Reviews and Notices of Books

Abstract

THIE aimii of the writer of this book has been to present to his readers, chiefly perhaps to students and members of the profession, an account of the nature and causes of personality disorders. What might be termed the anatomy and physiology of personality are first discussed; that is to say, its relation to constitution is examined, and the effects on its working of heredity and environment. Therefore the author is concerned with the debatable ground, the no-man's-land (or should we say every-man's-land ?) of the marches between the physiological and the psychological. Mental mechanismis, current methods of examination and some clinical syndromes are discussed in a later section. In his studies the author has sought to follow objective lines, is temperate in his conclusions, and has produced a volume which will not alienate the neurologist by its neglect of the nervous system or disappoint the psychopathologist by under-emphasis of the side of the subject that appeals to him.