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This book would have had a truer title if Dr. Mira had called it Psychiatry at the Fighting Front, or Psychiatry in the Spanish War. For,
though its contents are not strictly so limited, it tells the tale of the Spaniards, suddenly deprived of their army by Franco's revolt, organizing a new army of milicianos, who like our revolutionary Minute Men seized whatever weapons came to hand to wage an unexpected war. Psychiatry also had to meet this sudden emergency. Dr. Mira, then Professor of Psychiatry at Barcelona, was in charge of the psychiatric work in the Republican Army. It is interesting to read how he and his colleagues met the occasion. Not only did they have to diagnose and treat as well as they could the mental casualties in the armed forces, but in addition they had to care for the morale of the soldiers and civilians. Much of the book relates the practical steps taken to meet the various situation. A 'psychodiagnostic test' ('myokinetic psychodiagnosis') was devised that gave them a rough and ready rating of mental health and personality traits. This test the author values highly; unfortunately his records remained in Spain when he fled. Simple ways of dealing with everyday psychiatric problems were instituted. Civilians and soldiers alike were given mental hygiene education. Unstable men were isolated; certain drugs were used as sedatives. Rules were adopted to detect malingering. Other rules were discovered to handle the problems of discharge and rehabilitation. And in the author's mind arose reflections concerning the possible use of psychiatry in a postwar period, which alas, he could not test in practice.
For evident reasons, Dr. Mira could not compare the measures he had instituted for the differential selection of officers with those of other armies. However, he has given a review of certain procedures in use in Germany, and what he has to tell us is reassuring. Either the Nazis are vague and academic or they are not revealing what t