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Long in the 'mystical state' (Comte) of the evolution of a science, psychiatry rapidly entered into its taxonomic phase once its rightful claims became recognized. Almost simultaneously, premature efforts to expedite its evolution led to a burial of the facts in rigid classificatory systems. Recent years have witnessed a salutary tendency among psychiatrists to review their data and re-examine the pragmatic and heuristic value of accepted formulations. In this connection the researches of the psycho-analytical school in ætiology and psychopathology deserve special mention. The present paper is offered as a contribution towards the fundamental reorganization of psychiatry. One hundred patients were intensively studied and treated in the Psychiatric Division of the University of Chicago Clinics and were re-examined a year or more after discharge for the evaluation of (a) the validity of the diagnoses made during their hospitalization, (b) the results of the various forms of treatment employed. Among the results of a detailed and statistical analysis of the data were the following. The patients had a mean age of 29 and were mostly unmarried; three-quarters were female. The percentage of Jewish patients was excessive, especially in the schizophrenic group. The period of hospitalization