Themes and variations in European psychiatry. An anthology

Reviews is based on a detailed review of primary material, but he could have cited more secondary sources, which he no doubt consulted, especially when dealing with the earlier periods. The opinion arising from his study is that parapsychology has not been proven, and he concludes with a chapter on psychical research today. It is now becoming a more respectable subject for investigation and this augers well for future work on a topic that is of increasing public and scientific interest. The comparative insularity of British and American medicine is well known. In the history of psychiatry this is particularly disturbing as many of its basic concepts were published in languages other than English and some have never been adequately translated. The editors, therefore, bring together in this book eighteen important, non-English essays: ten from Germany; five from France; and one each from Den-mark, Norway and Sweden. They include such authors as Kraepelin, Jaspers, Ganser, Kretschmer, Kleist, and Dupr6, and range in time from 1882 to 1969. All but three have not appeared before in English. Each has a brief introduction, in some instances written by a person familiar with the author. Together they illustrate the approach of earlier clinical observers to issues which still pose major theoretical problems today and the editors' general aim is 4.. . to illustrate the breadth and depth of mainstream psychiatric ideas on the European mainland. . ." (p. vi). In this they are entirely successful and they provide us with a book which should be read by all practising psychiatrists, as well as by those interested in the history of their discipline. Similar collections of readings are urgently needed in other parts of medicine, both clinical and non-clinical, where neglect of material not written in English is equally common. Admittedly some anthologies already exist, but so often English pieces predominate, not on account of the prowess of English-spealing doctors, but more because they do not need to be translated. art of diplomacy, the craft of history, pre-modern and modem Europe, and this book contains nineteen of his more important essays. His span of interest and specialization is greater than many historians, for he is equally at home with the Renaissance as with the 1930s. He is concerned basically with the activities of the individual, who must make a choice and a commitment. This for Gilbert is the stuff of history, and his works …