You do not currently have permission to view the full text for this document. Please sign in to an account with an active subscription or contact support.
This is a book of eighteen very interesting papers by the late Dr. Dupré, collected and given to the world by two admiring pupils, M. Paul Bourget and Dr. Achalme, who introduce the volume with an encomiastic preface and biography of sixteen closely printed pages.
The range of subjects is very wide, including, for example, mythomania, the psycho-diagnosis of general paralysis, testimony (a psychological and medico-legal article), débilité motrice (including torticollis, stereotypies paratonia, congenital neurological inco-ordinations, etc.), the madness of Charles VI, misers, the instinctive perversions and the doctrine of constitutions.
Mythomania, which Dupré reads into quite a number of neuroses, psychoneuroses and psychoses, is a wider term than our pseudologia phantastica; for it includes a 'passive form' characterized by credulity, suggestibility and feebleness of judgement and criticism. The work teems with novel points of view (characteristically French of course) which are of considerable interest.
Dupré evidently had a very extensive experience, for the papers contain many cases of considerable rarity. He always made a serious attempt to trace these 'trésors' psychologically to their origin; but—in the light of psycho-analytical knowledge—it becomes doubtful whether he ever carried his investigations far enough. He had evidently read widely—French, English, German, Italian, Spanish—and it is noteworthy that, although critical at times, his writings are totally devoid of invective against any of his contemporaries. There is not even an unkind word for Freud. Nor, on the other hand, is there anything psycho-analytical in the book. Nevertheless, it is a charming publication to have on one's bookshelf.