and able neurologist and essayist left his strongest ground and 

 yielded too readily to the publishers who made him undertake the 

 most difficult task medicine presents today. When Dr. Peterson's 



