This belongs to the class of handy manuals in which no elaborate attempt is made to cover and illustrate the subject in all its aspects, but rather to convey a concise yet comprehensive view of the main facts of mental disorders. The principal changes from the earlier edition, besides a general revision of the text and the author's additions in the second French edition, are an extract from Prof. Adolf Meyer's paper on dementia præcox, and a number of notes by the translator, one of which is a description of the technic of lumbar puncture.
The first chapter, on etiology, is fairly full, though the subject is not treated at too much length, and one cause at least, that plays a part in American statistics of insanity, namely, isolation, is not mentioned. The omission is the more notable, as this cause is mentioned by other French authors, such as Regis,