This book marked a notable advance in psychiatry in that it emphasizes sharply the contrast between the older descriptive psychiatry of Kraeplin and the newer interpretative psychiatry of the present time which utilizes the psychoanalytical principles and general biological viewpoints developed by Freud and his pupils in Europe and by Meyer, Hoch, White and others.

As an introduction to the study of clinical psychiatry the physician and the student will find the chapters dealing with the principles of psychology and psychopathalogy particularly helpful and stimulating.