Destiny and Disease in Mental Disorders, with Special Reference to the Schizophrenic Psychoses: By C. Macfie Campbell. (W. W. Norton & Co., New York, 1935.)

This book, of a little over 200 pages, attempts to envisage the many influences that seem to bear a relationship to the clinical syndrome called schizophrenia. It would appear to be particularly useful to the novitiate in psychiatry, who needs to be taught in easy language that people may become incapacitated in virtue of a disordered personality. Such a conception, while clear in the minds of psychiatrists, is still remarkably vague to the physician not psychiatrically trained. Campbell's clear and easy style would, therefore, appeal to the group for whom the lectures were prepared.

The reader quickly detects the attitude and technique of a thoughtful teacher, who, understanding that his auditors are drawn from a wide circle of medical interests, directs his remarks to the group as a whole. The points of view expressed by Campbell are those founded upon a rich clinical experience and they are confined to generalizations that should serve to encourage physicians in general to include a psychiatric attitude in their practices. It would be expected, therefore, that from such a vantage point the lecturer start as Campbell does with a description of the conditions found in his special field. From time to time hints are thrown out regarding some of the dynamic forces behind the clinical syndrome, but, on the whole, the contents of the book revolve around a description of the intensity and extensity of the clinical disorder.