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With the death of Dr. Adolf Meyer on March 17, 1950 there passed from the scene one of the most influential figures in American psychiatry of the first half of this century. As a leader of his peers and as an ideal for two generations of medical students, Dr. Meyer's career has left a deep imprint on neuropathology, clinical practice and the sociological aspects of psychiatry. This quiet, shy, almost aloof little man with the deep brown eyes induced in patients a feeling of sincerity, understanding and interest which gave them an immediate sense of confidence, comfort and encouragement.
Dr. Meyer, son of a Swiss pastor, received his medical degree at Zürich, and was influenced as a student by von Monakow in neuropathology and by Forel in clinical psychiatry. Thereafter he went abroad for post-graduate study and found himself attracted by Hughlings Jackson's dynamic thinking on the interaction of the mind and the brain.
After settling in America in 1892, first at the Kankakee, Illinois, State Hospital and later at the Worcester State Hospital, Meyer strove to combine biological findings with psychological data in elucidating psychopathology. Thus when Freud's theories began to spread from Zürich to America Meyer was ready to examine