Modern Problems in Psychiatry

Abstract

THIS translation will be welcomed by those who are interested in the study of mental disease, but have been unable to read the original Italian work. The book is intended to pass in review the chief fundamental problems which present themselves to the student of psychiatry. As the author states in his preface, the latter must be a man of extensive knowledge, since his study carries him into the most difficult branches of anatomy, physiology, pathology, psychology, sociology and even criminology. The author also hints that one object of his book is to justify the claim of psychiatry to a place among the sciences and by the side of general medicine, and to remove from the public mind the existing prejudice against the study of mental disorders. The work is, however, surely too learned a disquisition to engage the attention of an ordinary layman. We regret to find that the author himself draws a distinction between physicians and “alienists” (p. 71), as if so-called “alienists” were not physicians; yet we understand that even in Italy psychiatry is a well-recognised branch of medicine.

Modern Problems in Psychiatry.

By Prof. E. Lugaro. Translated by Dr. David Orr and Dr. E. G. Rows. Pp. vii + 305. (Manchester: University Press, 1909.) Price 7s. 6d. net.