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.
Although this is the fourth edition of this well-known little volume, to
say nothing of ten reprints since 1912, it has been our misfortune—through a curious concatenation of circumstances—that we have not hitherto had an opportunity of reviewing the work. And now our task seems almost redundant, for we doubt very much whether there is a single reader of this JOURNAL who has not a copy already on his bookshelf. It has achieved the phenomenal success it deserves because the author, in addition to being a clear thinker and clear writer, possesses the faculty of presenting his material in a manner which even the uninitiated cannot fail to understand, and he has given us here the most lucid description of psycho-pathology to be found anywhere.
The present edition differs from its predecessors in having an introduction, the purpose of which is to give the reader 'some understanding of the relation which the principles described here bear to the structure of modern psychology and psychopathology, and of the development which these subjects have undergone in later years' (than 1912). This introduction occupies twenty pages, the first three of which deal mainly with the development of psychopathology before and by Janet. The remainder is devoted to the place of Freud and the standpoint adopted in the book in relation to his work. There is also some reference to Jung and Adler.
Dr. Hart's erudition includes a very complete knowledge of psycho-analytical science, for which he has a profound respect; but he is at variance with some of its conclusions, as he is careful to state in every instance. For example, he believes the 'herd instinct' to be an innate psychological entity, dementia præcox being a disease caused by repression of this instinct and, while he regards the unconscious as a plausible hypothesis like the ether or the atom, he does not consider it to be demonstrable to the senses. Every practising psycho-analyst demonstrates to himself his patient's unconsci